Firefighters quickly put out the Independence Day fire that burned 25 acres. Thursday’s fire destroyed two homes on Las Flores Beach.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
As Californians continue to battle blazes on the Central Coast in Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara, and Big Sur, Malibu firefighters had their own share of work leading into the holiday weekend.
On July 4, a fire that broke out mid-afternoon at Malibu Creek State Park burned close to 25 acres. More than 200 people camping in the park as well as people living in a group of mobile homes there were evacuated before the fire was contained around 5 p.m. The fire had started in a shed behind the mobile homes.
The day before, an early morning fire destroyed a unoccupied, three-story home a few doors east of Duke’s Malibu restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway. The blaze was sandwiched between two other homes, one destroyed and the other damaged. Six people were evacuated from those homes. The cause of Thursday’s fire is under investigation.
No one was hurt in either blaze.
Holiday visitors driving through Malibu Canyon from Hwy 101 on Friday, with the idea of securing an early seat at the beach for evening fireworks, were turned away on Las Virgenes Road at Lost Hills Road. White smoke filled the air and Los Angeles County helicopters hovered over the state park area.
County firefighter Eric Stratton was one of about 150 participating firefighters on duty for the July 4 fire, and arrived at the scene just after the fire started.
“There was a large number of units at the scene, along with helicopters,” Stratton said. “It wasn’t too windy, so people could evacuate calmly. There were people leaving the park in droves as we came out.”
Stratton said a few mobile homes were burning when he arrived, as well as brush, under hot and humid conditions.
“Fortunately, we contained the structure fires fairly quickly and the brush fires by later that afternoon,” Stratton said. “But there was continuous smoke and we had to keep an engine there all night. There was another flare-up of smoke Sunday morning, but we got to that pretty quickly. This might go on for several days.”
Battalion Five Fire Chief Scott Smith said the fire started in a shed behind the group of 10 to 15 mobile homes. The shed and two of the mobile homes were burned, with a third being damaged.
“We’ve continued to watch out there because fire will get into one of the dead oak trees and continue to smolder,” Smith said. “They don’t really present a danger, but we’ve had crews out watching for that.”
Smith said there has been no determination as to the cause of the July 4 fire.
Arson suspected
The Thursday fire that started in and gutted the unoccupied home on Pacific Coast Highway was referred to the arson investigation division in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. That home, originally built in 1920, is listed in public records as belonging to Darius Mohsenin.
Fire Deputy Gary Washington, the chief investigator of Thursday’s blaze, said the arson unit was called in because of the suspicious circumstances of the fire beginning in an unoccupied home.
“The house had been on the market for a year now and my understanding is that the selling price had been reduced a couple of times,” Washington said. “There was no electricity hooked up in the house, though there was gas and water. The house didn’t appear to have been broken into. Right now, we’re calling it ‘undetermined’ as to the cause.”
That fire was so severe that firefighters couldn’t even walk on the floors without falling through, Washington said.
“Because of the house’s location, we’re looking at transients who camp nearby, though we currently have no evidence,” Washington said. “The neighbors didn’t see anyone around either, so the investigation right now is at a standstill.”
Battalion Fire Chief Smith said the fires on the Central Coast prove that California’s fire season is “basically year-round” and that fire fighters will continue to maintain a “high level of vigilance.”
“Right now, we are concentrating on urging people to keep up with brush clearance,” Smith said.