Residents flee homes during fire; damage is limited to three homes and a car.
By Christie Lopez/Special to The Malibu Times and Laura Tate, Editor
Recalling the terror of 10 years ago, fires swept through West Malibu the beginning of this week, burning what was originally thought to be 2,200 acres, causing the evacuation of scores of residents, damaging several homes and burning one resident’s car. Two highway patrol officers were injured during the fires, residents from Encinal and Decker canyons were sent to emergency shelters at Leo Carrillo State Beach and Sycamore Cove, and Pacific Coast Highway was completely closed down in several areas.
More than 1,000 firefighters worked around the clock to subdue the blaze. As of 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, the Trancas Canyon fire, which began near Pacific Coast Highway at Broad Beach and Trancas Canyon roads Monday at approximately 10:45 a.m., was 100 percent contained. The Fire Department began mop-up operations, and all roads were opened and residents were allowed to return to their homes. The Fire Department later revised the number of acreage burned to 759 acres.
For a fire to be 100 percent contained, fire crews must entrench the fire, surrounding it entirely, thereby preventing the flames from spreading further. A downed power line is the suspected cause of the fire. It is expected to smolder for another one to two weeks.
More than 100 fire engines were dispatched to the Trancas fire scene, along with 18 hand crews, five helicopters, six bulldozers and two water tenders.
Several local schools were closed on Morningview Drive, and a Red Cross emergency shelter that was set up at Malibu High School, one of the closed schools, was shut down.
Two fires, one in Latigo Canyon and the other in Corral Canyon, burned a total of 20 acres on Sunday night, Jan. 6. Both were quickly contained and did not cause any structural damages or injuries.
Two California Highway Patrol officers were injured Monday night as they were directing traffic on Kanan Dume Road near Pacific Coast Highway.
CHP officers Allen Lindquist and Daniel Margaris were struck by a white Cadillac sedan driven by a 30-year-old man from Sylmar as he was turning onto PCH from Kanan Dume Road. The two suffered moderate injuries and as of Tuesday evening were listed in stable condition.
Though injuries were minimal, some Malibu residents suffered loss of property. Malibu West residents Wayne and Beverly Estill were in Agoura Hills when they learned of the Trancas Canyon fire after receiving a phone call from their grandson. Heading home around 12:30 p.m. Monday, the Estills took Encinal Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway because Kanan Dume Road was closed. Once at Broad Beach, however, due to additional road closures, they were not permitted any further west on Pacific Coast Highway.
Beverly Estill said the police were not opening the road to anyone, including residents of the area. The couple was permitted to park their car on the landside of the highway at Broad Beach, and walked to their home
Three hours later, when the couple returned to retrieve their car, police said, “There’s a problem.”
Officers told the couple the entire right side of their vehicle was burned. The couple had parked their car near Eucalyptus trees on the side of the road, which apparently caught fire, melting the side of the car closest to the mountain. Firefighters, already on the scene of the road-blocked area, quickly extinguished the fire. The left side of the car was undamaged.
Volunteers also played a crucial role in supporting fire staff and protecting Malibu homes. Arson Watch volunteer Randy Nauert received a call at 11:15 a.m. on Monday and went straight to the scene of the fire.
“I put the ‘Arson Watch’ signs on my car and headed to Trancas to look for suspicious characters.”
As a volunteer, Nauert said his first job is to be on the lookout for anyone who might take advantage of high winds or a current fire. Secondly, he said, volunteers take on a supportive role, assisting supplemental, out-of-town fire staff often unfamiliar with the area. Nauert, no stranger to the destruction fire can cause, says the local fire staff, those most familiar with the area, are mostly called to the “front lines” during a fire. Nauert and other volunteers assist fire staff from other divisions in protecting threatened areas by “clearing out vegetation” near homes in these areas. Nauert said local volunteers know where homes in the area are and can help fire units find access ways. Nauert lost his home in the 1978 fire in Malibu, and says it has left an indelible mark on his life, which is why he does what he can to protect the homes of others.
Ann Hoffman, a Malibu resident evacuated from her Broad Beach home, was fortunate to escape structural damage, although all vegetation surrounding her home was burned.
“We did brush clearance,” she said, “but we’re still in a natural area, there’s only so much we can do.”
Hoffman said she was surrounded by fire. “[There were] several spot fires, they just couldn’t stop it.”
Fortunately, she said, there are not many houses in the area.
“If it weren’t for recent rains, we would have been in a lot worse shape.”
Despite recent showers in Malibu, Southern California’s drought, along with heavy brush, inaccessible terrain and high winds are cited as the ingredients compounding the Trancas Canyon conflagration.
For months, these conditions have concerned local fire officials who began taking measures last summer to ensure Malibu’s fire preparedness, including securing key pieces of equipment such as a Super Scooper airplane and heavy lift helicopter, or helitanker. The Super Scoopers are based in Canada and capable of gathering up to 1,600 gallons of water in seconds. In unfortunate timing, however, the county sent its Super Scooper airplanes back to Quebec two weeks ago under contracted terms.
However, the L.A. County Fire Department recently added two brand new Black Hawk (“Firehawk”) helicopters to its fleet of four Bell helicopters. They are capable of dousing a fire with 1,000 gallons of water at a time.