Riverside County Animal Services Steps Up to Care for Pets Left Behind in Rosa Fire Evacuations

As the Rosa Fire raged through parts of Riverside County this week, forcing residents to evacuate their homes along Highway 74, one team remained behind on the mountain: Riverside County Animal Services.

While most residents scrambled to escape the fast-moving flames, animal control officers climbed deeper into the evacuation zone—not to evacuate themselves, but to care for the pets that couldn't make it out.

Since Monday, Animal Services officers have been making daily trips into the fire zone, delivering food and water to hundreds of animals left behind. Their mission is simple: ensure every pet stays safe until their owners can return.

“Animal safety is our number one priority,” said Jonathan, one of the control officers who has been operating on the mountain for several days. “With the limited amount of staff we have, we still managed to visit up to 50 properties. We shelter animals in place when it's safe, and we go property by property with food and water.”

The work is not easy. In the sweltering heat, officers haul dozens of gallons of water and bags of food up winding roads, relying on handwritten instructions from evacuees to find animal enclosures and feeding areas.

One of those evacuees, 25-year-old Caroline Granger of Mountain Center, had to flee in a hurry with her dogs. Her horses and mule, however, had to be left behind.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to get back,” said Granger. “But what brought me peace was that animal control said, ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to come by every day. We’re going to water, we’re going to feed.’ That basically got me through a huge amount of worry.”

In conditions where hydration is a matter of survival, the officers estimate they’ve gone through more than 20 gallons of water per day—water that may have made the difference for many animals in the heat.

Whether it was a horse, a goat, or a house cat, the Animal Services team treated each creature with care and urgency. In a disaster, it’s easy to focus on human loss and property damage. But thanks to the quiet, tireless efforts of Riverside County Animal Services, many animals were kept safe and cared for—ready to reunite with their families when the danger subsides. For now, the work continues. And for many, it’s that commitment to every living being that brings hope in a time of chaos.