Alabama arson dog scores conviction

The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) credits the successful conviction of an arson crime to “Blaze,” the agency’s arson dog. The AFC’s arson bloodhound, Blaze, was instrumental in the investigation and subsequent arrest of the perpetrator last year after several wildfires were set in the Stapleton area of Baldwin County. The dog was scented off evidence at a location where the suspect had been observed by eye witnesses, then tracked the scent to a house in which he was found. He pleaded guilty on May 4 to charges of reckless burning and was fined $1,000 and placed on two years probation.