First, Let me say that this is a terrible tragedy. Not knowing more about the situation I cannot comment as to whether it was preventable. Could this same thing happen in a house, apartment, condo, kennel, Vet, etc.? Absolutely! Fires, even small ones, can be deadly. In just a few minutes they can totally engulf a motorhome. If the flames dont kill the fumes (from burning materials) certainly will.
Its just my personal observation that a large percentage of RVers travel with pets. How many NEVER leave them alone in a trailer or motorhome? My guess would be very few. Even the ones that start out with good intentions become complacent
.Im just going to take a shower. Ill only be gone a few minutes. Or I just going to get a quick bite to eat. IMHO, it is up to each of us, individually, to decide the level of protection we provide. This is much akin to How old is old enough to leave my children home alone? As we have seen time and time again even 16 year olds can and do make bad decisions and burn the house down.
We all have our demons. As you probably can tell, this is one of mine. Our dogs go with us in our motor home. In fact, it is one of the reasons we bought a motorhome, so we wouldnt have to leave them in someone elses care. I realize the potential dangers of leaving a pet in motorhome and I probably worry excessively about it. All that said, I doubt there is anybody RVing that has more protection in their motorhome in the event of a power failure or AC failure. Most motorhomes have 2 AC units, that provides a level of redundancy. I also have auto generator start, which I test frequently. Lastly I have a alert system that I have designed myself (I am a control systems engineer) that text messages my cellphone and my DWs cellphone in certain situations. There are two(2) levels of temperature alerts, an AC power failure alert, there is even a daily test alert, and more. Even with all this we still plan our vacations around the cooler climates (i.e. Florida in the winter, Colorado in the fall, etc). We also take the dogs with us whenever possible as we do our sightseeing in the towed.
So please, dont be so judgmental. I worry enough about our dogs that I should also have to be concerned about what some uninformed people think is animal cruelty.
OK, fire away! I have my FRCs on. (Flame Retardant Clothes) ;D