A NEW canine investigator is set to help firefighters understand the causes of blazes and why they have escalated.

Three-year-old Sprocker Spaniel, Fizz, is Essex County Fire and Rescue’s first ever fire investigation dog.

She will spend the next six months based at the urban search and rescue site in Lexden on a trial period and will help in cases of deliberate fire and potential arson.

The highly skilled pooch can identify some 30 flammable materials which in most cases are completely odourless to humans and is likely to become an invaluable asset in important cases.

Fizz has been trained by Essex Police and will now work with handler Graham Currie.

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Fire service bosses hope her skills will be a deterrent to potential arsonists.

The crime can be difficult to solve because fire can often destroy a lot of vital evidence.

Chief fire officer Jo Turton said anything which helped catch arsonists would definitely be a positive.

She said: “Introducing Fizz is a really positive step for our fire investigation process and protection work, which are both vital in making Essex a safe place to live, work and travel.

“Fizz will help us to understand more about how fires start and help inform our work to identify trends and prevent further similar incidents happening.

“Collaboration and working more closely with partners to provide a better service for the people of Essex is one of our priorities and this is another example of how we’re trying to do just that.”

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said it was a great example of partnership working between the emergency services.

He said: “We are so pleased to see that Fizz has her accreditation and will be joining the other fantastic dogs working across both the fire and rescue service and police force here in Essex.

“The collaboration shown here by both services, be it human or canine, really shows what we can achieve by working together.

“By using innovative ideas and working as one team we can keep more people safe and as well as preventing and detecting crime.

“We can’t wait to hear about Fizz’s future successes.”