Please Welcome K-9 Camden #317
Please welcome K-9 “Camden” to our Project K-9 Hero Pack as our 317th program member. Camden served as an ATF Certified Accelerant Detection Canine with Union County Emergency Services, in North Carolina, from December of 2016 until January of 2024.
Camden was deployed and worked at over 500 fire scenes throughout the Southeastern United States during his career, to include North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. K-9 Camden was also deployed for seven ATF National Response Team (NRT) activations. One of those NRT activations was during the QVC warehouse fire that occurred in December of 2022. This fire is the largest in the history of the State of NC and resulted in one death.
Camden's first fire in his home county occurred in January of 2017, where one civilian fire fatality occurred and four law enforcement officers were injured while attempting to rescue the occupants of the home prior to fire department arrival. While conducting the investigation, Camden provided a positive alert to the bottom hem of the pajamas being worn by the seventeen year old granddaughter of the deceased fire victim. The positive alert provided by Camden was mentioned during the interview with the granddaughter, which led to her confession.
In addition to fire responses, Camden was utilized by the ATF during the two-week fire investigations basic training portion for new agents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) six times. In addition to his work with federal fire investigations, Camden also was utilized by the NC Office of State Fire Marshal to teach fire investigations in the NC Fire Investigation Technician class more than twenty times.
Recently, Camden's primary care physician has been working to determine why he has developed a skin condition that looks like plaque psoriasis, with open sores and fur loss. He was referred to an animal dermatologist group, and he just had his first appointment with them. The attending physician believes that Camden may be suffering from epitheliotrophic lymphoma. Three biopsies were taken and sent to the lab be examined. While we don’t have the results back yet, that visit alone was in excess of $1,100. The amount of care and bills that lie ahead for Camden are unknown at this point.
After his service, the department nor the ATF covers his medical bills. Regardless of his outstanding service, all of these costs now become the responsibility of his still actively-serving Handler, a monetary amount that would be a financial burden on any first responder. Due to his very immediate medical needs, today we are placing K-9 Camden into our program so we can cover all future office visits, medications, and surgeries at 100%, for the rest of his life.
Welcome to the pack, K-9 Camden! PK9H is here to protect you after all you have done to protect the State of North Carolina and surrounding communities
Our Medical Fund will help ensure that we always have medical bill payments for Heroes like Camden. Please donate today to continue supporting our life-saving abilities.
