Shelter fire kills animals

[Catherine]

It seems that there are problems with shelters all over.  This shelter was labeled a fire hazard last summer and now dogs and cats have been killed in a fire.
If the shelter was found to have major problems and be a fire hazard, why was nothing done?

Does it take the death of animals to make people take notice.

http://www.whdh.com/story/30688854/anima...of-animals

I notice that people are very careless about fire safety. They are careless in their homes. They are careless in their work places. It is not surprizing that they are careless in their animal shelters.  The sad thing about an animal shelter is the fact that the animals are in cages and have no way to get to safety.  When you have animals that are trapped like that safety in all areas should be the top priority.

Shelters are the place where animals should be safe. Too many times this is not so.

[Tobi]

What a terrible tragedy. In their case, they had received warnings and done nothing about it. I know if I'd had others under my care I would have done something about it.

Sometimes fires can be started without warning by faulty appliances. I was reading recently of tumbler-dryers which were notorious for starting fires. In those cases there was no warning, and it wasn't necessarily the fault of the homeowner.

But in this case, the shelter owners knew there were risks and decided to take them rather than think of the animals' safety. That is deplorable.

Crowded in cages too small? Cats housed in the same room as dogs? That was malpractice right from the start by the look of it!

My heart goes out to those who died in the fire. They must have been terrified and died most horribly. Blessings to their Souls.

[Catherine]

There were a lot of flaws in that shelter. They were warned of problems.  Sadly the helpless animals paid for the failure to heed the warnings.

Unless they are faulty I think there is a reason for a tumbler dryer fire. People do not clean the lint trap and they do not open up the machine regularly and service it. All the lint and fluff trapped in the dryer can get drawn back into the area of the heating element and  catch fire.  The fire is the result of poor maintenance and not random at all.

I hope this story causes other shelters to look at their own fire safety and be sure that the animals are safe.

[Ruth]

That's ashame that they that they didn't fix the problems with the shelter. Those poor poor animals.

[Catherine]

There are way too many fires in animal facilities. I don't think they pay enough attention to fire safety.I don't know what it will take for people to learn. It is not enough to hope for the best. Just being careful can be enough to prevent many of the fires that occur.