FORT PIERRE - With one of the largest livestock auctions in the area, trucks hauling loads of animals are common. But imagine what would happen if one of those trucks and trailers was in a severe accident along a major roadway, leaving dozens of animals and drivers on that road exposed to many dangers.
Firefighters and other emergency responders learned what to do in those circumstances from securing the roadway, to freeing animals to caring for the animals after the crash, during State Fire School in Fort Pierre Friday and Saturday.
The six-hour course was instructed by Jennifer Woods, a specialist from Alberta, Canada, who works with livestock emergencies on a regular basis throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Woods discussed all types of livestock from the most common in the area - cattle, horses, pigs, poultry and sheep - to less common such as goats, elk, bison, alpaca, llama and ostrich. Each type of livestock should be handled in very different ways, according to Woods.
Through Woods' experience, she has learned how to identify when animals are in stress, the best procedures for herding them without all of the needed resources for confinement and what should not be done in order to avoid injury to both animals and the personnel responding to the accident.
During the morning half of her course, Woods discussed the various methods and some incidents she has been involved with in a classroom at Parkview Elementary School. In the afternoon, those enrolled in the course loaded into buses and rode to Eddie's Truck Center for further instruction in a trailer, where Woods explained the best places for emergency responders to enter a trailer and the easiest places to cut through one.
Livestock trailer accidents are very different from accidents involving trucks carrying other freight, according to Woods, because the situation is generally different each time, and because livestock trailers are not packed tightly like freight trailers are. Animals are thrown about significantly during an accident.
Most livestock trailer accidents are the result of drivers falling asleep at the wheel, Wood said, basing her claim on a study she put together from statistics of 400 accidents.
Woods also emphasized the importance of responders knowing what they will find when they reach the scene of the accident. When an accident is reported, the dispatcher needs to know what type of animal was involved, how many are on the trailer, whether the animals got loose during the accident and the type of trailer involved in the accident.
Most important is to keep people away from the scene, Woods said, not only for their own safety, but also for the safety of the responders.
Woods told the class, "Always approach an accident like the animals are loose. If possible, turn off the sirens, and don't just bail out of the vehicle without assessing the situation first, because you could get attacked. But the most important thing is to get the animals out of traffic first, so you're not having more accidents."
It is also important to have someone on hand who has experience dealing with the particular type of animal in the accident.
Local officials said there have not been any major livestock accidents in the area recently, but it is important for responders to know what to do in such a situation because it will likely happen at some point.
