20,000 Malibu area residents face evacuation over wildfire as weather conditions improve

By Hanna Park, Robert Shackelford and Mary Gilbert, CNN

(CNN) — Improving weather conditions in Southern California on Wednesday raised officials’ hopes that firefighters could rein in the Franklin Fire, which forced evacuation orders or warnings for 20,000 residents in the Malibu area, including some celebrities, and more than 8,000 homes and businesses.

At its peak, the wildfire that ignited Monday expanded at an alarming rate, consuming an area larger than five football fields per minute and destroying at least nine structures. Some people are confronting the painful reality of lost homes.

Longtime Malibu resident Fred Roberts expressed his alarm at the destruction while checking on a friend’s home.

“I remember playing in this house in the front yard with my schoolmates. That’s how long I’ve been here, my whole life,” Roberts told Reuters this week. “This is a notorious area, winds coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Red Flag warnings expired in Southern California as conditions that were favorable for wildfire spread abated. A Red Flag warning means warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire.

Officials expressed cautious optimism Wednesday morning that improving weather conditions would help them get the blaze under control.

“We’re far better off this morning than we were in the last 30-plus hours,” Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart said. The city had to move its emergency operations to Calabasas on Tuesday because of the fire threat to City Hall.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters were able to help fight the blaze Wednesday as the weather moderated, and firefighters will start working Thursday to contain the fire in the extremely steep and unaccessible terrain of the Malibu Canyon area, CalFire incident commander Dusty Martin said at a news conference Wednesday night. But it will likely take “a couple of days” to contain the fire, Martin said.

“Getting the citizens back into their homes is our number one priority,” Martin said. “But to do that, we have to make sure that the area is safe, where we can let folks back in.”

Meanwhile, an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fast-moving inferno, authorities said Wednesday night.

Tens of thousands had lost power in Southern California this week – many because of pre-emptive power shutoffs because of high winds.

Despite the positive weather trends, the Los Angeles County fire chief warned the 12,600 residents under evacuation orders to continue to take the fire seriously.

“Up until this point, it’s been a wind-driven fire,” Chief Anthony Marrone said. “If the wind changes direction, we’re going to have the fire moving into new areas.”

Fire activity around Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus has decreased, with only small flames remaining as firefighters tackle lingering hot spots, the school alerted at 9:58 p.m. Tuesday. Early assessments show no structural damage or injuries. A shelter-in-place protocol was lifted Wednesday morning, the university announced, and a precautionary power outage on campus ended.

The university has canceled all on-campus finals and announced remaining students would be allowed to leave on Wednesday morning.

Here’s the latest:

• Rapid Growth: Strong winds have fueled the Franklin Fire, which has burned more than 4,000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon, CalFire said. It is 7% contained, according to Los Angeles County Fire and CalFire officials.
• Destruction: Initial assessments indicate at least nine structures destroyed and six damaged, though further evaluations are pending, said Albert Yanagisawa, Los Angeles County deputy fire chief. No deaths or injuries have been reported, the city of Malibu said.
• Malibu’s famous residents are among those impacted: Actor Dick 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. “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. Grammy Award-winning singer Cher also had to leave her Malibu home for safety and is staying at a hotel, her publicist told the AP.
• Power outages: Nearly 60,000 customers across California experienced power outages, primarily concentrated in San Diego County, where utilities implemented preventative shutdowns. Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus lost power, with some buildings relying on generator power.
• School closures: All four Malibu schools – Malibu Elementary, Malibu Middle, Malibu High, and Webster Elementary – will be closed through Thursday, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District posted on social media. School closures also impacted San Diego County due to preemptive power outages and inclement weather, the county’s Office of Education posted on social media Tuesday.

CNN’s Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, Lauren Mascarenhas and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.

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