Temperatures reached 93 degrees in Malibu Tuesday. That and low humidity caused red flag warnings until Thursday.
By Laura Tate / Associate Publisher / Editor
Malibu’s local fire stations are on high alert and have beefed up their patrols and a strike team has been in place since Sunday’s red flag warning, which has been extended until Thursday 9 p.m.
Maria Grycan, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said a strike team of five extra engines and a battalion chief has been in the region since Sunday, and an additional battalion chief has been assigned to monitor the 101 Freeway side of the Santa Monica Mountains.
A dismal rainy season followed by temperatures in the mid-nineties, and humidity indices in the single digits-6 percent in Malibu and surrounding areas-coming earlier than usual have caused the National Weather Service to issue the red flag warnings.
One casualty of the dry, hot weather was Tuesday’s raging fire at Griffith Park, east of the Hollywood sign, which burned up to 200 acres as of 7 p.m. that evening. A suspected arsonist was badly burned and was being treated at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. The Harding and Wilson municipal golf courses, Gene Autry Museum, Griffith Park merry-go round and the L.A. Zoo had been evacuated. The zoo’s animals were said to be safe.
“It is definitely hotter, and drier [earlier in the season],” Grycan said, adding “It seems to be getting worse [every year].”
Temperatures reached 95 degrees downtown Los Angeles noon Tuesday. The record was 97 degrees in 1984. It was 93 degrees in Malibu on Tuesday.
Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said, “We’re seeing conditions that we would normally see later in the year,” noting that “vegetation is very dry.”
“Fortunately, the winds are not a major concern,” he added, “which could cause a major brush fire.”
Haralson advised people to be extra careful and not to use anything that could cause a spark or flame outdoors.
The National Weather Service reported that light offshore winds Tuesday morning helped to reinforce a “very warm and very dry air mass across the region.” Low overnight humidity has not helped the situation. Temperatures are expected to dip by the end of this week and an onshore flow of wind is expected to increase humidity levels.
Malibu already had a taste of fire earlier this year, when a conflagration that started at Pacific Coast Highway at Bluffs Park raced quickly down a hill to the ocean, burning to the ground five Malibu Road homes, including that of actress Suzanne Somers, and damaging six others. Winds of up to 60 mph had driven the Jan. 8 fire in minutes toward the ocean, leaving residents little time to evacuate. One resident’s dog was killed in the fire. Damages were estimated anywhere between $60 million and $100 million. The cause has not yet been determined.