Bucks Fire and Rescue Service's investigation dog Barney to retire (From Bucks Free Press)

Bucks Fire and Rescue Service's investigation dog Barney to retire

4:21pm Monday 6th September 2010 in

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A HERO rescue dog is hanging up his protective boots next week as he retires after nearly 300 fire investigations.

Barney, who has worked as fire investigation dog for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service for four years, makes his final public appearance at an open day at Bletchley Fire Station near Milton Keynes on Saturday.

Earlier this year Barney won the coveted Hero Dog title at the national Dogs Trust Honours ceremony in London after topping a readers’ poll in The Sun.

The black collie cross was adopted by handler Kerry McShane eight years ago from South Bucks RSPCA.

Kerry said: “He’s a true hero and such a good friend.”

Barney began life with her as a pet, training in obedience and agility before setting out on the road to becoming a fire investigation dog in September 2006.

Since then he has attended 286 fire scenes, wearing special boots to protect his feet and a reflective harness, throughout the Thames Valley.

Fire investigation dogs investigate fires to establish whether they have been started deliberately. They are trained to sniff out anything that an arsonist might use to start a fire, such as petrol or lighter fluid.

Dogs have a superior sense of smell to humans and can detect the presence of flammable fuels with greater sensitivity and accuracy than electronic equipment.

They can also search a large area quickly and efficiently without disturbing other important evidence, and reduce both the time an investigator spends on excavating and sampling fire debris and the number of samples required for expensive forensic testing.

Barney’s fire investigation certificate expires on Monday and he will return to being one of Kerry’s pets, making occasional appearances at open days as a fire safety and arson reduction ambassador.

He will be handing over his fire investigation responsibilities to Kerry’s four-year-old Labrador Ember, who has worked alongside them both for two years.