Grand jury calls for fire prevention upgrades at Lake Elsinore shelter
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A grand jury recommended installing smoke detectors at an animal shelter in Lake Elsinore where a fire killed 39 puppies and kittens, the Associated Press reports:
The Riverside County jury issued a report last week recommending upgrades to the shelter where 39 puppies and kittens died in February after an electrical fire broke out in a wooden trailer being used as a temporary shelter. The report also recommended upgrading lighting, providing better drainage to eliminate flooding during rains, providing more room for larger dogs and taking more measures to prevent parvovirus, which killed two dogs at the shelter in March.
Fifteen Himalayan cats and 24 dogs housed in a trailer perished in the fire, The Times reported in February.
Shelter officials told the Associated Press that many of the recommended changes already were in place, including the addition of smoke detectors:
“We did it within a few weeks of the fire,” said Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys, the nonprofit group that runs the shelter. Since the fire, many animals have been living in temporary kennels under canopies, said Bagwell, pictured above after the fire ravaged the shelter. However, the shelter recently got a replacement trailer that should be ready to use in a few weeks, Bagwell said. Animal Friends has planned to build a permanent shelter in Wildomar for years but government approval has been delayed over issues ranging from parking lot design to protection of burrowing owls at the site, Bagwell said.
--Francisco Vara-Orta