• • Red Flags up again in Malibu
  • A frantic effort to protect Santa Barbara coastal towns … from sundowner winds that are brewing.
  • Did Santa Monica Airport play a role in fighting the 405 Fire?
  • Holiday parties coming up.

Those stories coming up next … on Malibu’s Only Local Daily News.

It’s the [[[ Thursday ]]] news.  … from Radio Malibu …. 99-point-1 … KBUU News.

Good morning …. I’m Hans Laetz reporting.

Red Flag Warnings Remain Up: 40 MPH Gusts Today

Red Flag Warnings remain in effect this morning … for the Malibu coast … plus Ventura County’s mountains.

Winds … out of the northeast at 15 to 25 miles per hour … with gusts to 40 miles possible today,.

Gusts may hit 45 miles an hour in the Ventura county coastal plain.

These winds may switch to downcoast breezes at times … and that could bring smokey fog down into Malibu from up the coast.

Sundowner Winds On Tap In Santa Barbara Today

A frantic effort overnight in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Sundowner winds … a unique Santa Barbara weather feature … are on tap.

These are coastal winds from up north … that turn south and blow down the canyons toward the Santa Barbara coast.

But the National Weather Service was forecasting sundowner winds …. blowing southeast at up to 35 miles an hour tomorrow night ….

And that will be followed on Saturday night by Santa Ana winds Saturday.

At up to 45 mph … that could steer the fire toward the southwest.

Right towards downtown Santa Barbara.

18,000 structures remain threatened.

The Thomas Fire is 30 percent contained …. and has burned 242,500 acres as of last nbight.

and is 30% contained.

But … and this is scary … sundowner winds

To date, 930 structures have been destroyed and 202 others damaged.

8,083 personnel are currently battling the Thomas Fire.

SCE Tower May Have Failed, Sparked Creek Fire

A Southern California Edison transmission tower may have been the source for that big fire two weeks ago in the foothills of the San Fernando Valley.

The Creek Fire burned nearly 16 thousand acres … and took out 60 homes … earlier this month.

Southern California Edison has released a press release … saying that CalFire and the California Public Utilities Commission are investigating its power lines.

Cal Fire officials tell the Los Angeles Times that a major transmission line may have failed in Upper Tujunga Canyon.

The Los Angeles Times reports that its reporters have interviewed residents.

They saw sparks were coming off a steel pylon as a high voltage transmission line came loose and was … in their words … smacking the hill in a shower of sparks.

The closest weather station was atop a nearby ridge … and it recorded wind gusts as high as 73 miles per hour.

The state requires power lines to withstand 92 mile per hour wind gusts.

If true … this is the first reported transmission line fire in recent history to cause a brushfire.

Transmission lines are different from distribution lines … as these are the big ones on steel towers.

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You are listening to the latest news … from Radio Malibu … 99-point-1 … KBUU.

It’s [[[ TIME ]]] .

Airport Backers Claim Role In Skirball Fire …. Riiiiiight

Airport advocates have put out a news releases claiming that the air traffic control tower at Santa Monica Airport played a “critical” role in fighting the “Skirball” fire.

But opponents of the airport point out that not one fire-critical flight took off or landed at the airport … which is the closest airport to Malibu.

Air traffic controllers coordinated more than 50 fire-related flights … because the tower directs aircraft within a three-mile radius of the airport.

The fire on the 405 was about 5 miles north of the airport. .

The Santa Monica Airport Association points to that as evidence the airport needs to stay open … where the city of Santa Monica plans to close it by 2028.

the airport association says the airport continues to provide “critical air traffic services as a traffic cop for helicopters dropping water on the fire,” as well as for Los Angeles Police Department helicopters and newsgathering aircraft,

Airport critics note that such aircraft function well in areas without a local air traffic control tower.

Santa Monica Airport is shutting down for 10 days while the runway is shortened.

LA Examines Danger To Canyon Homes From Homeless

The Los Angeles city council has ordered all city departments … plus Caltrans … to come up with a quick summary on the number of homeless people living in canyons and on hillsides.

This … after the Skirball Fire in Sepulveda Canyon was found to have originated at a large camping area … hidden but just across the 405 Freeway from the Getty Center art galleries and tramway,

Residents tell the L-A Times they knew it was only going to be a matter of time before something horrible happened.

