Nick the arson dog helps fire investigators across the Northland

By Beth Jett & photojournalist John Thain, FOX 21 News

It's been a summer of arson fires all over the Northland, leaving investigators sifting through charred structures to find answers.

A four-legged investigator from Cloquet travels around the state sniffing out clues - with impressive accuracy.

On the scene of a suspcious fire, when the evidence may not be clear, Nick the arson dog can make the difference.

Gordy Meagher of the Cloquet Fire Department has been Nick's handler and partner for the last 9 1/2 years. Nick came to him through the State Farm Insurance Arson Dog Program, which rescues dogs, like nick.

"[Nick] was found in Chicago; he was running around the railroad tracks and got put in the pound," Meagher said. "He was very underweight, malnutritioned ... he was to be put down."

Nick was 3 years old then. Now he's 12, he's healthy and he's Minnesota's only nationally certified arson dog.

Meagher says Nick can sniff out mere traces of up 70 different kinds of accelerants and can find things his human counterparts can't - just as he did at a business fire in southern Minnesota, where crews were looking for a gasoline-filled jug.

"They looked two days, and we were down there for six or seven minutes and found it," he said.

Meagher says Nick's sense of detection is stronger than laboratories and can stand up in court when lab results are inconclusive.

And he doesn't even need to be on the scene to do his work.

"We have fire departments sending us samples continuously that they pull out," Meagher said. "St. Cloud does that a lot. They have a fire and instead of having me come down, they just pull their samples and send 'em up and have Nick go over them, to see if they found something or not."

But this is Nick's last year on the job.

"The hearing's going a little bit, the eyesight is not as good anymore and it's time for him to be a dog," Meagher said.

That means the closest arson dog available to authorities would be in Beloit, Wis., unless a closer department picks up the program.

"It's $20,000 and State Farm Insurance pays all that so the departments aren't paying anything of that $20,000," Meagher said.

State Farm's Arson Dog Program pays for the dogs, five weeks of training, and transportation for handlers.

They've talked with Duluth police, who declined the offer, saying that with two narcotics dogs retiring this year, they need multi-purpose dogs and can't afford to lose an officer long enough to get the required training.

The Hermantown Fire Department has been approached, but their's is a volunteer fire department, and the handler must be a full-time firefighter or police officer.

So until Dec. 31, Nick will stay on the job, sniffing out things only a canine's nose is strong enough to detect. Nick will remain Meagher's pet after retirement.

"It's time to let somebody else do this," Meagher said. "He's been a wonderful partner. I'm gonna miss him immensely."