Disaster Planning

No matter where you call home, your farm will be subject to some natural disaster or local emergency, whether it be hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, a hazmat disaster, or an outbreak of a contagious disease. Being prepared is the best way to lessen the impact of any potential effects.

Other disasters include high wind events, heat waves, blizzards, earthquakes, mudslides, hail, and power grid failure. All of these events affect horsemen worldwide. However, your location or climate will dictate which events you may experience. Some will experience only one type of natural disaster, but local emergency types of disasters can affect anyone, anywhere. Some may experience more disasters more often than others, and some people seem to attract disasters!

With the prevalence of wildfires in California, many farms practice fire drills. In Florida, it is not uncommon to prepare for a hurricane, only for the hurricane to switch its path at the last minute. I call this having a drill!

Boarder Considerations:

As a potential boarder, one should ask the following questions:

•       How does this facility prepare for disasters?

•       What is your evacuation plan?

•       What are the responsibilities of the horse owner in a disaster?

•       What are the responsibilities of the barn owner?

•       How will the property be prepared?

•       Is there a written disaster plan to be shared with boarders?

•       Is there a monthly or quarterly Safety Committee meeting to discuss relevant preparations, planning, and review of management and maintenance issues?

•       If the horses are not evacuated, what will the barn owner do to ensure their safety?

•       Do I need a Power of Attorney to allow someone else to make decisions for my horse if I cannot be contacted or reach the location?

•       Do I need to sign a waiver or a legal document to ensure a mutual understanding of how my horse may be evacuated in case of a disaster?

Planning

 As a barn owner/manager, it is your responsibility to identify which weather disaster you may be subjected to and have a plan for how to deal with it. Determine if your county Emergency Plan includes animals, specifically livestock. Your boarders should be made aware of your plans by way of safety meetings and in their contract so that they may know how to prepare their horse in accordance with your plan and also so that they can partake in emergency drills. Having a plan in effect will help you deal with each disaster's challenges in a calm and organized manner. A disaster plan is just as important as having a fire plan.

 All horses should be able to load, and training days should be held often, including loading at night and in the rain. A horse that won't load will be at risk of being left behind in a disaster or will be released to fend for itself. Unfortunately, horses tend not to do well when left on their own.

 Hazard Assessment

 Identify what type of disaster or disasters are common in your area and then formulate a plan that will work for you and your boarders. Enact a plan, share your plan with your boarders, and have drills. Identify your risks and vulnerability if you shelter in place. This includes accounting for water, natural gas, electricity, transportation, vet services/medical care, feed, and forage.

 Identify potential local or regional evacuation facilities based on location and disaster. It would help if you had a shelter close by in case of a barn fire evacuation, another location across town for a catastrophe that will affect only a small area, such as a power outage or chemical spill, and a location much further away in the event of hurricanes or wildfires. Remember that in the event of hurricanes and wildfires, the location you choose may also be affected by changes in the direction of the winds or flooding. Many people have had to evacuate two or three times when trying to get out of the way of these major disasters.

 Be prepared to pay a fee for emergency stabling, as they incur costs for helping you in an emergency, although some facilities will waive all fees. Those who decide to evacuate should plan on staying with their animals and should be a gracious guest, taking care of their animals as if they were at home and cleaning up after them. Don't take advantage of the hosts and leave your stalls a mess when you leave, or it may not be available the next time you need it. Don't expect to leave your animals either, and expect someone else to feed and water your horses and clean their stall.

 By basing your disaster plan on the most common disasters that strike your location, you will be able to expand on your plan, whether the orders are to leave immediately or to shelter in place. Having the right app or website for your jurisdiction's communications will help you make your decision in an orderly amount of time.

 An “all-hazards” approach will mean that one good disaster plan can be applied to other less common events, especially since some disasters will create smaller events, such as tornadoes and flooding resulting from hurricanes.

 Write the plan down, drill it, and make changes as needed. Make sure that every boarder has a copy as well as phone numbers for contacts and post it next to your fire plan. Hold drills at a minimum every few months and change the time and condition. What if the horses are all out in their pastures? Can you be as effective at night or in the rain or snow? The goal is to ID, load, and evacuate in the quickest amount of time for evacuation plans.

 For shelter-in-place drills, the goal is to identify and prepare the facility for disaster, such as removing possible flying debris, filling water tubs, moving trailers, etc. Just like having a fire plan, a disaster plan will help when things are chaotic and your thought processes are not clear. If you are unsure what disasters may affect your location, contact your local Emergency Manager or Emergency Operations Center for an assessment and resources.

 Evaluate the possibility of hazards that can impact your barn or facility. Are you close to railroad tracks where freight trains are hauling hazardous material? Are you near interstate highways where big trucks are moving chemicals? What if the train derailed or the truck overturned, releasing hazardous chemicals, and you only had minutes to leave?

 What are your weaknesses and vulnerabilities?

•       Do you know your closest shelter if you had to evacuate today?

•       What is your backup for power?

•       How will you provide for water? For one day? For a week?

•       How long does it take to hitch your trailer?

•       Is your truck fueled?

•       How will your barn be affected by having no power for one day? Five days?

