Captain Carrie Henger Neff - The Memorialization of A K-9 Fire Service Leader

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On May 18, 2010, the Los Angeles County Fire Department honored two of their own, Captain Carrie Henger Neff and her K-9 partner, Sprocket, on what would would have been both of their birthdays. Carrie Henger Neff, the first woman in the LA County Fire Department's Honor Guard, passed away at the age of 54 on March 5, 2010, after a 4 & 1/2 year battle with ovarian cancer, which was service-related. She passed away with her husband, Bob Neff, a fellow Captain that retired from the City of Riverside Fire Department, at her side. Carrie and Bob had celebrated their first wedding anniversary just a few weeks before on Feb. 14. Bob was introduced to Carrie by her neighbors after she had begun chemotherapy treatments.

"As we come together to give thanks and praise to a God, who allowed for such a short time, Carrie and Sprocket to touch our lives," said Chaplain Dawn Marie Lafferty with the Fire Service Women of New York State. Carrie was honored at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, California, a place that was extremely special to her. This is where she received her Captain's badge of promotion, and where she held the memorial service for her first K-9 partner, Spanner, after he was killed.

Susan De Antonio, a Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department K9 Handler says of Carrie and Spanner, "She went to the effort to accelerate detection certify him, she imprinted him, and he was actually a dual purpose dog. And it's the only one that we are aware of in the United States that could actually do both and be accepted as an expert in court for arson." After the death of Spanner, Carrie chose Sprocket as her new canine partner. She also worked with Doc, her search and rescue dog, and partner in California Task Force 2. At the end of his career, Sprocket was also diagnosed with cancer, a tumor in his spleen, which caused severe pain. Her husband Bob made the difficult decision to put Sprocket down just a week after Carried died.

Carrie was a pioneer, helping to develop the LA County Fire Department's K9 program. "Today, we have eight certified K9 Handlers in the LA County Department," explains Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, "and we are interviewing four additional firefighter handlers to expand that program."

Carrie's love for animals was a constant throughout her life. Before going into the fire service, she trained many animals for movies and television shows. According to her sister, Owen Anderson, when Carrie went into the fire service, she learned what a key element the service dogs play for arson and search and rescue, which was a perfect way for her to use her two passions. She dedicated her career to the development of service dog programs within the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

"I think really her commitment and her vision of using K9's as partners and firefighters, carried her to special accomplishments," claims Chief Freeman. Carrie's last deployment was with her search dog Doc at Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When teams were being deployed to Haiti in January, Carrie was retired, but saw her vision become a reality when the dogs from L.A. County Fire Department, along with other departments, were able to locate human life beneath the rubble.

Chief Freeman adds, "Carrie was truly one of our departments visionaries and she will always be remembered for giving our firefighters another great option for saving lives: the K-9."


Author:Barbara Brooks - Video, Renée Marquart - Text