(Bloomberg) — A wildfire in Malibu, California tripled in size over the course of an hour early Tuesday morning, spurring evacuation orders, forcing schools to shut and closing a segment of the Pacific Coast Highway.
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The Franklin Fire in Los Angeles County had burned about 1,822 acres overnight and was out of control, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, commonly called Cal Fire. All Malibu schools are closed until further notice, while Pepperdine University canceled classes and issued a shelter-in-place order.
Images shared on social media overnight showed Pepperdine students huddled inside school buildings, with flames and smoke visible just outside the windows. By 6 a.m. local time Tuesday, school officials on local media said that the immediate threat to the university had passed.
A stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway has been closed between roughly Pacific Palisades and Central Malibu except for those fleeing the fire, the California Department of Transportation said in an X post.
“Critical to extremely critical fire weather conditions are expected today along the southern CA coast, posing a high-end fire weather threat,” the US Storm Prediction Center said Tuesday.
More than 860,000 people in cities including Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks will face extreme conditions Tuesday as dry winds sweep the region. A larger area of 6.1 million residents, including San Bernardino and Ontario, is under critical conditions.
Sustained winds of up to 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour will sweep the region, with some gusts reaching as high as 75 mph, the Storm Prediction Center said. The winds will rise in intensity through the morning
The situation will remain dire through Wednesday, but conditions will begin to improve as high pressure across Utah and Nevada starts to weaken. The winds are driven by a pressure gradient that has set up over the Great Basin and California’s Pacific coast.
Utilities in Southern California are already shutting off power to reduce the risk of electrical equipment sparking additional blazes. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. had cut power to more than 50,000 homes and businesses east of the city as of Tuesday morning, and was warning that as many as 67,000 more customers may lose service later. Southern California Edison has shut off a few hundred customers but said that as many a 39,000 homes and businesses may lose electricity.
–With assistance from Will Wade.
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