A wildfire just northwest of Los Angeles on Tuesday,
forced evacuations knocked out power and closed roads. The
Franklin fire spread overnight in Malibu near the Pacific Coast
Highway that lies along the ocean out of L A
. Los Angeles County fire chief, Anthony Moroni said
Tuesday that the blaze was uncontrolled. The fire is
currently estimated at over 2000 200 acres and we have
700 firefighting personnel assigned because of the great work of
the firefighters that were on scene. We have only
a minimal number of homes destroyed. Thankfully, we
have no reports of serious injuries or fatalities and this
fire is not contained, burned homes smoldered on Tuesday
as aircraft dropped red fire retardant on burning vegetation.
Local resident Fred Roberts said winds in the area can
contribute to fires. This is a notorious area with
winds coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blow torch
. And so they're in harm's way every time there's
a fire over there, it's just, it's a
beautiful area, but, you know, with all
the trees and the landscaping, it's dangerous. I
was going back to check on their homes and I
was actually thinking that it was going to be no
big deal. But after I've seen this one and
that one there burnt. I know this is the
real deal. Governor Gavin Newsom said California received a
grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for resources to
control the fire. The national weather service issued a
red flag warning due to strong Santa Ana winds.
Those winds come down from the southern California's Santa Ana
mountains blowing hot dry air from the east and raising
the risk of fires. On Tuesday, Pepperdine University
near Malibu ended a safety measure that required students to
stay in the commons and library overnight. Due to
the fire, it told students to stay on campus
and avoid Malibu roads.