by Mindy Aguon

Guam - At least five firefighters assigned to the Yona Fire Station were forced to submit to random drug testing on Wednesday. Guam Fire Department spokesperson Lieutenant Ed Artero says Customs' K-9 Unit and the Guam Police Department's Drug Task Force conducted unannounced inspections at the Umatac and Yona fire stations.

Artero told KUAM News, "At one of the fire stations, the dogs reacted a certain way that tipped off the dog handlers of highly suspicious the way the dogs acted so we immediately called the Department of Administration and they decided to activate their mobile response team and they sent a representatives from the lab and decided to get everybody at that fire station tested."

While GFD awaits the results of the four that were tested, Artero says the department's management is working with the Department of Administration to see if they can conduct drug testing for all the firefighters who are assigned to the Yona Fire Station. Of note is that although the drug detecting dogs alerted to a certain area of the station, nothing was found during the search.

Artero says the department expects to do more searches to ensure that personnel are held to the highest standard and are drug-free.