Sheriff's deputies in Malibu, California, north of Los Angeles, went door-to-door before dawn Tuesday to order residents to evacuate as a wildfire quickly intensified, threatening the homes of the seaside community.
The brush fire, dubbed the Franklin Fire, forced students at Pepperdine University in Malibu to shelter in place overnight as it knocked out power and led some students to evacuate to common rooms and the school library.
“Right now it looks like most of the fire danger has passed. A lot of what's around us is just small brush fires,” said Nick Gerding, a student at Pepperdine University. , to CNN on Tuesday, from the library where he took refuge with some 400 other students, according to his estimates.
Evacuation orders were issued throughout the picturesque coastal town of 10,000 after the fire, which started Monday evening, grew to 737 hectares and spread south on the highway from the Pacific coast.
Los Angeles firefighters are battling the blaze while county sheriff's deputies go door to door urging people to leave their homes. Malibu opened evacuation sites while power was cut across the city, the city said in an online post early Tuesday.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the region, with wind gusts reaching 80 miles per hour, calling the situation “particularly dangerous.”
