Riverside, CA February 11, 2025 - A team of six Riverside County animal control officers (ACO) deployed to Los Angeles in support of the Palisades fire emergency response from January 16th-25th. 

Riverside County was the first operational area in the state to respond to the request for assistance and extend an offer of support to the City of Los Angeles under California’s Emergency Management Mutual Aid (EMMA) system. The team was tasked on January 15th, giving them less than 16 hours’ notice to prepare and depart. Once on scene, the ACOs immediately coordinated with several agencies and began responding to the public’s calls for help evacuating, searching and caring for lost or injured pets. 

Animal Control Officer Mary Salazar listed koi fish, turtles, parakeets, cats, dogs, and chickens as some of the animals helped during the 9-day deployment. 

“We got very close very quickly with community members and although we could not always recover their pets, we helped in other ways like locating important items and documents if we could find them,” said Salazar. 

Working alongside other animal control agencies, the team responded to an estimated 180 calls and helped over 100 animals. Originally, the team was tasked to stay for five days but their presence was crucial, and the assignment was extended an additional four days. 

Since most of the areas were not cleared for public entry, officers worked closely with pet owners to determine where their pets might be in relation to where their homes once were. 

There were days when the officers were unable to locate pets, coupled with even harder days of informing some pet owners that their pets did not survive the fire. 

“Responding was the easy part. Having to deliver bad news to people who lost their homes was devastating,” said Animal Control Officer Michael Cox. “Our motivation was trying to find the good news. Every animal we reunited or located for folks who lost everything was a glimmer of hope in this tragedy.” 

Riverside County animal control officers routinely train for and respond to emergency incidents in Southern California to include disasters like fires, floods, earthquakes and mass evacuation events. Staying prepared to respond to these incidents is crucial for officers to uphold public safety in times of crisis. 

“A lot of us have experience evacuating horses and livestock during fires and are familiar with going into unsafe areas to try and help animals who have no one else to turn to,” said Lieutenant of Field Services Kyle Stephens. “Seeing all the devastation and loss of infrastructure was really unbelievable, but we knew our efforts could bring some comfort to people who lost so much.” 

The Riverside team consisted of Lt. Kyle Stephens, Officer Michael Cox, Officer Jennifer Setler, Officer Justin Mays, Officer Mary Salazar and Officer Yesenia Dorado.