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Arson dog not allowed in Wash. firehouses

Officials won’t allow him to keep Allie with him while on duty because of fellow employees’ concerns about allergies to pet dander

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PT Leader

BRINNON, Wash. — Come July, Brinnon Fire Department Chief Patrick Nicholson and 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever Allie are to be Washington’s only certified arson detection team.

Nicholson, who also works about 10 days a month as a firefighter with East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR), returned May 8 from a five-week training program in Alfred, Maine, where he and Allie became a team certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

“It was pretty intense,” Nicholson said of the State Farm Insurance–sponsored Arson Dog Program, for which he had received a $25,000 scholarship to attend. “I was the only person there from west of the Mississippi. They told me that the Spokane arson dog plans to retire this year [in July], which would leave Allie and I as the only team in the state.”

Full story: Arson dog Allie not allowed in firehouse

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