Loading ...MALIBU, California (CNN) — Firefighters in Malibu, California, struggled Saturday to control a raging wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes after it broke out before dawn.
Officials described the fire as “dangerous and dynamic” and warned residents not to let down their guard if winds weaken during the afternoon, as expected.
“Winds can start up again in a hurry, they can change direction suddenly, and the fire itself can create its own weather conditions,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. “So just because the wind is dying down does not mean that people are out of danger.”
Yaroslavsky said the fire had burned 2,200 acres and 35 homes.
Hundreds of people were being evacuated after the fire started, around 3:30 a.m. PT. Strong winds fanned the flames, a fire official told CNN.
“Whenever these fires are pushed by … winds, it’s a like a blow torch with a hair dryer behind it,” Inspector Sam Padilla of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Officials said the fire had jumped the Pacific Coast Highway and was moving west, into more heavily populated areas.
Padilla said the fire had entered the city of Malibu.
Yaroslavsky said 1,700 firefighters and 23 aircraft were battling the blaze. He said one state firefighter was injured, but not seriously.
Officials said it’s unclear how the wildfire started, and that arson investigators were on the scene.
High winds and low humidity were impeding progress, Padilla said. Video images showed helicopters sucking water from swimming pools to fight the flames.
Mandatory evacuations were called for Corral Canyon, where the fire started, and areas west to Trancas Canyon Road, according to Malibu’s Web site. The Red Cross set up a shelter at Agoura Hills High School. Evacuated residents farther south were instructed to go to Channel Islands High School in Ventura County.
A resident who was not told to evacuate did so anyway, and he told CNN he thought his home had been destroyed.
Sia Hodjatie said he was awakened about 3:45 a.m. by the smell of smoke. He and his family packed their pets into the car and started leaving the house an hour later.
“When we were leaving, the fire was in our back door,” Hodjatie said. “My older son … said, ‘Dad, if we would have left 30 or 40 seconds more, we would have been baked here.’ And we saw the fire coming toward the house, and heavy smoke, and very, very uncomfortable situation.”
Frank Angel and his wife told The Associated Press they had 15 minutes to get out of their house.
“I ran out on the deck and I just saw a little fire and smoke up the canyon on the ridge [about a mile away],” Angel told the AP. “By the time we evacuated it was already over the ridge. It spread faster than I’ve ever seen it.”
Carol Stoddard, a freelance videographer and photographer, was told by firefighters that her $2 million home was probably destroyed, the AP reported.
Stoddard told the AP she also lost her collection of 12 uninsured cars.
“I stayed there until I couldn’t breathe and the embers were flying everywhere,” she told the AP. “It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t grab enough stuff that was of importance, like my passport.”
“Waking up at 4 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here, but it always comes as something of a shock,” said Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings. “And any time that you have a fire that claims 35 homes, it’s a disaster.”
Thick smoke billowed into the air and could be seen several miles from the flames, witnesses said. The fire is producing a “tremendous” amount of smoke, Pepperdine University official Jerry Derloshon told CNN.
Looking westward, where the fire was several miles away, he said, “There’s so much smoke it almost defies understanding.”
Pepperdine students were being asked to relocate to a central location on campus as a precaution, he said.
CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider said wind gusts of 59 mph had died down slightly, to 57 mph. Sustained winds of 22 mph were blowing from the northeast, she said. A wind advisory was in effect south to San Diego until 6 p.m., and stronger winds were blowing in inland valley areas, she said.
“Definitely deja vu, definitely not something we expected,” Brown said of the fire, which came only about a month after more than two dozen wind-whipped wildfires killed 14 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Southern California.
Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire Department, said their firefighters were ready in case the fire spreads there. The city is about 130 miles southeast of Malibu.
“We’re very, very concerned. We’re on high alert. Our fire crews have been told to be ready to come in off duty. They all have their equipment with them so they can report anywhere they’re needed.”
“We’re hoping and praying that the winds do not materialize down here, that we have no fires, and there’s no need for additional resources down here if something breaks. It’s a very tense, nervous situation,” Luque said.
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To me this indicative of things to come. As droughts occur throughout our own country, we should expect fires to begin in the Southeast, right?
Perhaps not the wind fanned firing inferno’s of Southern California, but wide spread fires scorching highly populated regions laced in dry grass and water malnourished country sides as well as within urban sectors.