A wildfire was spreading rapidly near Malibu, Calif., on Tuesday morning, forcing evacuations along the coastline north of Los Angeles where thousands of people live.
As of 2 a.m. Pacific, the Franklin Fire had burned more than 1,800 acres, according to California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and had leaped across the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, the city said in a social media post. It burned a few miles from Pepperdine University, which issued a shelter-in-place order around 1 a.m. Tuesday as flames were seen from the campus.
In a statement posted to X early Tuesday morning, the university said that it had suspended operations at its Malibu campus and urged students and staff members to continue sheltering. It later said the worst of the fire had passed the area, but that shelter-in-place orders would remain at least until daylight.
The blaze broke out in an area notorious for fast-spreading wildfires, where the dangerous Santa Ana winds meet the dry canyons of the Santa Monica mountains. Officials had issued an “extremely critical” fire alert on Monday as very high winds were expected.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings this week for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, with particularly strong winds expected Monday night into Tuesday. In the windiest locations, likely including Ventura and San Diego counties, isolated gusts are expected to exceed 80 miles per hour in the mountains.
Peak wildfire season is still in full swing in Southern California. Weather officials said the conditions are similar to those of early November, when dangerous winds belted Ventura County and fueled the Mountain fire, a nearly 20,000-acre inferno that damaged 243 structures, including homes.
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