Publish Date: 5/31/2007
Vested interest
Class raises money to buy K-9 protection
By Holly Bass
The Daily Times-Call
LONGMONT — Hard work and determination finally paid off for the students of CentralElementary School Wednesday.
They presented Shadow, an accelerant detection K-9 with the Longmont Fire Department, with a protective vest that cost $1,200.
“We fell in love with Shadow and decided we wanted to take him on as our project for the year,” said Janie Gillies, a fifth-grade teacher and student council adviser.
Both Gillies and Kelly Sanseverino, a first-grade teacher and student council adviser, wanted to help Shadow get his vest after he visited their school earlier in the school year.
To buy the vest, students sold lollipops to teachers, parents and other students.
“We set up after school and had all different types of suckers,” Athena Herman, fifth-grade student council president, said.
They also sold hot dogs and hamburgers at the school’s carnival.
Student council members presented Shadow with his new vest Wednesday during an assembly, and Shadow’s owner, Longmont firefighter Mike Manzo, talked to the kids about how Shadow helps firefighters detect where a fire started by smelling ignitable liquids.
The vest, made from Kevlar 129, will protect Shadow’s vital organs from scrapes and slashes when he is at a fire investigation. For example, a vest would have come in handy when Shadow investigated a fatal fire in Fort Collins where Manzo had to carry Shadow up a ladder to the second floor of a building, Manzo said.
“We also think Shadow will look really cool in his new vest.” said Jesus Cervantes, fifth-grade representative on the student council.
The vest also has a built-in lamp and rings on the sides that allow Shadow to be lifted into buildings.
But the coolest part, Manzo said, is the tag inside the new vest that reads, “LF Shadow, generously donated by Central Elementary.”
Shadow is certified by the Maine State Police as an accelerant-detection K-9. The 6-year-old yellow Labrador retriever has been certified for five years. Shadow is trained to show Manzo where the fire started using a food-reward system. Shadow uses his nose to point to the spot and then receives a treat for his work.
Shadow is one of three dogs in Colorado certified to assist in a fire investigation and one of 200 in the United States. Shadow and Manzo assist in 120 fire investigations each year, and they’ve helped arrest more than 100 arsonists throughout Colorado and Wyoming in the past five years.
“I think it was great the kids took on a project like this for school,” Manzo said.
Holly Bass can be reached at 303-684-5336, or by e-mail at .