Cinder, the Holly Springs fire dog, a local celebrity

One of the youngest members of the Holly Springs Fire Department has become a local celebrity, charming adults and children with his efforts to save lives – one belly rub at a time.

It is no secret that Cinder, a 1 1/2-year-old Australian Labradoodle has become a superstar since he became the department’s first fire dog at the end of 2014. He has met more than 15,000 North Carolina residents, from children to seniors, to spread a message of fire safety and prevention.

“He’s like a rock star,” Chief LeRoy Smith said. “Spoiled like a kid sometimes, like a teenager. But he’s the most famous member of our fire department. He’s the face that everybody recognizes.”

Cinder also is the name everybody knows.

“It constantly amazes me that wherever I go, I hear, ‘Cinder!’ ” said Joe Harasti, Cinder’s handler. “Literally driving down the road, you will see kids yelling. It’s amazing the magnetism he has.”

And that doesn’t stop when he leaves Holly Springs. It took Cinder more than 30 minutes to get off the stage after an event in Thomasville, a city outside High Point, because so many people wanted to have their pictures taken with him.

The department acquired Cinder to aid Harasti, who is the department’s fire and life safety educator. He took on the role full time this year after serving nearly 15 years with the department. He now takes Cinder with him to various events in and around town to teach fire safety and prevention.

Cinder is particularly well known for showing young children how to stop, drop and roll.

“The biggest thing that he does is bringing you up to ask me about him, because it’s that point at which I can remind people to test (their) smoke alarms once a month and change the batteries in (their) smoke alarms once a year,” said Harasti, 46.

Cinder lives and works alongside Harasti full time, and the two are joined at the hip. Harasti always hooks Cinder’s leash onto his belt loop before taking him outside because of the dog’s penchant for chasing squirrels and rabbits.

“With his age, there’s still a lot of puppy in him,” he said. “We still have some training to do.”

The pup definitely enjoys the limelight and the perks. Cinder will puff out his chest as he poses for photos atop the fire truck for 10 to 15 minutes at a time and demands to be rubbed any time a child is nearby.

“I’ll come into work, and I’ll find toys where children have said to their parents, ‘I want to take Cinder a toy,’ and they just bring that stuff in,” Harasti said. “Everyone remembers Cinder. He’s the rock star, and I’m his roadie. I just carry his stuff around.”

The Holly Springs Fire Department offers free services that Harasti said many residents aren’t aware of, including in-home smoke alarms and basic, non-certification CPR/First-Aid training.

“It’s a joy to work with him,” he said. “My job is to deliver that safety message, and he allows me to do that on a much greater scale.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Cinder, the Holly Springs fire dog, a local celebrity."