The use of Fire Investigation Dogs is now a widely accepted as a major benefit to the Fire Investigator, in locating traces of ignitable liquids remaining at any fire scene under investigation. A Fire Investigation Dog is used to search through the debris and damage of a fire scene to locate any remaining traces of ignitable liquids present. It remains the task of the Fire Investigator to determine the relevance of any finds by the dog. The dogs should be capable of recognising all of the readily available ignitable liquids, for example petrol, diesel, paraffin, barbeque lighter fuel, camping fuel, cigarette lighter fuel, white spirit, cellulose thinners and acetone. Theses are all substances likely to be encountered. Once the dogs have acquainted skills to identify these materials it is highly likely that it will react to any other similar substances it encounters.

A Fire Investigation Dog can cover a large area in a very short space of time with a degree of accuracy that is unlikely to be replicated by any other means. The dog must be capable of operating in the hostile environment found at the majority of post incident fires.