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Calista Holmes
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
October 22, 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Essential Question: How have dogs been utilized as an aid in the fire service throughout the
years?
Working Thesis: Dogs have been used as aids in many aspects of firefighting over the decades.
Refined Thesis: Dogs have been used in the fire service for protection, aids in teaching fire
prevention, and detection of arson.

Chernick, Miriam. "Mira The Arson Dog." Fun For Kidz 12.1 (2013): 17. MasterFILE Premier.
Web. 19 Oct. 2015
A story of Mira the arson dog is told. A fire ignited in the middle of the night at a local
restaurant when the vicinity was closed and no victims were harmed. Mira and her handler were
called to the scene roughly two hours after the alarm sounded and fire suppression efforts were
complete. Her handler goes in to determine the scene is safe for Mira to enter. When Mira enters
the now charred building her handler instructs Mira to seek. Noes to the ground she comes to a
halt and sits, which is known as alerting. Mira alerts when she finds an accelerant. An accelerant
is an easily ignitable liquid that causes a fire to spread rapidly. Mira alerts multiple areas
throughout the restaurant that indicated a pattern and lead to the arrest of the owner for
intentionally lighting his restaurant on fire. This is beneficial to my research because it shows
how arson dogs play a crucial role in the fire service.

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Cloud, Pam. "Clarksville Canine Helps Keep Kids Fire Safe." Times Record (Fort Smith, AR) 31
Mar. 2014: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Molly the fire safety dog has been assisting in teaching fire prevention to children since
she was nine weeks old. Not only does Molly and her handler travel across the states, they also
interact to other countries through cyberspace on live streams and blogs on their website. Her
handler states that their main goal is to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries of children and
caregivers by providing safety knowledge and skills. Sparkles, Mollys predecessor, even had
award winning children fire safety books. Mollys efforts in teaching fire safety and skillful
knowledge of preforming 68 tricks makes her a beneficial ambassador in fire safety teachings.
This article was crucial to my research because it shows how dogs can first hand help in teaching
fire safety to children.

Elaine Babb, Lisa. "Dalmatians Are Safety Teachers at Fire Museum of Memphis." Commercial
Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) 09 July 2013: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Oct.
2015.
Two dalmatians and their trainer make up a nonprofit organization that travels at least
once a month to the Fire Museum of Memphis to help teach children of fire safety. Due to her
canines being deaf, she trained both using sign language. The trainer, Belt, does not announce
this to the children until after they have spent some time with them. Dalmatians have been a big
part of the fire service for quite a while. Fire engines use to be pulled by horses, and the dogs
would run ahead of them, people of the town would recognize the distinct spots and move out of
the way, some dogs would even run under the trucks and nip at the horses heels to make them go

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faster. Dalmatians were also known as protectors and would guard the horses in the barn
overnight from the rats.

Nordheim, Teresa. "Dalmatians: Earning Their Spot In History." Fun For Kidz 7.5 (2008):
24. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Dalmatians grow to become friendly, easy to train, curious, and active adult dogs. One
common, false rumor is that this breed is kept at firehouses because they are deaf, and therefore
the siren does not bother or scare them like it would other breeds. Truly, only few Dalmatians are
born deaf, and Dalmatians are frequently associated with firehouses due to their role back in the
day of stagecoaches when horse theft was common. Stagecoaches often had to sleep outside to
protect the horse throughout the night, but if the stagecoach had a Dalmatian he could sleep
inside and leave the dog to protect the horse. If the dog and horse formed a tight bond, no
stranger would dare lay a hand on them. Having a canine in the firehouse gave the guys a great
companion on the long waits between fires, and when heading to a fire, Dalmatians often ran
alongside the truck.

Schafer, Elizabeth D. "Arson Dogs." Forensic Science (Salem Press) (2015): 72. Science
Reference Center. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Canines have been noted in the fire service for different roles, ranging from mascots to
rescuing people, and now arson dogs. Due to heightened scent capabilities, dogs can efficiently
search sites damaged by fire or locate flammable liquids that caused fires, enabling fire
investigators to collect samples for laboratory analysis, or indicate that no accelerants are
present. Canines can search faster than humans and find chemical evidence in tiny amounts that

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people might not detect. Arson canines confirm probable cause for investigators to secure search
warrants and potentially arrest and prosecute arsonists. Bloodhounds are trained to find evidence
associated with arsonists who set wildfires, but most canines are Labrador Retrievers or mixes of
that breed. The dogs learn to detect chemical odors of numerous accelerants that start fires and to
ignore scents of objects that do not ignite fires. Canines communicate to handlers where
accelerant samples need to be taken by sitting, staring, pointing their muzzles, or scratching.

Wofford, Jerry. "Fire Safety Dog Hangs up Helmet." Tulsa World (OK) 21 Nov. 2012: Points of
View Reference Center. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Tango and Sparkles were notorious for traveling to Elementary schools across the country
and teaching kids what to do during a fire by getting low to the ground and scooting across to the
mailbox themselves to show children that they needed to get low to the ground and get to their
meeting place. Hilton, the owner, says that dogs really help to reinforce this fire safety message
and seeing the dog preform the actions makes it something that kids really remember.
Coincidentally, after one of the demonstrations, a students house caught fire. The student was
able to escape unharmed, and tell her neighbors her father was still inside. The action saved both
of their lives. When questioned how she knew what to do she said she crawled just like Sparkles.
Thanks to these two canines, children are taught how to escape from a fire as well as what to do
if on fire.