The pastor at Malibu Presbyterian estimates it will be three to six years before a new church can be built.
By Olivia Damavandi / Special to The Malibu Times
One year ago this week, the Canyon Fire scorched through Malibu for three days from Malibu Canyon Road to Las Flores Canyon. The fire, which began on Oct. 21, burned 4,500 acres and destroyed six houses, Malibu Presbyterian Church and Malibu Glass and Mirror. Another 15 homes and seven businesses were damaged.
Although the destruction was not as severe as it was in the following month’s Corral Fire, major city landmarks were lost, including Lilly Lawrence’s Castle Kashan and Malibu Presbyterian. For Malibu Presbyterian, the rebuilding effort has not been easy.
“It was burned clear to the ground, nothing was salvageable,” Pastor Greg Hughes said. “There now is a huge discrepancy between what the insurance company says our building is worth and what the contractor says it’s worth. So we may have to go to arbitration to settle this.”
Hughes said the church is still working with its insurance company to resolve how much of the rebuilding it will cover, the price of which is still undetermined, and that the church is also waiting on building permits from the city. He estimated the combination of these two factors will make it three to six years before a temporary site can be built on the same grounds, at which time permits for a final site will be evaluated.
Although the structure is destroyed, the congregation has not been. Services are still held every Sunday, with Webster Elementary School serving as the place of worship. And the preschool is in operation on the church grounds.
Hughes expressed gratitude for the community’s support and for the institutions that helped with the aftermath of the fire, including Malibu residents, the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue, Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church and the Salvation Army.
Nearby Malibu Glass and Mirror was also destroyed in the fire. “We lost six structures, eight vehicles and all of our products,” owner Gerald Lemonnier said. “All that was left was one tiny office trailer.”
Lemonnier said construction of the new shop is currently underway, and that it is being built from steel, a fire deterrent.
“We got permits for rebuilding the office and shop a few weeks ago. The shops are being built first, and then the office,” he said. Since January, Malibu Glass has been operating from a temporary office and trailer and has replaced its lost trucks. “We were back to work within a week [after the fire],” Lemonnier said.
Although it was not completely destroyed, Webster Elementary did incur significant damage in the fire. Much of the Winter Canyon school’s landscaping was scorched. There was also damage done to two classrooms, a computer lab and two sheds containing art and earthquake supplies.
Webster principal Phil Cott recalled on Monday, ironically while another fire blazed through the Valley, the severity of last year’s disaster. “We were closed for a week in the aftemath, trying to clean up the school and make it safe. Everything after that was extraordinarily positive.”
He continued, “We raised a lot of money through our GROW, or Garden Renewal of Webster, fund to plant gardens around the school and to rebuild the entrance to Poets Park.”
While Webster Elementary was undergoing its own recovery, the school still made the effort to help children from Running Springs in San Bernadino County, where another fire took place the same week. The school “adopted” 19 children who had lost their belongings in the fire. Webster students wrote cards and sent Christmas gifts.
Despite the overwhelmingly positive community support that arose from the tragedy, Cott said one remaining frustration is that one of the damaged classrooms has not been repaired. “We are still out of that classroom a year later,” he said. “The problem is with the Department of the State Architect that has to approve this work even though it’s the reconstruction of existing building.”
Many additional programs and classes such as English as a second language, occupational therapy, counseling and music that are offered at Webster require working spaces, making the currently unrepaired classroom a valuable asset. “We are always stressed for space, and have more students than we did last year,” Cott said.
Cott said he has recently communicated with the Department of the State Architect via email.
“We think work will start sometime in the foreseeable future,” he concluded.
The fire burned two buildings of Our Lady of Malibu Catholic School, located across the street from Webster. It claimed a lab containing approximately 50 computers, an eighth-grade classroom and a seventh-grade classroom (which incurred heavy water damage during the firefight).
The loss of both buildings forced the school to maximize the usage of its remaining space. The multipurpose room, which serves as a computer lab and a lunch room, is also the practice location for the music theater and the band later in the day.
“There’s a lot of moving of tables and chairs,” principal Suzanne Ricci said.
In addition to replacing all the carpeting throughout the school, Ricci said a new computer lab is scheduled to be installed the week of Thanksgiving, after a year-long wait of approval from the city.
Ricci also spoke about how Our Lady of Malibu has improved its communication level among staff members.
“Each teacher has a walkie talkie that includes emergency contacts, updates of current weather and wind information from the National Weather Service and [the ability to contact] emergency agencies so that everyone would be knowledgable about a current situation, be it a fire or other natural disaster,” Ricci said.
“Getting the word out would be expedited because, as we all know, fires do move fast in Malibu and everyone needs to be ready.”