Equipped with nothing more than a lush fur coat and an impressive sense of smell, Erny walks through burnt debris in search of accelerants. As an arson detective, he takes his job quite seriously, although his wagging tail sometimes gives him away.

Richmond’s only arson dog, 5-year-old Erny has been sniffing out arson clues since 2020. The black Labrador-golden retriever mix has worked on over 100 cases so far, primarily in the city but also in Charlottesville, Henrico and Hanover.

After arriving at a scene, Erny quickly gets to work. He carefully sniffs the ground and surrounding objects in search of a possible accelerant. A scent connoisseur, Erny can naturally detect a variety of scents but is trained to specifically recognize ignitable liquids, particularly hydrogen carbon and petroleum.

If Erny gets a whiff of an accelerant, he immediately sits and points his nose at the source so Brian Acors, his handler, can mark it off with a golf tee.

“He can identify things a lot faster than us and keeps us out of the environment,” says Acors. “We see an increase in evidence collected when he works on a case.”

When Erny’s involved, most items sent to a lab come back more frequently with positive results compared to when he’s not. “He’s really able to help pinpoint collection locations,” says Acors.

And while it might surprise some, Erny needs no special equipment during his inspections. “He doesn’t wear anything,” says Acors. “People often ask about booties for his feet, but they’re naturally designed for balance and need to feel the ground.”

A life of service

Before arriving in Richmond, Erny began his career as a guide dog. “He started off as helping the blind and deaf,” says Acors. “You can imagine – as a dog with a drive for scent – that didn’t work out for him.”

Eventually, Erny went to work with a trainer in North Carolina who was associated with Maine Specialty Dogs, a renowned nationwide program that partners with State Farm to train accelerant detection canines. He was soon brought to Maine and assigned to Acors, an investigator with the Richmond Fire Investigations Unit since 2016.

While Acors was familiar with the Richmond Fire Department’s (RFD) accelerant dog program, Erny is the first that he’s partnered with. The RFD was awarded another State Farm Arson Dog Program grant when Pearl, the previous accelerant dog, passed away in 2019.

After connecting, both had to go through a 200-hour certification program and then be officially certified through the Maine State Police. Each year, the duo must travel back to Maine to be recertified.

The nose knows

Because Erny is a working dog, he must follow special requirements. One is to keep his nose in shape at all times – something that’s practiced with his meals.

Unlike police dogs that typically receive a play reward, Erny is given a food one. He only gets to eat when he uncovers accelerants. Because of this, Acors has to be creative so Erny can get his meals. “If we don’t have a fire today, we have to create scenarios for him,” says Acors. “We’ll put drops of certain odors throughout a building or house some days to train on different techniques.” Doing this not only keeps Erny’s stomach satisfied but makes sure that his training and scent distinguishing keeps building.

“He has to be able to discriminate between scents,” says Acors. “A house sofa cushion is built with petroleum products but Erny has to be able to distinguish between that and an accelerant.”

While he has a job and a specific meal plan, Erny otherwise gets to live like a normal dog. After a hard day’s work, the two return to Acors’ home where Erny unwinds and happily mingles with his family.

The State Farm Arson Dog Program is just one of a few accelerant canine detection projects in the nation. It awards grants to fire departments looking to have an arson dog.

Most arson-detection dogs are Labrador retrievers. The breed has a remarkable sense of smell thanks to their larger nose, making them perfect for the job. A dog’s nose typically has up to 300 million olfactory receptors which help them discover scents that can escape humans.

But Erny’s breed makes him a bit more special. “He’s got the intellect of a golden retriever and the working drive of a Lab,” says Acors. “Trainers say if they could have a whole class of this breed they would.”

For 25 years, the RFD has worked with accelerant dogs. The department previously had four who were brought to the city in coordination with the State Farm program. A memorial was unveiled at Church Hill’s Station 1 in October 2023 to commemorate the hard work of these dogs and their handlers – a legacy Erny helps happily continue one sniff at a time.