Capt. Carrie Neff

Captain Carrie Henger Neff, 54, died on March 5, 2010 at 1:30 a.m. after a 4 & 1/2 year battle with ovarian cancer, which was service-related. On May 18, 2010, the Los Angeles County Fire Department honored her and her K-9 partner, Sprocket, on what would would have been both of their birthdays. Carrie Henger Neff was the first woman in the LA County Fire Department’s Honor Guard. Her first K-9 partner was Spanner and was certified in accelerant detection and was a duel purpose dog. At the time Spanner was the only one that they were 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 and 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 and served 18 years. 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. 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. 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. Carrie was a past director of the Canine Accelerant Detection Association and trained with them for many years. She also was a member of the North American Police Work Dog Association. She also was honored as WeTIP’s Fire Investigator of the Year. Carrie and Bob had celebrated their first wedding anniversary just a few weeks before on Feb. 14, 2010. Carrie chose to be cremated. Carrie is survived by her husband, Bob Neff, also a fellow Captain that retired from the City of Riverside Fire Department. Donations can be made to the Humane Society of Moab Valley.