Firefighters in Southern California on Wednesday began to contain a fire that erupted in Malibu late Monday night and has burned nearly 4,000 acres, destroyed several structures and forced thousands to evacuate the area.
Overnight, firefighters were able to contain 7 percent of the Franklin fire after battling strong winds on Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Chief Anthony C. Marrone of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said at a news conference on Wednesday morning that officials were still assessing the full scope of the damage, but their preliminary reviews found that at least seven structures had been destroyed and nine had been damaged.
No injuries or deaths have been reported.
Nearly 20,000 residents were in the mandatory or voluntary evacuation zones, and officials urged them to continue to avoid the area until the fire was under control.
“The entire fire area remains under threat,” Chief Marrone said.
At the news conference, Mayor Doug Stewart of Malibu said that although the fire had grown, the city was in a better position on Wednesday than it was a day earlier, when firefighters began working to contain the fire.
“This morning, the city of Malibu awoke again to a very red sunrise,” Mr. Stewart said. “This morning, it was from the lingering smoke in the sky, rather than the approaching line of fire. We’re far better off this morning than we were in the last 30-plus hours.”
Inspection teams were expected to begin assessing the damage on Wednesday, and they planned to have a firmer sense of the damage by the afternoon, Chief Marrone said.
Winds remained mostly calm on Wednesday morning in Malibu, where a long stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway remained closed as the sun tried to peek through scattered layers of smoke.
In the hills above, a home on Mariposa de Oro Street was among the buildings that were destroyed in the Franklin fire. Firefighters on Wednesday were dousing hot spots on the property.
A neighbor, Alec Gellis, 31, said on Wednesday that he was trying to help remove a Lamborghini from the property for safekeeping at the owner’s request. He said he and other neighbors were trying to get a key delivered for the sports car or put it in neutral to push it.
“Just running on adrenaline,” said Mr. Gellis, who said he had slept only four hours in the last 48 hours after he stayed behind to spray homes with water from his pool. “I don’t even feel that tired.”
Among others whose homes were damaged by the fire was Bruce Silverstein, a Malibu City Council member, who said in an interview that flames appeared to have entered his home through the chimney and burned one side of the house on the inside.
Mr. Silverstein evacuated after the fire began and sought shelter at a hotel in nearby Santa Monica before returning home later on Tuesday to see the damage.
“The house is going to be uninhabitable,” he said on Tuesday night as he drove toward Los Angeles with his wife to visit their son before staying again at the hotel. “It needs a major, major amount of work.”
More than two million residents in Southern California, including the Malibu area, remained under a red flag warning through Wednesday night, meaning that weather conditions were still conducive to helping wildfires spread quickly.
Sheriff Robert G. Luna of Los Angeles County urged residents in the area to continue to monitor evacuation orders. The partial containment of the fire, Sheriff Luna said, was “a step in the right direction.”
“But this is still an ongoing situation,” he said. “Stay alert.”
As the risk for wildfires continued on Wednesday, more than 15,000 customers across Southern California, including about 9,000 in Los Angeles County, did not have power after Southern California Edison shut off electricity because of the fire threat.
Chief Marrone said that officials would closely monitor strong winds and low humidity throughout Wednesday, adding that the fire could spread to new areas if the winds shifted. Crews have also had to battle steep terrain in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu.
Some of the strongest winds appeared to have passed on Tuesday, according to weather reports, but the dry conditions could continue to fuel the Franklin fire before a chance of rain on Thursday.
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