A nose for arsonists

A nose for arsonists

Australia could follow a US example and train bloodhounds to track down – and deter – people who start fires

By Bernice Han

While arson hasn’t been a major problem in Australia this fire season, in the US state of West Virginia deliberately lit wildfires in forested areas used to be a very serious issue. Up until 1994, arson-caused fires made up more than half the blazes that broke out every year during the peak wildfire seasons – March to May and October to December.

The numbers have since steadily declined to less than half, thanks to the recruitment of bloodhounds, a breed of dog with a legendary reputation for following days-old human scent trails over long distances.

Under a novel program started in 1994 by the West Virginia Division of Forestry, its Special Operations and Enforcement Unit has been deploying bloodhounds to hunt down firebugs.

A bloodhound has about 300 million scent receptors, making it a million times more sensitive than a human’s nose and also more than any other dog breed.

“The reason we utilise bloodhounds is their ability to track and discriminate scents over long and very old distances,” John Bird tells Insurance News. He is West Virginia’s Assistant State Forester, investigator and bloodhound handler, based in Charleston with the Division of Forestry.

“Our Appalachian demographic is very rural, so it’s hard to find witnesses to arson,” he says. “They won’t tell anyone for fear of getting burnt out, so we had to have something to actually take us to the person behind the fire.

“The bloodhounds are such a vital tool in how we investigate – plus it’s a deterrent.”

Richard Woods, director of an international wildfire investigation company based in Canberra, believes a similar arson-tracking bloodhound program could work in Australia.

He spent a week with Mr Bird in May last year studying the program, and came away hugely impressed.

Mr Woods, who is also an adjunct associate lecturer in wildfire investigation with Charles Sturt University in Adelaide, has prepared a paper on the West Virginia program that is about to be published.

He attended a testing day where several teams and their bloodhounds were given wildfire case scenarios requiring them to track “suspects” through the scent trails in rural and urban areas.

Each bloodhound correctly identified the targets, even with simulations that required them to work in public areas with heavy human traffic. In one exercise the bloodhound tracked down the right “suspect” who was many miles away in a building located in an industrial area.

“The dog knew the specific scent it was after,” Mr Woods tells Insurance News. On another occasion, he was driven to a remote area that had been previously targeted by an arsonist who was tracked down by one of the bloodhounds and later convicted in court. The bloodhound had trekked many miles, following the scent trail, to find the suspect who was at home when he was apprehended.

“I think the lesson for Australia is the program should be considered because it gives another opportunity for prevention and detection of arsonists, and it’s been very successful,” Mr Woods says.

“The program has been going for more than 20 years. They used to suffer wildfires in the thousands per year and now it’s down to the hundreds.

“When it comes to preventing arson there isn’t a silver bullet solution, and this program is not a silver bullet. There is a whole range of strategies that are used to detect bushfire arsonists and this program is an opportunity to look at a further option.”

About 13% of bushfires in Australia are deliberately lit and 37% suspicious, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology. The numbers are based on data collected from 1995 to 2006. A spokesman for the institute tells Insurance News recent statistics are not available.

In New South Wales, police say the 2019/2020 bushfire season has so far seen 24 people in the state facing arson charges.

In many cases, information from the public has proved crucial in the apprehension of suspects. New technologies have also become assets for fire investigators.

Mr Woods says the bloodhound handlers in West Virginia are also experienced fire investigators.

“Their ability to interpret a wildfire scene is essential to tracking the arsonists responsible.

“As we have seen this summer in Australia, the damage and loss caused through uncontrolled bushfires has had a devastating impact on lives and communities. Any initiatives to reduce bushfire ignitions should be considered.”