Malibu fire: Evacuation orders issued, ‘shelter-in-place’ at Pepperdine

A ferocious wildfire was spreading rapidly early Tuesday in Malibu, spurring evacuations along the coast while nearby Pepperdine University issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order and firefighters struggled to battle the flames.

Most of the eastern half of Malibu was ordered evacuated, and the rest of the city was under an evacuation warning. Some 6,000 residents live in the area ordered evacuated, firefighters said — most of the city’s population of about 11,000 residents. About 2,000 structures are affected by the mandatory evacuation order.

Dubbed the Franklin fire, the blaze was moving at a fierce pace, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, and had exploded to more than 1,600 acres as of 3 a.m. with no containment, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Flames were reported on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway, with the fire jumping the roadway in at least two locations — the area around Malibu Pier and around Malibu Road and Webb Way, just next to Malibu Colony Plaza, where a Ralphs supermarket is located, according to the city.

Structures were being “impacted” by the wildfire along Malibu Knolls Road, where there are a few homes and a church, and in the area of Sweetwater Canyon Drive, where there are more than a dozen homes, the city said.

Residents described having just minutes to flee, as they saw a storm of embers rain down, with hillsides and trees bursting into flames, and having precious little time to decide what to take with them.

Jonathan Torres, spokesman for L.A. County Fire Department, told The Times that hundreds of firefighters responded to the fire and had been hampered by winds of 50 to 80 miles an hour.

Firefighting helicopters were picking up water using the lakes at Pepperdine’s Alumni Park to drop on the flames, the campus said.

The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. along Malibu Canyon Road and north of Francisco Ranch Road in the hills north of Pepperdine.

At around the time the fire ignited, there were gusts of up to 65 mph reported. By around 3:30 a.m., the winds were weakening slightly, with gusts in the 40-mph range, said National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall. But patterns seen in past Santa Ana wind events “suggest winds should ramp up around daybreak,” Hall said. Meanwhile, relative humidity was quite dry, as low as 5%.

Aerial footage from local news stations in the early hours of Tuesday morning showed flames devouring the Malibu hills as palm trees were tossed by strong winds. The cause of the fire was unclear.

Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, local news outlets reported that the fire had moved into the Serra Retreat area and was threatening structures. The community is about three-fifths of a mile northwest of Malibu Pier and two-thirds of a mile northeast of Malibu Village Mall. There are private homes in addition to a Catholic retreat and conference center noted for its views.

Fire crews from Orange and Ventura counties and the city of L.A. joined L.A. County firefighters, providing on-the-ground and aerial response as they sought to get a handle on the conflagration.

Torres said he could not confirm reports that the fire had crossed Pacific Coast Highway but said he was aware the fire had come close and made a run toward the highway. Torres said he also could not confirm any structural damage.

A six-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway was ordered closed east of Corral Canyon Road and west of Las Flores Canyon Road, the city of Malibu said. Las Virgenes Road, which continues as Malibu Canyon Road on the way to the coast, is closed south of Mulholland Highway all the way to Pacific Coast Highway, a six-mile stretch of road, the city added.

As of about 2 a.m., a mandatory evacuation order had been issued for a wide swath of the city, including Malibu Pier, Malibu Village Mall, City Hall, and Malibu Colony Plaza, where a Ralphs supermarket is located.

Coastal homes along Malibu Road and Malibu Colony Drive are in the evacuation zone as well as a nine-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway west of Topanga Canyon and east of Malibu Road.

An evacuation warning along Pacific Coast Highway extended as far east as the edge of Los Angeles city limits, on the border of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and as far west as Zuma Beach as of about 2 a.m.

A temporary evacuation center was set up at Palisades Recreation Center at 851 Alma Real Drive. Large animals can be taken to Pierce College, at 6201 Winnetka Ave. in Woodland Hills.

Pepperdine University was in the heart of the evacuation area, but the university directed students and others on campus to remain there and abide by the university’s emergency protocol. “All community members on the Malibu campus are directed to shelter in place in the Tyler Campus Center or Payson Library,” Pepperdine shared on X at 1:09 a.m. Tuesday.

At around 3:30 a.m., the school said, “[T]he worst of the fire has pushed past Pepperdine.” Spot fires continued to burn on campus, the university noted, but none were threatening buildings or lives. People on campus were being asked to stay at least until sunrise.

Some residents described to TV reporters a frantic effort to flee.

One woman told KABC-TV she suddenly smelled smoke and realized her home was surrounded by fire, with “embers just dropping all over us.” She said she saw another house and barn in flames.

As she fled, she was able to evacuate one of her horses but couldn’t get to two others. She said she was hoping they would gallop to safety.

Alp Toygar told The Times around 3:30 a.m. that he had driven into Malibu in the early morning hours for a closer look at the conflagration.

“Flames are everywhere,” he said. “People are running away in vehicles from Malibu both directions on the coastal highway. I just passed through the blazes … on the highway. No traffic lights. Police cars and fire trucks are everywhere.”

The National Weather Service has issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warning for wide portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, which will last through Tuesday afternoon. Gusts of up to 80 mph are possible, and relative humidity is forecast to be alarmingly low, while vegetation is extremely dry.

The weather service said that within the Franklin fire area, strong and damaging winds from the north and northeast were expected to peak around sunrise Tuesday, and last through late Tuesday morning.

Relative humidity levels were as low as 9% just before midnight.

More than 3,500 customers were reportedly without power early Tuesday morning due to the fire, according to Southern California Edison’s online outage map.

This is the second time this fire season that the weather service has issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation red flag warning. The last time the warning was issued was on Nov. 5, and a day later, the Mountain fire ignited in Ventura County and, whipped by powerful winds, razed more than 240 buildings. It became the third-most-destructive wildfire in Southern California since 2013.

The dry, strong Santa Ana winds are being driven by a system of high pressure building in the Great Basin, which is sending air hurtling through canyons and mountain passes to the coast, where there is low pressure.

Malibu and neighboring communities in Thousand Oaks, Oak Park and Agoura Hills saw tremendous destruction in the 2018 Woolsey fire, which destroyed more than 1,600 structures and burned about 97,000 acres.

Pepperdine University has a well-documented “shelter-in-place” protocol when wildfires threaten Malibu, given how difficult it can be to evacuate the campus quickly on narrow roads during a crisis.

The university says the campus’ buildings are built with fire-resistant materials, and brush is cleared at least 200 feet away from structures. The school took some criticism for its shelter-in-place plan after the campus used it during the Woolsey fire in 2018, with some students nervous about remaining on campus.

In an interview on Fox 11 early Tuesday, Pepperdine spokesperson Michael Friel defended the practice even as the wildfire exploded in the hills around the university.

“We have been well-prepared to respond to situations like this,” Friel said. “The campus is the safest place to be at this time.”

Classes and final exams were canceled Tuesday at Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus.

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.