Malibu fires latest news: Franklin wildfire burns 4,000 acres as officials warn it will take ‘number of days’ to contain
Roughly 20,000 face evacuations in Malibu, including some celebrities, as fire continues to rage near Los Angeles
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Your support makes all the difference.A fast-moving wildfire has scorched more than 4,000 acres in Malibu, forcing 20,000 residents to flee as flames race towards homes, horse farms and Pepperdine University.
The Franklin Fire, another late-year wildfire fanned by fierce Santa Ana winds, has left a trail of destruction as officials confirmed seven structures destroyed and nine damaged. Fire officials say it will take a “number of days” to put out the blaze, according to NBC Los Angeles. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The strongest winds in the area have passed, and meteorologists said high fire dangers have decreased, which should aid efforts to contain the fire. Evacuations have displaced thousands of residents, including celebrities Dick Van Dyke and Cher.
Malibu mayor Doug Stewart called it a “traumatic 20 hours” for the city, as emergency operations relocated to Calabasas after the city hall was threatened. He said: “It burns, it grows back, and we're resilient.”
More than 1,500 firefighters are battling the blaze with many roads closed and others under security patrols. At Pepperdine University, 3,000 students sheltered in place as smoke and embers engulfed the campus. “Ash was everywhere, embers were everywhere,” said a student, Bethany Kronlund.
Malibu resident recalls fire moving toward RV park
A Malibu man is recalling the moment the Franklin Fire approached the city’s RV park.
“You could see the fires rolling in, in over the canyon. It was like ‘Holy crap, this is real,’ ” Shawn Smith told The Associated Press.
Smith was asleep when someone knocked on his mobile home to wake him up.
A day, later, he returned to find that the RV park had been saved by firefighters.
“We got lucky,” he said.
Malibu’s Franklin Fire has now spread over more than 4,000 acres
Malibu’s Franklin Fire has now spread over more than 4,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The 4,031-acre blaze is still 7 percent contained.
Photos show devastation of Malibu wildfire
Meta social media platforms are down as the fire continues to burn
All of Meta’s platforms – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads – appear to have broken in a huge outage.
“Hi, we know there’s a technical issue impacting some people’s ability to access Instagram,” it wrote on the official Instagram page on X/Twitter. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and are sorry for any inconvenience.”
The Independent’s Andrew Griffin has the latest:
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors chair assures progress is being made
Power outages in California continue to fall
Fewer than 50,000 California customers were without power on Wednesday, according to tracker PowerOutage.US.
That tally had exceeded 60,000 on Tuesday.
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