The Columbus Division of Fire has announced today that a 3-year-old arson K9 named Baxter died on Tuesday.

Baxter, a black lab from North Carolina, was Columbus Fire K9 Handler Lew Smith’s partner.

“Baxter died while doing what he loved best, which was playing Frisbee,” said Smith of his partner.

The pair would both exercise at Berliner Sports Park before their shifts at Fire Station 3 just across Greenlawn Avenue.

Baxter collapsed suddenly after retrieving his Frisbee. Preliminary results of an autopsy suggests that Baxter died of natural causes.

“It was just so sudden. I was shocked, naturally. But I can’t imagine a happier way to go. He was a rescue dog, not quite a pure breed. My wife says his 18 months with us was surely the happiest days of his life,” said Smith.

He graduated from the division’s accelerant detection program on June 9, 2017.

Baxter was trained by the division’s K9 unit before graduating from the State of Ohio’s K9 certification program 18 months ago.

He has worked alongside Smith, and lived with Smith and his wife Karen. Smith will bring his former K9 partner Paz out of retirement after six-and-a-half years of service to resume his duties after undergoing re-certification testing this week.

Our thoughts go out to Firefighter Smith and his family for the loss of his partner and family member, fire officials said.

Fire officials have already become searching for a new dog.

“Unfortunately, you can’t just go to the store and pick up a dog that can perform under the conditions they endure working for us. They’re exposed to a lot, but must stay focused,” said Smith.

Bringing Paz, Lou’s partner for almost seven years, out of retirement was surprisingly easy, considering he’s learned the simple pleasures of hanging out a home all day for over a year.

“Whenever I would work with Baxter at home, Paz would watch and try and jump in. He’s a little heavier now, but he’s steady. He knows the game, though he works at a more relaxed pace, unlike a younger dog,” said Smith.

The Division of Fire has two K9’s trained in detecting explosives, and a single dog, now Paz, trained to detect accelerants at fire scenes.

Arson dogs are trained to detect nine different petroleum-based odors frequently used in arson fires, including gasoline, diesel fuel, lamp oil, kerosene, lighter fluid, charcoal fluid, paint thinner, camping fuel and distillate-based stain removers.

The dogs begin the “imprinting” process by repetition; with the trainer giving the “seek” command followed by offering the dog a whiff of a minute trace of gasoline (10 microliters, or about a quarter of a drop) which simulates the remaining residue after a hot structure fire. The K9 in training receives a lump of food as a reward each time he “sits” to indicate detection.

The Division of Fire has been training dogs to assist in arson investigations and bomb detection duties since 2006.

Last year, the Division’s arson dog has assisted in 140 investigations, while a pair of explosive detection dogs have worked at 375 incidents and events, including Red, White & Boom, the Columbus Marathon, Pelotonia, Columbus Crew, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ohio State Buckeye sporting events, plus many high profile political candidate visits to Columbus.