Published Friday, September 12, 2008 6:05 AM

Kennel trucks getting new heat alarms

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- Updated temperature alarms will be installed on Houston animal-control trucks to warn when it's too hot in the kennel areas.

Six dogs died last month from heat stroke after being left in a kennel vehicle.

Houston Mayor Bill White's deputy chief of staff, Terence Fontaine, says the operation will include a cabin gauge showing the temperature in the truck kennel. A siren will sound and a pager will go off when the temperature hits dangerous levels.

Fontaine says the trucks, including the one in which the six dogs died, had a temperature warning system -- but some systems were broken.

An animal-control officer was in a restaurant eating lunch Aug. 26 when the dogs overheated. The officer, who says the truck's air-conditioning failed, has been temporarily reassigned.

Three dozen trucks will be updated, at a cost of about $36,000.

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