MALIBU, USA, 11 Dec. - (ANA) - Firefighters are battling a large wildfire in Malibu that has forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

 

The wind-fanned Franklin fire broke out on Monday evening, and within hours had rapidly burned through more than 1,800 acres in the coastal city, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

 

Many celebrities and Hollywood executives own multi-million dollar homes on the coastline, one of the most desirable areas in Southern California.

 

Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star Dick Van Dyke, who will celebrate his 99th birthday on Friday, was among the residents and celebrities fleeing their homes under mandatory orders from the City of Malibu.

 

Van Dyke said he and his wife Arlene Silver, who he married in 2012, had “safely evacuated”.

 

“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote on his official Facebook page.

 

“We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”

 

Singer Cher also evacuated from her Malibu home and is staying at a hotel, her publicist Liz Rosenberg said late on Tuesday.

 

Pepperdine University said it had cancelled classes and final exams for Tuesday as emergency personnel rushed to contain the blaze.

 

Billowing smoke and burning trees could be seen just outside a library where students wearing protective masks were sheltering, videos posted online and broadcast by local media showed.

 

Fire engines were on campus and helicopters were dropping water collected from lakes in the school’s Alumni Park onto the fire.

 

The city of Malibu said in an emergency alert at 11:22 GMT that the flames had descended from the hills across the Pacific Coast Highway, and that officials were conducting evacuations “door-to-door”. The evacuation order encompassed up to 20,000 people.

 

A damage estimate was not available, but “it’s certain some number of homes are definitely going to be badly damaged”, Matt Myerhoff, a spokesman for the city of Malibu, told the station.

 

He said the fire moved south, jumping over the Pacific Coast Highway and extending all the way to the ocean. At one point, it had threatened the historic Malibu Pier, but the pier was protected and is intact, Myerhoff said.

 

Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires.

 

Most of the Southern California area is currently under a ‘red flag warning’ by the national weather service, with gusty winds and low humidity elevating the risks of quick-moving fires.

 

The dangerous fire conditions were driven by Southern California’s notorious Santa Ana winds.

 

Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty northeastern winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and offshore. They typically occur during the autumn months and continue through winter and into early spring.   - (ANA) -

 

 

AB/ANA/11 December 2024 - - -