Fire K-9 sniffs out accelerants

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Since her arrival at the Bowling Green Fire Department last December, Millie, the department’s accelerant detecting K-9 has been up to big things.

Millie is a 3-year-old black lab full of energy and love.

She is an accelerant detective dog and is the only AFT certified dog in Kentucky.

“The fact that they were able to bring home the top dog championship speaks very highly of Millie but also speaks very highly of Mike and Bowling Green Fire Department and the effort and energy they are putting into this program so we could not be more proud to have them on board and have them represent not only the Bowling Green Fire Department but also ATF,” said John Noke, ATF resident agent, Bowling Green.

Recently, Millie helped in a fire investigation where someone broke into a store and used gasoline to cover up evidence of the burglary.

The good girl alerted her handler, Investigator Michael Cornwell, of the presence of an accelerant and labs confirmed later that Millie’s nose had not failed her.

Something interesting to note about ATF dogs, they aren’t taught fun tricks such as “roll over” or “shake”, instead, to keep her focused, she is only taught what she will need to use.

Investigator Cornwell says Millie is a part of his family and is very loved.

He says her favorite game to play is fetch with a tennis ball, even though she’s not quite as good at giving the ball back as she is at sniffing gasoline.