22-05-2025
Community partners with EFD to raise $15k in fire dog purchase
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — The community of Evansville is helping raise $15,000 to help purchase a fire dog.
Fire dogs can be used for a number of things: community events, helping those through emergency situations, and identifying liquids in fires. The Evansville Fire Department hasn't used one in 5 years, but that's now changing.
Moore says, 'We do hundreds of fire investigations every year and the dog is just a tool that we will use, that we can use to help collect samples to send off to the lab to determine if ignitable liquids are used in the fire. So, basically it's just a tool to help us determine the cause of the fire.'
Pet Food Center on Green River Road is leading the charge, hosting a community day to raise both awareness and donations. Owner Michael Stepto says, raising money for a dog is a natural fit — noting how the business's mission is centered around animals.
Stepto says, 'We were happy to help accommodate that. We got in touch with several sponsors that we knew would be on board with us and I reached out to a couple friends and those type of things, and everybody was pretty excited about it because it benefits everybody.'
The day will have food trucks and kids activities, all to raise the remaining five thousand Patrick Moore says, it's exciting to know the community wants to help, knowing how a fire dog can help with each agency in the city.
Moore says, 'If we have a fire in a living room and we go in there and the dog alerts on something, we can take a sample and send to the lab and the lab can say, you know, there was diesel or kerosene poured in the area. Well, that's just one more tool that we can use to put everything back together to solve, you know, the crime and see if a crime has been committed.'
EFD says it plans to buy a Labrador, around a year old, with the funds helping to pay for specialized training.
Any amount over the $15,000 will go towards future expenses for the dog.
The community day will be June 7 from 12 p.m. through 3 p.m. at Pet Food Center on Green River Road.
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