HUMPHREYS COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reports with a heavy heart.
This morning Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office car No. 520 (K-9 Unit) was parked at the courthouse while K-9 Deputy Sheriff Shawn Gary was inside on business.
While parked the patrol vehicle had some type of electrical short, and a fire started in the dashboard area.
Sheriff’s K-9 Ciro — a five-year-old German Shepherd certified in patrol and narcotics — was inside the vehicle.
A citizen saw the smoking car and alerted deputies, who immediately tried rescuing the dog.
Unfortunately, fire disabled the electric locks so they could not open the doors.
Deputies then broke out windows and attempted to pry the security bars off the window frames to access the dog.
Sadly, by the time K-9 Ciro was reached, he had succumbed to smoke inhalation.
K-9 Ciro was transported to Waverly Animal Clinic, where Ciro was pronounced deceased.
Two deputies were treated and released from Three Rivers Hospital after suffering 2nd-degree burns and smoke inhalation in the attempted rescue of K-9 Ciro.
The patrol vehicle was equipped with an electronic alarm system that was supposed to alert the deputy’s pager and sound an audible siren in such events.
The system failed to function.
