Electricity has been restored to the Emperor Valley Zoo and environs after Wednesday's fire which destroyed two cars and damaged several others parked at the foot of Lady Chancellor Road.T&TEC communications manager Annabelle Brasnell said power was restored to the last customer at 9.55 pm on Wednesday.
Emperor Valley Zoo curator Nirmal Biptah said the zoo has had an emergency backup generator system for 20 years which automatically activated when power went on Wednesday."We were on generator power from the time of the fire until T&TEC restored power last night," Biptah said."It's not the same system running for the past 20 years, but we upgrade it. It automatically kicks in when power goes and automatically shuts off when power comes back on."
He said no animals were affected by the fire, which occurred on the western side of the zoo. Biptah said Brian Lara, who lives on the other side of Lady Chancellor Road, would be more affected than the animals as the fire was downwind of the zoo and the animals were almost 500 feet away. He said there was nothing to worry about concerning the animals' safety as the car park and road separated the fire from the zoo, creating a firebreak.
When asked how the animals were affected Biptah said the animals will react and when fire starts and there is smoke, they tended to become a "little fidgety."He said this was because they were confined, while in the wild they were free to get away, and was a normal reaction.The zoo, he said, had contingency measures for people and animals in place in case of a natural disaster or fire.
"We do have an evacuation plan for both humans and animals which are standard operating procedure," Biptah said."We conduct drills in emergency response, fire and animal escape."Asked why the zoo didn't allow people to use the emergency exits, or there was no announcement about the fire, Biptah said this was not brought to his attention.