Emergency.Blog

Rapidly Spreading Wildfire Threatens Malibu

21 Oct 2007 - 11:00CDT/09:00PDT

Rapidly Spreading Wildfire Threatens Malibu
"Red Flag Warning" is in Effect...

MALIBU, CA: A wildfire driven by Santa Anna winds* in the Malibu Hills on Sunday morning is threatening a university, has destroyed at least three homes and is forcing the evacuation of hundreds more, authorities said.

According to eyewitness and emergency service reports, the fire has grown from 50 acres to at least 300 acres in a relatively short time. More than 200 homes have been evacuated and several others are seriously threatened.

The campus of Pepperdine University is also at major threat according to witnesses at the University. Students are said to be "sheltering in place," although a number of students are said to have self-evacuated the area. The City of Malibu is advising residents in Puerco Canyon to evacuate the area because the wildfire.

The affect area is north of Pacific Coast Highway and about one mile west of Pepperdine University. Residents who live along the beach on Malibu Road may soon be evacuated, as the fire could jump Pacific Coast Highway. Residents in the beach areas are advised to head to the west.

Evacuation centers are being set up in the Zuma Beach area.

Numerous mutual aid fire units have been dispatched to assist at the fire and air assets (helicopters) were seen in the vicinity. Aerial video, being monitored at the EmergencyNet Watch Desk, shows several structures burning at the time of this report.

An e-mail sent to EmergencyNet News by a veteran emergency service source in California said that the problem is the wind that is rapidly pushing the fire and making firefighting efforts difficult. Unofficial accounts say that wind gusts of 60 mph have been reported at the scene.

The U.S. Forest Service, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have sent at least 400 people to fight the fire, he said.

Watch EmergencyNet News for more information on this developing story...

[* Santa Anna wind is a weather condition in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions]

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Oct 21, 2007 11:09 am US/Pacific

Malibu Fire Fact Sheet -- Can be found at: http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_294131709.html