Allegheny County Fire Marshal's office announces new K-9, Pluto
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Allegheny County Fire Marshal's office now has a new accelerant detection K-9.
Cheif Matt Brown announced the graduation of Pluto, who joined the department last month to replace Bailey, who retired in October.
Pluto will serve as part of the Allegheny County Fire Marshal's office.
"The Allegheny County Fire Marshal's office has a long history with the ATF and the accelerant K-9 and handler certification. The skills and expertise these teams work daily to maintain and provide throughout their career are critical to many of our fire investigations," Brown said. "We are excited about adding Pluto to our staff and thankful to Bailey for his years of professional service. We are equally proud and thankful to Deputy Fire Marshal Michele Gregory who has now served as a handler to two ACFM K-9."
Gregory and Bailey had worked to investigate the cause of fire in Allegheny County and throughout western Pennsylvania since April 2015 and over the course of Bailey's career, the K-9 helped investigate more than 600 fires.
Pluto is a 17-month-old yellow English Labrador Retriever and on Friday, November 18, Pluto and Gregory completed their training and graduated from the ATF National Canine Division, Accelerant Detection Handler Course #141.
The duo is also part of the ATF National Response Team and could be called to assist in large-scale investigations throughout the U.S.
Pluto is the fifth Accelerant Division Canine for the office and four ATF-certified ADC.
