Bob C said
>4) I NEVER said anything bad of shelters. I was talking about private
>individuals. However, since it was brought up, I do wonder if shelters
>have some sort of emergency plan, especially in case of fire, tornados or
>earthquakes. Tornadoes can hit without warning (although most people can
>know a few minutes in advance). An earthquake hits without warning. A
>fire can involve an entire house in less than 5 minutes, especially older
>ones filled with inflamables. I live in an older wooden frame house and it
>can become completely involved and impossible to escape in under 5 minutes,
>which is not enought time to save all my ferrets, much less me. All those
>cages stacked up in shelters? Say goodbye to the ferrets, they're toast.
>If you are worried about recliners, you should think of fire. You can't
>stop the inevitable, but you can at least plan for the worst.
I just went through an OSHA fire safety training recently. It's not five
minutes, it's 2--and by the time the alarm goes off, you have about 30
seconds to get out of the house. It's pitch black in a fire--no light at
all, and the heat can be up to 700 degrees, which will kill you just about
instantly.
It was a very scary training, and we're working on making this place safer
for our pets (and ourselves) in case of fire. The ferrets are all confined
to their room at night, and several are caged in very specific cages. I'm
going to start keeping a large bag--like a trash bag--in the ferret room so
that in the case of fire I can just grab and toss them in. They won't be
happy, but they'll be alive. It's a scary thought. Other suggestions are
welcome.
Even though we're a rescue, we don't anticipate every caring for more than
20 or so ferrets at a time, at least not for very long, so we don't need a
400-ferret escape plan.
As for the others--if you want to be safe from tornados, flooding,
earthquakes--move to Maine! :-) The biggest danger here is a major power
outage in midwinter.
Jen and the Crazy Business
[Posted in FML issue 2814]
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