Recently, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association teamed up with the National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials—an organization that represents emergency response and planning officials across all levels of government—to produce and disseminate a series of informational videos focused on emergency planning. The goal of the videos is to provide producers with guidance on developing emergency action plans and encourage them to coordinate with local emergency planning personnel and first responders throughout the process to give them a better understanding of the operation and potential hazards.
Given the rise in barn fires, adverse weather events, and other emergency scenarios that livestock operations face, developing an emergency action plan will undoubtedly help reduce animal suffering that results from such events. In response to the first video released, AWI sent a letter to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association commending this effort, while also requesting that the organization produce an additional video focused primarily on barn fire causes and mitigation strategies, particularly with respect to commercial egg and broiler operations, in light of 2020’s tragically high death toll of chickens in such fires.