Roadblocks mistakenly set up by law enforcement as repopulation is underway
By just about every measure they are Malibu residents. Their zip codes are 90265, their children go to Malibu schools, they shop at local stores and pay Malibu sales tax, and they are eligible to receive services such as complimentary fire safety assessments through Malibu city programs.
However, anyone who lives 1 mile north of Pacific Coast Highway, technically in unincorporated Los Angeles County, cannot vote in Malibu municipal elections. Many are voicing frustration that they may not be receiving important information they need in emergencies such as last week’s Franklin Fire.
Homeowners in Sea View Estates, Saddle Peak, and surrounding homes contacted The Malibu Times to report an incident that highlights their concerns.
On Thursday, Dec. 12, hours after repopulation efforts for many evacuated residents were announced, a roadblock was set up at the intersection of Saddle Peak, Schueren, and Stunt roads outside city limits. This area was never under mandatory evacuation orders.
As electricity was restored that day, residents who knew they could not access their neighborhoods from PCH drove to the San Fernando Valley instead to run errands, fill prescriptions, replenish spoiled refrigerated items, and fill empty cupboards. Maggie Karpuk left her home for a doctor’s appointment and noticed the roadblock. Concerned, she questioned law enforcement personnel on scene who assured her she could return with an ID. However, when she returned around 4 p.m. she noticed 25 cars lined up. They were all turned away and waiting. Some waited for more than an hour while questioning the reason for the blockade as the fire appeared out of their area, they were not in an evacuation zone, and their streets were not mentioned on the Malibu city website or elsewhere.
Lee Gwyn, a 39-year resident, has been through a number of fires and is an Arson Watch volunteer. He was perplexed by the lack of information concerning the roadblock. Gwyn says he was polite when asking the California Highway Patrol about what appeared to be an erroneous roadblock. “They were polite too, but firm,” Gwyn said about treating the intersection as a hard closure.
Birute Vileisis, a 37-year area resident, drove to pick up her neighbor who wasn’t allowed home. The two returned to pick up the neighbor’s car after 7 p.m. after the roadblock was cleared, but 15 cars remained. “It’s outrageous,” Vileisis said. “I’m furious they wouldn’t let a resident through with proper ID. It’s unthinkable after what we’ve been through.”
Gywn’s wife, who could not get through, was forced to walk 30 minutes to get home.
After abandoning cars at the side of the road, one family walking home with two toddlers was picked up by a sympathetic law enforcement officer and driven home. Another elderly resident reported hiking back Friday to retrieve his car. One Saddle Peak resident called the roadblock “unacceptable,” noting that there were no evacuations in the area or information as to why it was a hard closure.
Karpuk expressed her dismay at witnessing a resident who stated he was trying to get medicine to his daughter and being denied entry to his neighborhood, no ifs, ands, or buts.
“It’s crazy. The information was conflicting,” resident Julie Friedman-Kagon said. Another resident was frustrated with the inconvenience but more sympathetic, noting that “different jurisdictions, volunteers, and out-of-town personnel must make things difficult.”
The CHP, who stated they “just provide patrol,” probably received information that was “lost in translation,” according to LA County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Soderlund. The Malibu Sheriff’s Liaison said a combination of new personnel, out-of-area CHP officers and an obvious communication gap was to blame for the misplaced roadblock. “There are never perfect incidents,” he said of the communications failure. Soderlund assured there will be an after-action debriefing to improve service in the next emergency.
While many area residents were frustrated by the erroneously placed roadblock, many are acknowledging the valiant efforts made by the myriad agencies in fighting the Franklin Fire. Still, they believe the incident exposed a critical information gap revealed with this incident. With more emergencies sure to come, unincorporated Malibu residents are questioning why their neighborhoods, often the first line of defense in wind-driven fires, are often excluded from city emergency announcements while another neighbor, Pepperdine University, also technically outside city limits, is not.
While the Dec. 12 roadblock was apparently not announced on any city or county webpage, a Malibu spokesperson provided the following statement: “The City of Malibu prioritizes the safety of all community members during emergencies, and that includes providing information to the entire Malibu area, not only within the City limits. During the Franklin Fire, the City has been widely distributing all of the official information from the Incident Command, including life safety information, updates on evacuation orders, road closures, the repopulation effort, and recovery resources via the news media, website, emergency alerts, and social media, all of which is available to anywhere (sic), regardless of if they live within City limits.”