Baltimore animal shelter gets air conditioning back after losing power during heatwave

BALTIMORE -- After temporarily losing power on the Fourth Of July, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter staff walked into what they called a crisis on Friday. 

In the middle of a dangerous heatwave, BARCS arrived Friday morning to find their air conditioning had stopped working. 

It was at least 90 degrees inside the animal rooms. 

The Baltimore Department of Public Health had just announced Baltimore City was in a Code Extreme Red Heat Advisory and warned pet owners to stay aware of heat stroke and exhaustion symptoms in pets. 

"It's really scary…," said Bailey Deacon, BARCS' Director of Communications. "The body temperatures for animals are much higher than humans and they need to be kept cool, so we knew we needed to do everything possible." 

Shelter staff alerted the public asking for emergency fosters to help get the animals out of the heat until the A/C could be repaired. 

"We just told people to walk in today and we know it was really busy, there were huge crowds, there were long waits, and we just really thank the public for coming down," said Deacon. 

By Saturday afternoon, 60 animals had left with fosters and more than 100 people showed up with cases of water, Gatorade, coolers, and ice for the staff who were working round the clock to keep the animals safe in the heat. 

"Our vets have been working overtime making sure every single animal is not overheating in this situation," Beacon said. 

Deacon explained the whole situation was overwhelming.  

 "It's really amazing. Baltimore really cares about animals and they really care about the people at BARCS and that really showed today," she said. 

Baltimore's Office of Emergency Management brought portable units to help cool down the shelter for the remaining animals while HVAC technicians worked on repairs. 

"We were really grateful for everybody that came out today, waited in long lines, waited in the heat themselves as people to try and help us save lives," Deacon said. 

BARCS announced that the air conditioning was back up and running at 4 p.m. in every room except the medical room.  

Shelter staff said as long as the temporary units continue to keep the medical room cool and the main air conditioning works overnight, they'll resume normal operations on Sunday.