Malibu fire update 9:55 a.m. Thursday
Power was restored to the entire city at 3:30 a.m. Charter Communications is functioning for the whole city, except for the Civic Center area. City Hall’s Channel 3 is not operating because of the cable outage in the Civic Center.
The Canyon Fire is 100 percent contained as of sundown yesterday. The blaze scorched 4,565 acres and cost $5.2 million to extinguish.
Malibu Canyon Road has reopened, but it will be closed temporarily throughout the day while Southern California Edison workers finish cleaning up the area. Rambla Pacifico is closed to all non-residents. All other roads are open.
Although the fire is contained, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Andrew Olvera said that there are still some “small smoldering piles” in the Rambla Pacifico area.
“We’re going to have crews here up to two weeks from now patrolling and working the area,” Olvera said this morning.
Community meetings took place this evening and yesterday. Several hundred people attended Tuesday at Malibu High School, and listened to information from city, fire and law enforcement officials. The meeting began pleasantly, with many people applauding the fire officials for their work. But the atmosphere later became hostile when a representative from Charter Communications spoke about the problems with the cable service. Fred T. Lutz, vice president/general manager of Charter’s Southern California Operations fielded many questions from angry customers.
Malibu High School, Point Dume Elementary School and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School are open today. Webster Elementary School will not re-open until Monday. Our Lady of Malibu School is not expected to re-open until Monday, or possibly later.
A SuperShabbos event at Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue has been postponed. A special service will take place at the center Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The fire has destroyed six homes, Malibu Presbyterian Church, Malibu Glass and Mirror, the trailer at Malibu Colony Plaza and two outbuildings. Thirteen homes have been damaged, as well as six commercial businesses, three outbuildings and two classrooms at Our Lady of Malibu School.