Major Malibu Wildfire Threatens Pepperdine University

The Associated Press reports:

Firefighters battled a wildfire early Tuesday in Malibu that prompted evacuations near Pepperdine University, where students sheltering at the school’s library watched as the fire intensified and the sky turn deep red.

“Just seeing the flames grow and seeing that bright red color of fire just get brighter and brighter and brighter — it was so scary,” student Gabrielle Salgado told KABC-TV.

It was not immediately known how the blaze, named the Franklin Fire, started but Los Angeles County Fire Department officials estimated that at least 2.8 square miles (7.2 square kilometers) had burned and structures were threatened.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

A ferocious wildfire was spreading rapidly early Tuesday in Malibu, spurring evacuations along the coast while nearby Pepperdine University issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order and firefighters struggled to battle the flames.

The eastern half of Malibu was ordered evacuated, and the rest of the city was under an evacuation warning. Some 6,000 residents live in the area ordered evacuated, firefighters said — most of the city’s population of about 11,000 residents. About 2,000 structures are affected by the mandatory evacuation order.

Flames were reported on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway, with the fire jumping the roadway in at least two locations — the area around Malibu Pier and around Malibu Road and Webb Way, just next to Malibu Colony Plaza, where a Ralphs supermarket is located, according to the city.

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