About 200 animals that were evacuated due to the ongoing Palisades fire are being held at the Pierce College farm, as of Friday afternoon.
Roughly 15 to 20 evacuated animals were released from Pierce on Friday morning, according to Los Angeles County Animal Control Corporal Art Menchaca.
Diane Dufau, from Cross Creek Farm in Malibu, said it was her second time evacuating horses in the past few months alone, with the recent prior evacuation being due to the Franklin fire which started in December 2024.
“It’s always so stressful,” Dufau said. “This is the third time we’ve done it. Our main concern is the horses, even if they get out safely it’s stressful to them and to everyone else.”
About 19 horses from Cross Creek Farm were being held at the Pierce farm, according to Dufau.
“A lot of the horses you see getting on the trailers, the families have lost their homes in the Palisades, and not just their homes, their parents homes, their grandparents homes, their uncles,” Dufau said. “They’re just thankful that they still have their horses and their family at the barn.”
The Palisades fire continues to burn roughly 11 miles south of Pierce College. It has so far burned 21,317 acres and is eight percent contained, according to the CalFire website.
