Firefighters battled a brushfire early Tuesday in Malibu, near Pepperdine University, prompting evacuations amid dangerous fire conditions because of Southern California's notorious Santa Ana winds. It was not immediately known how the blaze, named the Franklin Fire, started but Los Angeles County Fire Department officials estimated that at least 2.8 square miles had burned and structures were threatened, per the AP. The evacuation order encompassed about 6,000 people and more than 2,000 structures, KABC-TV reported, attributing that information to fire officials.
Pepperdine canceled classes and finals for the day and there was a shelter-in-place order. Flames could be seen from the campus, according to a university statement. Fire engines were on campus and helicopters were dropping water collected from lakes in the school's Alumni Park onto the fire. "The university understands the worst of the fire has pushed past Pepperdine. However, there are smaller spot fires on campus that are not threatening life or structures, and fire resources remain on campus to address these spot fires as they occur," Pepperdine posted in a statement online.
Gabrielle Salgado was one of the students who was taking shelter in the university library. "Just seeing the flames grow and seeing that bright red color of fire just get brighter and brighter and brighter—it was so scary," she told KABC-TV. North to northeast winds were forecast to increase to 30mph to 40mph with gusts up to 65mph expected, the National Weather Service Los Angeles office posted on X. Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires. (More California stories.)
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