The Franklin Fire in Malibu, fanned by strong winds, has burned through more than 4,000 acres this week, but a change in weather and the end of red flag warnings give firefighters hope to tamp out the inferno.
The blaze, which ignited Monday evening, has spread to 4,037 acres with containment at 20% in the popular beach enclave, the city of Malibu said Thursday afternoon.
Thousands of residents have been under evacuation orders and warnings, but the city said officials were preparing to allow some people to return home after an inspection of roads, utilities and other infrastructure.
For those who cannot yet go home, Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart said in a statement, “please know that we are working tirelessly to get you back safely. Together, we will rebuild and emerge stronger than ever.”
Almost 2,000 firefighting personnel are tackling the blaze. Firefighters have been seen dropping water and pink fire retardant by plane over the brush-covered Santa Monica Mountains.
The blaze has destroyed nine structures, damaged others, prompted closures of parts of Pacific Coast Highway, shuttered schools and caused a shelter-in-place order at Pepperdine University.
By Wednesday night, 6,300 people had evacuated, fire officials said.
Some are celebrities who live in the coveted beach enclave — including movie legend Dick Van Dyke, who turns 99 Friday.
“It was coming from over the hill, you could see it, and oh, my God, we got out of here,” he said.
The actor shared video from his doorbell camera showing the moment he evacuated with his wife, Arlene, and their pets. Van Dyke explained that he was struggling to put out a small fire on his property, when quick-thinking neighbors came to his aid.
“I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself. I couldn’t get up,” he recalled. “Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me.”
Many are grappling with loss as their communities were ravaged by the fire.
Newlyweds Michelle and Blake Geffen, who only recently moved into a home in the Serra Retreat Community in Malibu, had evacuated Monday, leaving with just their cat, passports and other important belongings.
“We heard screaming in our neighborhood. And we just knew something was off. And we got a call from our landlord and he just said, ‘Hey, there’s a fire, you need to go,’” Michelle Geffen told . “We looked behind us and we could just see orange burning.”
They found out from news coverage that their rental home and all their belongings were destroyed in the fire.
At Pepperdine University, a shelter-in-place protocol for the Malibu campus was lifted Wednesday and power was restored to the campus. It came after students had hunkered down on campus earlier this week as burned perilously close to the university.
The Franklin Fire exploded as the region was under red flag warnings and under a rarely issued “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning earlier this week. Red flag warnings are issued when there are strong wind gusts, extremely dry vegetation and low humidity, making conditions ripe for fire ignition and rapid spread.
Officials said calmer weather helped firefighters tackle the flames and establish a containment line.
But there’s still more work to do.
He said one of the most challenging areas of the blaze has been on the west side in the Malibu Canyon area.
“It’s extremely steep and inaccessible terrain that the fire is in, and we’re working on getting firefighters in there to start containing that. As we went around the fire today, we were able to get personnel in and start putting direct line in,” he said.
On the ground is Los Angeles County’s newly formed Community Fire Brigade, which is made of up about 45 volunteers.
“Yes, we may be putting water on fire. For me, the real impactful work is being advocates for our community to be better fire adaptive,” Keegan Gibbs, director of operations for the L.A. County Community Fire Brigade, told .
Gibbs said the opportunity to be part of the brigade and undergo training empowers community members who have suffered loss in previous unforgiving fires.
