A dog is a man's best friend except if you are an arsonist and you come up against Ben, a retreiver, and Storm, a labrador, the latest additions to the Belfast fire service.

The dogs are specially trained to work on arson investigations and will work on suspicious fires across Northern Ireland.

Called arson detection dogs, they are a gift from Zurich Financial Services to mark fire safety week which took place last week.

The dogs will work with sub officer Michael McAteer (left) and fire fighter Keith McDermott. Last year arson cost the industry an estimated £300 million. "It's a growing problem so we were delighted to sponsor this scheme," said Zurich Northern Ireland regional manager Denis Todd."

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