Local firefighters reportedly saved two dogs during an early-morning blaze in the Malibu Civic Center area on Feb. 28, according to Drew Smith, the Los Angeles County Fire Department for the area, speaking at Monday, March 8’s Malibu City Council meeting.
The February fire, which started at 4:04 a.m. in the Malibu Knolls area, was an electrical fire, Smith said. Its exact cause was still to be determined, though Smith assured the council that the fire was not started by a homeless person. He also mentioned that a second fire had started simultaneously in the Serra Retreat area just a half mile away.
Smith said that some area residents had self-evacuated, but most sheltered in place, which he and his team had evaluated was the safest option for the public. The fire grew to just under five acres.
One more group was involved: LA County Animal Care and Control.
“We also, through the good work of your firefighters, rescued two dogs, put them in a fire engine. We could not move the fire engine because the dogs–I don’t know how they got them into that fire engine, the dogs were really angry,” Smith described as council members smiled. “So we had to then wait for Animal Control to come out.”