Fire in the Hole

The major national news these days continues to be the devastating fires raging across southern California.  So far the region's zoos seem to have escaped damage, though I'm aware of at least one nature center in Pasadena which has been destroyed; I'm not certain as this time as to whether the center's small collection of native herps was evacuated before the fire came.  Even if the facilities and animals themselves remain untouched, the fires are having a horrific impact on the communities that they are part of, including where their staff and their families live.  We'll continue to think of them and look for opportunities to support them as the situation plays out.

Ironically, the one zoo that was damaged by fire yesterday was nowhere near California.  The Rainforest building at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo caught on fire yesterday.  The iconic building was closed to the public last year as the zoo prepares to renovate and expand it, but several animals - including bats, orangutans, and the majority of the zoo's reptiles and amphibians - are still housed inside of it.  Thankfully, the fire happened during normal business hours and the response was quick.  No animals or humans were harmed, and hey, if something has got to catch on fire, might as well as something that was in the early stages of demolition/renovation anyway.

Fire might be the disaster the frightens me the most at work.  Unlike extreme weather events, there's often no warning as to when it breaks out, and it moves very swiftly.  Often the only recourse is to evacuate - easier said than done with a zoo-full of animals.  You can have a contingency plan, and train for a response to an occurrence like what happened in Cleveland, but if you have a situation like the one that threatens the California zoos?  That's a lot harder to manage - and unfortunately, disasters such as the California fires only appear to be getting more numerous, and more damaging.