A fire started early this morning at a vacant home just east of Duke’s Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway destroyed the three-story house and the one next to it on the east. A house on the other side of the home where the fire started was damaged.
All lanes of Pacific Coast Highway near the site were closed shortly after the fire began at 3 a.m. The westbound lanes were soon opened, but the eastbound lanes remained closed until approximately 7:30 a.m. All lanes are now open.
Nearly 60 firefighters were called to the scene. The fire was contained shortly before 5 a.m.
Firefighter Pat Fearon from Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 70 said the home where the fire started had no chance to be saved.
“It was fully engulfed,” said Fearon, who said firefighters could not get inside because it was too dangerous and the home’s floor had rotted prior to the fire.
The vacant home has been on the market for three years with a price tag of more than $1 million. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s arson investigators were called to the scene. The department’s bomb squad was also sent there.
No cause of the fire has been determined. Capt. Bob Goldman from Station 70 told Channel 7 News the fire looked “very suspicious.”
Six people were evacuated from two of the homes. No injuries were reported. Firefighter Dave Moss stepped on a nail.
“He’s going to be fine,” Fearon said. “But we were all giving him a hard time.”