WOODIE the springer spaniel has been sworn in as the region’s newest fire dog after passing his exam with flying colours.

Search dog Woodie, who is 16-months-old, was officially welcomed to County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service yesterday.

He has been in training since the summer and will replace the service’s current fire dog, Scrappy, a cocker spaniel, who is due to retire next May.

Fire investigations manager Lee Aspery, who is handler to both Woodie and Scrappy, said: “He started in mid August with his searching. Ordinarily we would start with behaviour and obedience but he’s so good at searching we didn’t want to hold him back.

“He’s been doing amazingly. He had his licence test last week and he sailed through that. You would think he’s been doing it for six years.”

He added: “Scrappy has had six years of service and he’s been amazing so he’s going to retire and become a pet.”

Woodie’s job is to carry out cold searches of fire scenes and find evidence.

Chief fire officer Stuart Errington said: “There are a couple of reasons we have these dogs. First of all when we’re trying to tackle arson, which is a growing problem not just in Durham but nationally, we need to work out whether there’s evidence of it being an accidental fire or a deliberate one.

“The other is that they help us get our safety messages out, especially to children, and they go to a lot of school events and fetes.

“We have a good reputation for being one of the leading services in the country for fire investigation. It’s a really demanding course they have to go through because the evidence they find might be used in court for a criminal conviction.”

Six-year-old Scrappy, a cocker spaniel, is retiring as he is starting to show signs of arthritis.