Although more than 6,000 people were still displaced from their homes, officials reported that California firefighters made headway on Wednesday in the fight against a wildfire in Malibu that broke out earlier this week due to strong winds.
At a news conference on Wednesday, fire officials said that the so-called Franklin Fire, which raged across the hills of the coastal neighborhood near Pepperdine University, had burned at least nine buildings and damaged six more.
However, improved weather allowed firefighters to bring the fire down to 7% containment. As of Wednesday night, the fire had burned around 4,035 acres, according to Dusty Martin, incident manager for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
We had a lot of success around the fire today because of the favorable weather, Martin stated.
However, he added that the fire was burning in nearly inaccessible, steep, and mountainous terrain, including canyons, which was making it difficult for firefighters to put out the fire.
Regarding how long it will take us to contain it, Martin stated that the current topography out there will likely make it take several days.
According to him, crews were attempting to create fire lines, which entails removing foliage all the way to the bare ground in order to stop the fire from spreading.
Actor Dick Van Dyke and musician Cher were among the celebs that had to evacuate their houses due to the fire. Homes in the affluent Malibu neighborhood of Los Angeles have views of or proximity to the Pacific Ocean.
Due to Santa Ana winds that aided in the fire’s spread, officials said the fire started Monday while red flag warnings were in effect for the Los Angeles region and other Southern California regions.
According to the Los Angeles area’s National Weather Service, the red flag warnings ended on Wednesday night.
Martin added that firefighters were setting up lines for Thursday’s anticipated change in wind direction and gusts of about 15 mph.
According to officials, about 6,300 people were still being evacuated from the area on Wednesday night because of the fire.
Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fire.
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