Malibu residents flee as wildfire swallows homes along iconic Southern California coastline
By Robert Shackelford, Chris Boyette, Lauren Mascarenhas, Mary Gilbert and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
(CNN) — The beaches are empty in Malibu as a wildfire tears through swaths of the iconic Southern California coastline, consuming homes and vehicles and forcing residents – including legendary actor Dick Van Dyke – to flee their coveted hillside properties.
The Franklin Fire caught many residents by surprise as it exploded late Monday and for a time was burning through an area larger than five football fields every minute.
The inferno is so intense that it’s worsening already extreme fire conditions by altering local wind patterns and “bending them towards and into the fire,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned Tuesday morning. The fire calmed slightly in the afternoon with most of its growth on the eastern side, but firefighters had a difficult time building containment lines because of the rough terrain.
One resident, Linda Michel, recounted her panic as she woke in the middle of the night to find the fire bearing down on her property.
“No one had time to get dressed, everybody jumped in the car, it was like, ‘Get out of here!’” she told CNN. She barely had enough time to run down to her barn to release her horses. “We could not leave them in the barn. Thank God we didn’t because the barn burned down.”
Nearby, students on Pepperdine University’s usually idyllic campus sheltered in place for hours inside dormitories and libraries as flames illuminated the distant sky. All on-campus finals are canceled, and the remaining students will be allowed to leave Wednesday morning, the school announced.
Monika Kozdrowiecka said she decided to stay and defend her condominium from the fire with the help of Michael Brunet, who is visiting her from Santa Barbara. Brunet got on the roof to spray down the buildings nearby so embers wouldn’t catch, something he learned as a volunteer firefighter.
“You’re just in survival mode, you are just doing what you can,” he told CNN.
Here’s the latest:
– Explosive growth: The fire’s footprint exploded from 100 acres at 11:54 p.m. Monday to more than 4,000 acres by Wednesday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles County Fire and CalFire officials – at one point nearly tripling in size in just one hour. It is 7% contained.
– Homes swallowed by fire: A preliminary count shows at least seven structures are destroyed and eight are damaged, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said, but more assessments are needed. No deaths or injuries have been reported, the city of Malibu said in a news release. Firefighters will continue water drops overnight.
– Winds feeding the flames: Strong winds and critically low humidity are worsening conditions near the fire. Winds were gusting in the 40-mph range Tuesday morning. “While winds will weaken some during Tuesday afternoon, critical fire weather conditions are very likely to persist into Wednesday,” a special spot forecast from the weather service reads. The winds will begin to die down Wednesday afternoon and cooler, more humid air is set to arrive later this week.
– Thousands told to evacuate: The Los Angeles County Fire Department issued evacuation orders east of Solstice Canyon Road and South of Piuma Road and the Serra Retreat area, where units are on the ground battling the fire. There are approximately 18,000 people and 8,100 homes and businesses under evacuation orders or warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters Tuesday. There are several shelters for displaced residents, he said.
– Malibu’s famous residents are among those impacted: Van Dyke and his wife, Arlene, fled their home with pets in tow, though one of their cats is missing, according to a post on the 99-year-old’s Facebook page. And actor Mark Hamill went into lockdown on Tuesday as the fire intensified. “We’re in lockdown because of the Malibu fires. Please stay safe everyone! I’m not allowed to leave the house, which fits in perfectly with my elderly-recluse lifestyle,” Hamill posted on Instagram.
– School days disrupted: All Malibu schools are closed Tuesday due to the fire threat, the city announced. Several schools in San Diego County are also closed Tuesday due to preventative power shut-offs and inclement weather.
– Power outages spread: Nearly 60,000 customers in California are without power, according to PowerOutage.us. The bulk of those without power are in San Diego, where utility providers preemptively shut off power due to heightened fire risk. Pepperdine University said its Malibu campus is without power, though several buildings are operating on generator power as students prepare for exams.
– Officials race to respond: The state of California secured a FEMA grant to support fire response, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday. A state of local emergency has also been declared in Los Angeles County due to “conditions of disaster” or “extreme peril to the safety of persons and property,” county Board of Supervisors chair Kathryn Barger said Tuesday.
University students shelter in place
Videos taken at Pepperdine overnight show people walking around the grounds, the darkness lit by an orange glow as flames blaze in the distance. The university asked students to shelter in place at the campus library and student center until about 7:30 a.m., and the school canceled classes and finals for the day.
“We’ve been in the library for about six hours, awaiting orders,” Pepperdine University student Nick Gerding told CNN’s John Berman early Tuesday. “It’s finals week so there was already a lot of people here, but it’s pretty jam-packed. There’s about 300 to 400 kids in here and overall.”
Gerding headed to the library after the power went out in his dorm around 11:30 p.m. Monday, and he got a call from his roommate saying there was a large fire in the area, he said.
In the packed library, the night was calmer than expected, with some students praying and waiting for occasional updates from the university president, he added.
“There honestly wasn’t much that we could do in that moment, and I feel like we all collectively understood that, so I’m grateful for the non-panic that happened. But it was still very, very scary.”
Fire engines are on campus, where the worst of the fire has now passed, but some spot fires remain, the university said early Tuesday.
“All community members on the Malibu campus are directed to shelter in place in the Tyler Campus Center or Payson Library. Despite any evacuation orders from Malibu city or surrounding areas, the University community should follow University instructions,” the university said early Tuesday, noting its plan was approved by the fire department.
The library and student center are “well protected against any type of threat from the brush fire,” Pepperdine public information officer Michael Friel told news outlet KTLA.
Students are asked to shelter in place at the student center and library after 4:30 pm Tuesday due to the power still being out, the university said in an update Tuesday afternoon.
It also announced the remainder of on-campus finals are canceled because of the fire threat, and students still on the campus will be allowed to leave Wednesday morning, the university said in a post on X.
A ‘particularly dangerous situation’
Parts of Southern California are under a rare red flag warning, deemed a “particularly dangerous situation,” and a level 3 of 3 extremely critical fire weather risk Tuesday because of the combination of powerful Santa Ana winds, dry air and tinder-dry fuel creating extreme fire behavior.
The last such red flag warning came in early November when the Mountain Fire tore through nearly 20,000 acres of Ventura County. Forecasters warned Monday that the fire weather conditions would be severe enough to rival those experienced during recent destructive fires – a dire prediction playing out in real time Tuesday morning with the Franklin Fire.
It won’t be until Wednesday afternoon that winds and other fire weather conditions will begin to improve significantly.
Stormy weather will push into the Pacific Northwest Wednesday night and some rain will spread over northern and central parts of California by Thursday morning. A few sprinkles may reach Southern California, but it won’t be nearly enough to douse the Franklin Fire.
The real help will be the slightly more humid air from the storm that reaches Southern California and kicks out the bone-dry air currently in place.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the resident who woke up to find the fire near her property. It is Linda Michel.
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CNN’s Dawn Sawyer, Richard Phillips, Taylor Romine, Veronica Miracle, Norma Galeana and Hanna Park contributed to this report.
