Los Angeles Times Ryan Fonseca
What to know about the Franklin fire in Malibu
This week’s red flag warnings brought a threat of wildfires that was realized late Monday when a blaze broke out in Malibu, prompting mass evacuations of nearby homes and forcing students and staff at Pepperdine University to shelter in place.
More than 800 firefighters from Los Angeles County and neighboring agencies were on the scene to try to contain the Franklin fire, which was reported just before 11 p.m. Monday along Malibu Canyon Road in the hills north of Pepperdine.
The blaze engulfed more than 2,000 acres overnight, as crews contended with strong Santa Ana winds.
(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)
Here is the latest information from fire officials:
- More than 3,980 acres have burned, according to estimates posted at 6 a.m. Wednesday.
- The fire is 7% contained.
- At least seven homes were destroyed and eight damaged, but officials said that number could rise.
- About 6,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders.
- No serious injuries have been reported.
- The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
A 3D map from CalFire showed the burn zone extending into the campus and right up to buildings. Videos posted to social media showed students watching flames burn right outside the buildings they were sheltering in, shrouded in an orange-gray glow of fire and smoke.
“It was so close that we got the warning to stay away from the windows because the trees that were a good 20 feet ahead of it were on fire,” Pepperdine student Nick Gerding told KTLA-TV during a Tuesday morning interview.
Many residents were without power Tuesday because of emergency shutoffs by firefighters and power utilities. Cellphone service was also limited because the fire damaged cell towers, according to L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Officials from Pepperdine also reported the campus was without power, save for several buildings that were able to run generators.
Times reporters spoke with residents who recounted their harrowing experiences.
One Malibu couple, Jessica Jones and Matthew Ryder, barely had time to grab important documents and clothes as the fire headed toward their ranch home. But they also had to wrangle their three goats and a potbellied pig before making their getaway just as flames reached the property.
“I wish we had grabbed more stuff or been better prepared this time around,” Jones told Times reporter Nathan Solis. “I guess you could say we were a bit complacent.”
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The Franklin fire is burning within much of the footprint of 2018’s devastating Woolsey fire, which destroyed more than 1,600 structures and burned about 97,000 acres in Malibu, the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding communities of Thousand Oaks, Oak Park and Agoura Hills.
Research shows wildfires have grown more intense in recent decades, fueled by wildfire weather (hot, dry conditions plus wind) that’s become more frequent — especially in California.
“Southern California had a couple of wet years in a row, and that means a build-up of fuels in wildlands,” Alex Hall, director of UCLA’s Center for Climate Science, wrote in a statement. “The current wet season has been very dry so far. The sequence of very wet followed dry conditions sets the stage for big wildfires.”
The origin point of the blaze is textbook wildland-urban interface, or WUI (woo-ee). Those are the places where human development spreads into wild, undeveloped spaces.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
Historically, wildfires are a regular and natural part of the ecosystem in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. But in modern times, humans nearly always cause wildfires, and the presence of homes and other structures adds to the destructive potential.
Cal Fire estimates that 95% of wildfires are caused by humans, including from carelessness, deliberate ignitions and infrastructure failures…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (latimes.com)
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