Local firefighter Eric Siwik has been selected to work with the new four-legged team member joining the Wyoming State Fire Marshal’s Office this year from the federal Accelerant and Explosives Detection Canines program.
The dog is one of eight canines in the AEDC program that are “ready to meet their handler and complete (their) training,” WSFMO public information officer Nick Hudson said in a press release this week, calling it a “great honor” to receive one of the animals in Wyoming.
“We couldn’t be more proud and honored for this opportunity,” Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety director Byron Mathews said.
Any of the WSFMO’s “top-notch investigators” could have been selected to partner with the detection dog, Mathews noted, but Siwik has “the ideal temperament and experience to excel as a canine handler.”
Siwik is a “veteran fire investigator and trainer” with more than 10 years of experience in the field, Hudson said this week – plus, “he has been around other working dogs before, and he himself is a dog owner.”
He currently serves as the training coordinator at the Wyoming Fire Academy in Riverton, and he is a volunteer firefighter in Lander – as is Hudson.
Training trip
Siwik will meet his new partner next month when he travels to Virginia for a six-week training session with the animal at the federal Canine Training Center, Hudson said, adding that the WSFMO plans to “follow Eric and his partner on our facebook page” throughout the process.
After their training is complete, Hudson said the duo will “return home to work together on fire investigations.”
“(It’s) a tremendous asset for our state,” he said. “All fire departments in the state that have fires and suspect arson or the use of accelerants will benefit.”
Siwik and his canine will also be able to perform accelerant detection missions in the surrounding area and join federal response teams on fire-related callouts as needed, Hudson said.
For more information call the WSFMO at (307) 777-7288.