That happened two weeks ago … when fire broke out at a large campground hidden next to the 405.

An annual count in May found that homeless numbers in Los Angeles County had soared 23% to nearly 58,000 people in the last year.

There are 55 hundred homeless people in West L-A County … including many living in canyons and arroyos.

Photos taken of the Sepulveda Pass encampment in September showed a cluster of green and olive tarps stretched across a canyon, partially hidden by treetops and brush.

No city outreach team had visited the ravine for at least a few months and possibly as long as a year … the L-A Times reports.

After the Skirball fire swept through, investigators found evidence that people had been cooking and sleeping in the area.

Some of that land is owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

The M R C.A spokeswoman says homelessness is a huge problem in our city …

The fire “is one more indication that this is a major issue that we need to put all our resources into to deal with” … she says.

Snapchat Homeowner Pays $1M For Pier Concerts

The owner of Snapchat has stepped forward with a one million dollar check to save the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Concert Series.

Santa Monica is worried that the weekly summertime event has grown into a monster …. with the beach packed each summertime Thursday night.

Crime …. crowd control … major concerns.

The concert achieved critical mass … after 33 years … with massive crowds last summer.

Evan Spiegel founded Snapchat … the controversial Venice Beach-based company that is changing the face of Venice.

The billionaire CEO showed up at Santa Monica City Hall Tuesday night to offer one million dollars of his own money to cover the costs of policing the series.

Spiegel said … and we quote from the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper ….

“I worry about this conversation because what we’re effectively saying is diversity and inclusion (are) really important unless it is expensive and inconvenient.

“I think we can do better.” says Evan Speigel.

The city voted to move the concert series to six dates …. not in the summer but in the fall … to limit it to smaller concerts on the pier itself … and other crowd control measures.

MHS Chorale At Tree Lot Monday

The public is invited to the Malibu High School Community Night …. next Monday evening at 6 at the Christmas Tree Lot.

That’s at Heathercliff / Emily Shane Way at PCH.

You are invited to purchase your holiday trees, wreaths, and garlands.

$10 off all trees at the event.

You can also purchase Malibu High Sharkwear for your holiday gifts.

There will be complimentary gift wrapping.

The MHS Chorale will perform and lead in caroling.

And the “Farm & Flame” food truck will be available.

That’s Monday at 6 at the tree lot … on PCH just east of Heathercliff / Emily Shane Way.

Malibu Community Holiday Party Today At 4

And today at 4 p-m … the Malibu Community Holiday party at Malibu City Hall.

Bring an unwrapped toy for the Spark Of Love toy drive … and all donors will be entered in a drawing for prizes donated by local businesses.

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The time is [[[ TIME ]]] .

We’ll have the traffic in 65 seconds.

Weather for the Malibu.

Sunny with a high of ((( 76 ))) today on the beach … ((( 85 ))) in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Winds could gust as high as 40 mph over the mountains today … at times and in some places.

But they may switch to coming off the ocean after noon.

And that could bring us areas of smoke.

Sunset tonight is at ((( 4:44. ))).

After that ….

A little less windy … gusts to 30 miles an hour down the canyons.

Lows ((( 60 ))) at the beach … down to ((( 48 ))) in some canyons where the winds don’t blow.

Tomorrow should be ((( much the same … 30 mile per hour peak wind gusts. ))).

Right now … at Trancas it’s (((  62. ))).

Upper Malibu Canyon … ((( 67.   ))).

And at Civic Center Los Angeles (((   52 ))).

In the ocean … ((( 57 )))) in the water at Trancas Tower 14.

Waves today are (((   3 to 4  ))) feet high.

There is a fading WNW swell today wrapping around from Point Conception… while a new long-period WNW swell shows in afternoon.

Favorable morning conditions.e

(((( Low tide is 1:30 PM.

A 3.8 foot high tide will top out at 7:39 this evening. )))))

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The KBUU Newswire is posted midmornings … and the radio station is streaming … at radiomalibu.net and kbu.fm .

Also .. at the Malibu Times website.

Breaking news always goes first on the radio … covering all of Malibu at F-M 99-point-1.

Our signal now comes in reliably … from County Line all the way to Big Rock … with a couple of holes at Ralphs and Dan Blocker Beach.