Riverview Fire and Rescue’s newest recruit is a seven-month-old miniature goldendoodle named Tanker.
As a trained therapy dog, he has a very important role on the team by helping the crew manage their mental health.
“Sometimes we come back from medical calls, fire calls. The calls could be tragic, could be nothing,” Lt. Dave Murray told Global News on Wednesday.
“Every call that we get, sooner or later we put them in a shoebox. Well, that shoebox sooner or later gets too full.”
Tanker can smell when people get stressed, which can identify who needs help.
Murray said Tanker also helps just by playing with the crew.
“He’s very calm…. He just kinda gives you that stress relief so it’s really good and the guys seem to enjoy him too,” Murray said.
Andrew Ashford, the owner of Truro, N.S.-based fire equipment cleaning service Clean Heroes, decided to make Tanker his own bunker jacket after seeing Riverview Fire and Rescue’s posts about him on social media.
“The idea that we had was let’s make something that makes it like this animal is part of the team, is part of the crew,” he said in an interview.
A former firefighter himself, he is pleased to see more fire halls take proactive measures to manage first responder mental health.
He made Tanker’s jacket using the coat of a retired Riverview firefighter.
“This is a jacket that’s been on the back of one of their firefighters, it’s been in these stressful situations, it’s been worn, it’s been used, and we think that makes it a little more special,” he said.
This is the first bunker jacket he’s ever made for a dog.
He sent it to Riverview Fire and Rescue free of charge, thinking of it as a fun project.
He said since posting pictures of the jacket on social media, he’s received requests for therapy dog bunker jackets from as far as Illinois.
“It makes me a little emotional, the amount of feedback we’ve had from it,” he said.
Murray said he was “over-the-moon excited” to see Bunker’s jacket when Ashford first approached him about it.
“It’s amazing, it looks just like little fire gear…. He did a really good job,” he said.
Bunker primarily stays with Murray in the evenings while he is finishing his training.
Murray said he is expected to move into the fire hall full-time around June.