Hertfordshire’s new fire investigation puppy has been named after the god of thunder, Thor, following a stormy few weeks without a moniker.

Reqs, the fire service's current investigation dog, has already been showing his young apprentice around incidents.

This will continue until Thor is fully trained and can take over the role as Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's fire investigation dog in the summer when eight-year-old Reqs retires.

Nikki Harvey, fire investigation dog handler and fire investigation support officer at HFRS, looks after Thor and Reqs at home and at work.

"Five-month-old Thor's training is going well and he is already showing all the traits of becoming an amazing search dog," Ms Harvey said.

"He certainly loves a tennis ball just as much as Reqs. Like Reqs, he will have to learn how to search for, locate and indicate on traces of ignitable liquids to assist us with our fire investigations to enable us to determine if a fire is deliberate or accidental."

Ms Harvey said the name suits his character perfectly. "It's amazing to hear that Computacenter see our fire investigation dogs as superheroes".

The name was chosen by sponsors of Hertfordshire's fire investigation dogs, Computacenter, who held a staff competition to suggest names for the pup.

Clare Rafferty, head of corporate events at Computacenter, said: "Thor is a great choice for the new fire investigation dog.

"Thor, a superhero, was known to protect both gods and humans against the forces of evil using his deadly weapon the iron hammer, but in this case, Thor will be using his nose!"

Chief fire officer and director of community protection at HCC, Darryl Keen, said: "Fire investigation dogs work with officers to help us understand how a fire has started, providing valuable evidence for police investigations in the case of arson.

"We're excited to welcome Thor on board full-time once he's completed his training under the watchful eye of Reqs, who has supported fire investigations at a number of high profile incidents both in Hertfordshire and over the border with colleagues in other fire and rescue services."

You can follow updates from Thor and Reqs on Twitter at twitter.com/reqsfiredog and on Thor's brand new Instagram at instagram.com/ThorFireDog.