After almost a decade of service, the State Fire Marshal’s Office is reporting K-9 officer Monty is headed into retirement.

Monty, a 10-year-old golden Labrador officially retired from service Friday, July 31. Monty joined the State Fire Marshal's Office in 2012.

According to the official press release, in 2017 Monty beat out almost 60 other K-9s from across the U.S. to receive the "ATF’s Top Dog" award.

From the press release -

K-9 Monty has served all across the state, but primarily in south Louisiana, alongside his handler Lt. Brian Mashon. Monty has assisted in determining the origin and cause of numerous fires, including suspected arson fires where his alerts led to evidence that resulted in arrests. Some of his most notable cases include a suspicious fatal fire in St. Helena Parish, an intentionally set fire at an occupied apartment complex in Slidell where children had to be rescued and the 2019 St. Landry church fires where Monty’s skills led investigators to discover the gas can used in one of the fires, which helped identify the suspect,and eventually connected that suspect to all three fires.

Monty will spending his retirement living with his handler Lt. Brian Mashon's family.

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