•       How will you manage a barn if employees and boarders cannot reach the barn?

•       How many days’ worth of feed and hay do you have on hand? Can you feed everyone for a week? Can you purchase hay and feed for all the horses if the owners are displaced and unable to provide the necessary finances?

•       How will you communicate with boarders and staff if cell service and the internet are down?

•       If you can't reach them and a horse is injured or has to be euthanized, who makes the decisions? Do you have a Power of Attorney? Do you have the owner's credit card information?

•       What is your business continuity plan after the disaster?

 These are all questions that need to be answered in your disaster plan.

 Identify the effects of a disaster afterward. Flooding will bring possible chemical leaks, raw sewage, and floating ants and snakes (or alligators, depending upon where you live), and hurricanes or tornadoes can leave downed power lines and broken fencing, resulting in horses having changes in their daily routine.

 Your plan should be reviewed and updated as necessary. The process should include everyone who could be impacted, from employees and boarders to family members. It cannot be said enough: Practice, Improve, Take ownership. The goal is to preserve welfare, life, and quality of life and to be a resilient community that can be self-reliant and respond independently without taking away valuable resources from the community. This will help provide for the continuity of the business after the disaster, even if the "business" is your homestead.

 Barn owners may want to have a credit card on file for each horse's owner, insurance information, and a waiver authorizing the barn owner to make decisions regarding the horse's welfare in case the owner is incapacitated or unavailable.

 Have a disaster kit and evacuation kit in place and ready to use. Disaster kits should include at least two ID methods for each horse. (Have a day where all boarders get together to drill and make IDs for their horses.)  

Keep the kit where you can easily find and label it so others will know where it is. With the exception of feed, hay, and water, items for your evacuation kit should be in your trailer and ready to go. Doing so will save you valuable time if it is already in the trailer. Create a checklist with tasks to be performed and assign each task to someone. One person can be responsible for ID’ing horses, another for unplugging appliances, and another can fill every container with water. By enlisting boarders in a drill, they can help execute every aspect of implementing your disaster plan quickly and efficiently; they become a part of the plan instead of being affected by it.

Permanently identify horses before a disaster strikes, whether by tattoo, freeze brand, or microchipping. During Hurricane Katrina, most horses were reunited with their owners because Louisiana required all horses to be microchipped as part of the Coggins testing. In the EU, all horses must be microchipped, and many show and breed registries now require that horses have a microchip, including the FEI.

Keep an emergency binder. This should include where you will most likely evacuate, health papers for every horse, and photos and videos of horses, property, and equipment. Include owner and vet information, maps, and feed charts. Owners need to be made aware of disaster plans in their boarding contracts, and many barns require owners to permit the barn owner or manager to make health and life decisions in an emergency situation in case the owner is unavailable. Do you have a contract or Power of Attorney that spells out your rights and obligations in an emergency when the owner is unavailable?

 The best disaster plan is devised in advance when no threat exists and resources, such as generators, are available. It is practiced with all boarders participating, and any changes are made based on the results of the drills. Invite your local fire department to visit your farm, make an assessment, and look for any issues that arise and which you can improve on. Ask for a copy of your county Emergency Operations Plan and check to see if any annexes deal with horses.

 By incorporating safety practices into daily routines, barns will be better equipped to deal with emergencies. These include:

•       Enforcing the No Smoking policy

•       Holding safety meetings and drills regularly

•       Making sure that all horses are current on vaccines and their Coggins

•       Ensuring that all horses can be caught will lead in all kinds of situations, stand tied, and load willingly into a trailer.

•       All drivers know how to hitch and drive trailers

•       Trucks and trailers are maintained and fueled

•       Phones are equipped with weather apps

•       Security of the farm is enforced (locked gates and tack rooms, security cameras)

•       Bio-security measures are practiced with every new horse

•       All animals have at least one type of permanent ID

 A good plan will be devised just before the disaster strikes, but resources, including gas, water, generators, and feed, will be limited. There will be no time for drills.

 A poor plan is where there is no plan in effect, and the barn owner is making decisions while the disaster is either imminent or in the throes of the emergency. These types of poor choices are the kind that people and animals pay for with their lives. In the San Luis Rey Training Center in California, there was no planning or preparation: 48 horses died, and many were injured, including three people with severe burns. Seven of the eight barns were destroyed. Many of us will never forget the news footage: The "plan" was to turn the horses loose, resulting in chaos with over 400 Thoroughbreds running loose. The local fire department responding to the chaos had no idea what to do to be effective, and sadly, the facility was rebuilt with no changes to its layout or planning.

 Before a disaster strikes, it is time to review your insurance coverage and ensure it adequately covers your business. A good plan will address the following:

•       Cover business interruption

•       Cover extra expenses, including relocation

•       Provide for loss of income

•       Adjusts for inflation

•       Covers fire and water damage

•       Covers for debris clean up and removal

•       Civil ordinance coverage (an example is COVID)

•       Comprehensive building and structure replacement

•       Covers leased equipment

•       Interruption of power, heat/air, sewer

•       Coverage of Workers' Comp

•       Custody or Control

Next week, I will discuss being prepared for wildfires.