Union County Fire Marshal And K-9 Retire Together

UNION COUNTY – “I think it is absolutely awesome that instead of a gold watch or a proclamation, I get a big yellow buddy.”

Union County Fire Marshal Kevin Rigoli is finally hanging up his hat after serving the area since 1991. He tells WCCB’s Emma Mondo that emergency service runs in his family.

“My mom and dad, they were members of a volunteer fire department in our community,” says Rigoli, “and I had grown up sleeping nights on the floor as my mom ran the radio.”

When he left the army after serving in Desert Storm, he came back and joined the Mineral Springs Fire Department. In 1995, Rigoli was hired by Monroe Public Safety, and did police and fire work until the department split in 2000. Rigoli chose to follow the flames.

“The fire was my passion. I followed that, worked my way up through the fire department,” Rigoli says, “was the fire marshal for the city of Monroe until 2015, and then got lucky enough to get this job with the county.”

After becoming the Union County Fire Marshal in 2015, fire Marshal really gained a very special partner.

Camden is a nine year old yellow lab trained as an ignitable liquid canine, better known as an arson dog. Rigoli says that they are one of  60 arson teams in the united states.

“He is trained to detect ignitable liquids, things like kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel,” Rigoli says. “He can smell less than a thimbleful on a football field and put us on it within just a couple of seconds.”

Rigoli tells Mondo that Camden was originally trained to be a seeing eye dog, but he got a little curious and stuck his nose in  a garbage can, as most pups tend to do. After that, he wasn’t allowed to be a seeing eye dog, so the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took him in and trained him as an arson dog.

“He became an unrestricted free agent, and he’s been he’s been an all pro every year ever since,” Rigoli says.

Rigoli says he’s ready to start retirement on the 31st with his best friend by his side.

“He and I are looking forward at the end of this month when I retire to a life of leisure, sitting on a dock, doing a little bit of volunteer work here and there, listening to Jimmy Buffett and praying for the Browns to win a Super Bowl.”