A Nose for Arson : T-Shirt Campaign Supports 4-Legged Detective

When investigator Jesse points his nose and then sits down at the scene of a possible arson fire, it’s a safe bet that flammable liquids are close by.

Since Jesse went to work for Fullerton in September, the Labrador retriever has sniffed out and signaled potential signs of arson at more than half a dozen fires.

But Jesse, the county’s only arson detection dog, doesn’t come free, and Fullerton doesn’t have the money to support him. That explains why Jesse T-shirts, bearing his mug, began appearing on human supporters throughout the city this week.

Fullerton officials are selling them to raise money to maintain the 2-year-old arson detective, who lives with his handler, firefighter Chuck Czuleger, in Dana Point.

Czuleger estimated that the annual cost of maintaining Jesse and his special canine car totals $10,000.

Most of the six dozen Jesse shirts, at $15 for adults and $13 for children, that went on sale this week have already been sold, and officials said they will order 10 dozen more next week.

“The neighborhood kids here love Jesse,” said Czuleger, who also raises and trains guide dogs for the blind with his wife. “They’ve been hounding me for those T-shirts. They’re wearing them, and they’re not even from Fullerton.”

Jesse has investigated about 25 fires in the county, he said. In more than half of those, the black pup pointed and sat to indicate flammable liquid was present. Citations in those cases are pending, officials said.

“He’s been a very valuable asset and a real excellent public relations tool for the city, especially at fire prevention education activities with schoolchildren,” Fullerton spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer Mudrick said. “He loves people. He loves kids.”

But Jesse’s employment with the city almost did not happen because of tight budgets.

It was Czuleger’s idea to get him last year after reading about arson detection dogs in other cities. There are eight such dogs in California, two of them working for the state fire marshal’s office.

When Czuleger proposed such a dog for Fullerton, the closest one to Orange County was in Ventura County, the firefighter said.

City Council members told Czuleger it was a good idea but there was no money. So he started writing to community groups and local businesses.

The response was overwhelming. Not only did people donate enough money to buy and train Jesse and to renovate an old detective car into a canine unit, some--such as Fullerton veterinarian Richard S. Glassberg and Iams Pet Foods--also volunteered services and products for Jesse’s upkeep.

“It’s really quite remarkable what Chuck accomplished, and we were in business,” said Mudrick, Fullerton’s spokeswoman.

Now the Fullerton Firefighters Assn. has funded the printing and design bearing Jesse’s portrait by Fullerton artist Dan Minamide. Each T-shirt also comes with a letter from Jesse thanking the buyer and explaining the program.

Kate Bredthauer, 8, who lives on Czuleger’s block, said she has bought shirts for herself and her girlfriends at school.

She and a 6-year-old neighbor, Kevin Brown, were wearing their Jesse shirts Friday afternoon and playing with him in front of Czuleger’s house.

“Do you have more shirts?” Brown asked the dog’s handler. “My grandmother wants one.”