Wilmington Fire welcomes new dog to Crisis Response Program

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Wilmington Fire Department welcomed the newest member to its Crisis Response Dog Program on Monday. 

MILO the dog received his official Crisis Response vest from Wilmington Fire Chief Steve Mason, becoming the fifth dog in the program. 

A partnership with the Paws for People Foundation, the Crisis Response Program was created as a way to reduce stress and anxiety among firefighters.   

The dogs also provide comfort to people who have experienced trauma during emergencies.  

Chief Mason said the dogs’ presence can drastically improve the metal health of firefighters—who face higher levels of PTSD, depression and suicide than the general public.  

“Just being on for 24 hours creates a lot of stress and it elevates cortisol levels and the more that we know about what impacts firefighters behavioral health negatively, we can combat that. And these dogs, just their presence here helps reduce those things,” Mason said. 

MILO will report daily to his handler, Fire Engineer Bill Beliles, and he will head home with him when he’s not working.  

Beliles said the program is a game changer.  

“It just helps so much with helping us decompress from what went on with that bad call, or you had a bad day at home and you didn’t want to bring it to the station and bring down everybody. So I’m super proud to be a part of it,” he said. 

Each dog is assigned a station. MILO was assigned to fire department HQ on Market Street.