Battery-operated smoke detectors weren't sufficient to save about 30 dogs who perished in a January kennel fire near West Chicago.
State Rep. Diane Pappas says the outcome could have been less devastating had the two-story building been equipped with more advanced fire safety measures.
Illinois lawmakers now are considering legislation to require pet boarding businesses to install a fire alarm system that automatically notifies first responders when it's activated.
House Bill 3390 aims to protect animals kept overnight at kennels that do not have either 24-hour staffing or sprinkler systems in place, said Pappas, an Itasca Democrat who introduced the measure this month.
"We want to make sure anybody who takes in animals on a for-profit basis (is) actually protecting them from this horrendous death by fire," she said. "Often, it takes a tragedy to make us aware of a deficiency in the law, and unfortunately that's what happened here. We're trying to fix that."