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On March 15, 1999, Detectives Whitaker and Merrill, with Accelerant Detection Canine Deacon, assisted Tillamook Police and Fire Departments in their investigation of an apartment building fire in Tillamook. According to the confession of one of the suspects, a gasoline-soaked rag and a quantity of gasoline was deposited on the floor of the utility room and poured out through an exterior door. Then it was ignited with open flame. A pile of refuse along side the building was also involved, and Deacon alerted in the area. It is not known if this was an additional start of if the fire communicated to the site from the utility room. OSP´s investigation provided collaborating evidence to support information received by Tillamook Police, which led to the arrest of the suspects. The resulting damage was significant due to the building´s balloon construction, which allowed for fire spread to the second story areas. While no one was severely injured, 30 people lost their homes and all of their belongings.
Dogs like Deacon can locate .01 micro liter of 50 percent evaporated gasoline 100 percent of the time. That´s about a thousandth of a drop of liquid. He is able to alert his handler to several different fuels, including diesel, lacquer thinner, gas, charcoal lighter fuel, or camp-stove fuel. He has two methods of alert. When he first finds an accelerant, he will sit. The he begins wagging his tail and attempts to make eye contact with his handler. What he´s waiting for, is to be fed.
Following his initial training with The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and subsequent five-week training with his handler, Deacon received training on a daily basis through a food reward program, receiving food directly from his handler only when he was successful at finding accelerants. He was also required to attend a weeklong recertification program each year he worked for the department.
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The Arson/Explosives Section received a request for retirement from Senior Trooper Deacon and a party was held to honor the department´s first Accelerant Detective Canine. Deacon, an eight-year-old, highly-trained Black Lab, had served the Arson/Explosives Section since 1994.
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Deacon brought his expertise to a number of exciting and challenging cases throughout his term of employment with OSP, averaging between 25-30 arson-suspected scenes each year. While attending his recertification program in the fall of 1999, he and his handler, Mark Merrill, were set to Vail Colorado, to investigate a high dollar loss fire at the Vail Resort. Following their investigation, the team received a letter of appreciation from the Bureau of
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their contribution to the investigation.
Now that he is retired, Deacon can eat what he wants, when he wants, and his immediate plans are to get plump and lazy. While he won´t be attending to anymore fire scenes, he wasn´t ready to completely cut himself off from his friends at the Department. He is now a member of Detective Merrill´s family and still drops in at District I Headquarters to alert to handouts from his former colleagues.
Editor's Note: Accelerant Detection Canine Deacon passed away in 2003. He is greatly missed by his family and former colleagues.
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