We're familiar with dogs who sniff out drugs being smuggled across the border, and bombs which are being smuggled into a building, and the San Antonio Fire Department has dogs that can sniff out the cause of an arson fire, News Radio 1200 reports.
Today, the SAFD showed off their newest fire dog, a one year old Lab named Jenna, that the department's third, which Firefighter Justin Davis says is highly trained to use her super smeller to discover the cause of fires.
"The dogs are trained to find petroleum based hydrocarbons," Davis said. "That's what we're looking for, the things the bad guys use to start a fire."
He says the dogs have been proven invaluable in helping identify arson and catch arsonists.
"The dogs are trained to go to the exact spot, and where their nose comes off the floor, that's where we collect a sample from."
He says the dogs also perform another function. Davis says they are invaluable in helping teach kids about fire safety.