OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This A.M.BestTV episode examines State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company’s (State Farm) Arson Dog Program, where dogs are trained to sniff out accelerants, giving fire and law enforcement agencies a powerful weapon to fight arson and ultimately reduce claims.
Since its inception in 1993, State Farm’s arson dog program has trained more than 350 dogs in 44 states and three Canadian provinces.
“An arson dog is a resource in an investigator’s tool kit to help ascertain the possible source of an accelerant quicker than any other source, since the dog can identify 61 potential accelerants,” said Lee Laubach Jr., fire chief in Allentown, PA. Laubach Jr. added that since Allentown started using the arson dog, arsons have been reduced by 50%.
Dave Phillips, spokesperson for State Farm, addressed the cost factor.
“Insurance fraud is a $30 billion industry. Arson property losses alone in 2013 were $577 million to structures and $86 million to vehicles, which does not include the hundreds of lives lost and the thousands of injuries incurred,” said Phillips. “However, this program has helped to curtail tremendously fraud and arson across this nation in the last 20-plus years.”
Click here to view the entire video program: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=arson315.
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