A fast-moving wildfire forced thousands from their homes in the California community of Malibu early on Tuesday morning, as roughly 700 firefighters battled the wind-whipped flames tearing across the dry coastal hillsides long before sunrise.
Fueled by strong winds gusting across the sloped terrain overlooking the Pacific, the so-called Franklin fire erupted on Monday night and sprawled across more than 2,200 acres (809 hectares) by morning, consuming roughly 100 acres in less than an hour, and remains at 0% containment.
The blaze jumped the Pacific Coast Highway, city officials said, burning structures around the historic Malibu Pier, a popular tourist destination.
Homes could be seen engulfed in flames, as residents made frenzied escapes down the canyon roads. Students at nearby Pepperdine University who had been instructed to shelter in place watched from the library windows as the fire swept close to campus.
City officials and firefighters said the fire was at 0% containment. The Los Angeles county fire chief, Anthony Marrone, said the cause of the fire was unknown but that county authorities were investigating possible arson.
Marrone said he had no early indications of residents being injured or killed but could not say for sure how many buildings had burned. Among the areas under threat were a gated community across the street from the pier, which is home to multiple Hollywood celebrities, Malibu’s densest line of shops, restaurants and other businesses, and the beachfront Malibu Colony, the first settlement of Los Angeles’s rich and carefree looking for beachside second homes for the weekend, which dates back more than a century.
Authorities closed a long stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, as well as two major arteries leading into the hills towards the San Fernando valley, making it difficult for outsiders to assess the extent of the damage. About 6,000 Malibu residents, close to two-thirds of the total population, were under an evacuation order, and power was reported to be down across much of the community.
Pepperdine University issued a shelter-in-place order overnight, ordering any students and staff on campus into a student center and adjacent library, but lifted it once the sun came back up. The University president, Jim Gash, reported “little damage to campus structures” but said firefighters were still dealing with “spot fires”. Classes were canceled for the day and end-of-semester finals postponed.
“Just seeing the flames grow and seeing that bright red color of fire just get brighter and brighter and brighter – it was so scary,” Gabrielle Salgado, a student, told KABC-TV. The university later said the worst of the fire had pushed past campus and lifted the shelter in place protocol just after 8am.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said he had secured federal assistance on ensuring essential resources are available to battle the blaze.
Most residents and business owners appeared to have heeded the evacuation order, most of them driving east along the Pacific Coast Highway towards Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica, beach communities out of the danger zone, where a thick band of black smoke near the horizon marred an otherwise pristine morning sky.
Malibu may be one of the most affluent communities in California, but residents are wedged between the mountains and the ocean and are frequently at the mercy of the state’s relentless natural hazards, including landslides and wildfires.
Fall and winter are often the most perilous times because of Santa Ana desert winds that blow hot and fast from the north-east. Gusts on Tuesday were reported to be around 40mph (64km/h).
Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty north-east winds that blow from the interior of southern California toward the coast and offshore. They typically occur during the fall months and continue through winter and into early spring.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings across the region – affecting areas home to roughly 13 million people. A “particularly dangerous situation” designation was issued for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where winds were expected to be most extreme and forecasted to last through Tuesday afternoon. The conditions are similar to those that fueled the Mountain fire, which burned hundreds of homes in nearby Camarillo, last month.
Along with gusts that cause dangerous and erratic fire behavior, dry weather conditions with low relative humidity created perfect conditions for rapid spread should another fire ignite. “Winds of 35 to 45 mph in the valleys and gusts of 50 to 65 mph in the mountains will help fan any fires that do develop quickly and may reduce visibility with blowing smoke and dust adding to travel concerns in the region,” the National Weather Service said in a forecast on Tuesday morning.
Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires. Southern California Edison, a utility company that serves the region, reported more than 46,000 households and businesses were affected by power shutoffs, including 11,193 in Los Angeles county, and that roughly 207,400 more were being considered.
Firefighters across the state were prepositioned to respond in case another fire ignites, according to the California’s office of emergency services. But for now, efforts in Los Angeles are focused on containing the Franklin fire.
“We would really like to button this fire up and get some containment by this afternoon,” Marrone said. “I believe the winds are going to be continuing so that will still create challenges for the fire department and for the LA county sheriffs department with evacuations. But rest assured – we will have a coordinated air and ground assault on this fire for as long as it takes.”
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The Associated Press contributed reporting
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