By Dana DiFilippo
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — Porsche couldn’t resist the smells.
First trained as a seeing-eye dog, the black Labrador got so distracted by all the delectable odors that the world had to offer that she flunked her certification.
But the vision-impaired community’s loss was the Philadelphia Fire Department’s gain. Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives trained her in accelerant detection, and Porsche went to work as an arson dog with city firefighters about five years ago.
“She just can’t stop sniffing - that’s the trait that breaks her [as a seeing-eye dog],” said Lt. Art Czajkowski, her handler. “But [the ATF] took this ‘deficiency’ and funneled it into this.”
“This” is a constantly twitching nose adept at detecting gasoline, kerosene, charcoal-lighter fluid and other substances used to intentionally set fires. Fire officials credit Porsche with helping pinpoint causes in more than 300 fires, including 100 arsons that caused $24 million in damage.
Tonight, she’ll be honored for her efforts at a tribute for “Hero Dogs.” The ceremony at the National Liberty Museum, 3rd and Chestnut streets, is part of a larger program celebrating police and firefighter heroes.
It’s the musuem’s fourth year honoring human heroes - 33 from the Delaware Valley will be saluted tonight - but its first year for the Hero Dog program.
Besides Porsche, two other Hero Dogs will be recognized: Sam, who patrols city prisons and conducted more than 5,000 narcotics searches in cells in 2007 and 2008; and Tag, who tracked and held two robbery suspects in Falls Township last fall, even though the thugs had fled into the woods at night in the rain.
Porsche doesn’t look like a hero, as first impressions go.
Allergies make her itchy, keeping her hind leg in constant scratching motion. When she runs to keep up with Czajkowski, she gracelessly slides past him like she’s on ice skates on the fire headquarter’s polished floors. And at 8, she’s old enough to need regular rest, curling up on the floor to nap whenever she’s not needed.
But the girl is good.
Just like her name, “she’s revved up and ready to go whenever we get to a fire scene,” Czajkowski said.
She helped authorities solve the arson spree that kept Coatesville burning for much of last year.
“She ruled out numerous areas where burn patterns resembled ignitable fluids,” said Deputy Chief Jim Bonner, the fire marshal who nominated Porsche as a hero dog. “It was determined that burned plastic caused the patterns, thus driving the investigators toward proving a fire-cause theory resulting in the arrest of three individuals.”
Porsche also recently helped investigators crack two arson-for-profit cases that caused more than $3 million in damage to commercial properties, Bonner said.
When she detects an accelerant, she sits at the spot and looks dolefully at Czajkowski. He rewards her with dog food.
“We get scenes where it’s been burning; our guys put thousands of gallons of water on it - there are layers and layers of debris. But [if there’s an accelerant there], she’ll find it,” Czajkowski said.
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