California Flames Destroy 49 Malibu Homes

Flea, bass player for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, told the Los Angeles Times that his home had been "burned to a crisp."

Photo courtesy: malibucalifornia.mobi

(MALIBU, Calif.) - For the second time in just over a month, fire is racing through the Malibu Canyon, and for the second time, residents were forced to flee. Officials say that as of Sunday morning, the fire was 40% controlled with no further homes in imminent danger.

Forty-nine homes have been destroyed, another 27 damaged, up to 10,000 people evacuated and 4,650 acres burned in the fire which has been determined to have been caused by humans.

Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Rick Dominguez says that the fire broke out Saturday morning along a dirt road off a paved highway, and that investigators are still deciding if it was started intentionally.

The homes that were destroyed burned in the morning, in the initial surge of flames, before the winds, gusting up to 60 mph, slowed and the firefighters gained control.

By Saturday evening, about half of the evacuees were allowed to return to their homes. The fire had subsided considerably and was expected to be more than half contained Sunday, Chief P. Michael Freeman said.

1,700 firefighters, fifteen helicopters and 15 airplanes, including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet, battled the flames. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Helicopters refilled their tanks by lowering their hoses into swimming pools and the Pacific Ocean for water-dropping runs, and SuperScooper amphibious airplanes skimmed the ocean to reload. The airplanes were grounded at dark, but the helicopters were able to continue fighting the fire.

High winds were predicted all week, but didn't begin until late Friday. Just a few hours later, this wildfire took off.

"Santa Anas" are a term common throughout Southern California. From "Bonanza" to television programs of today, the Santa Ana Winds are a known entity, respected and feared, when it comes to hot wind and wildfires.

Santa Ana Winds are caused when wind blows into Southern California from the north and northeast, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, and it rushes down the canyons and through the east-west mountains, pushing the moist ocean air out to sea. Thus, hot, dry winds.

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These winds are not at all unusual to Malibu Canyon. Residents do their best to combat the potential threat, but with homes throughout the 27 miles of coast south of the Santa Monica Mountains, wildfires find plenty of fuel as they naturally cascade through the Canyon.

Mansions line the beaches and canyons within the dry, brush-covered mountains as they descend to the ocean at Malibu, the hills which are famous for a lot of reasons, including their propensity for fire.

One of the worst fires in recent history was in 1993, when the blaze took out 388 structures, 268 of which were homes, and three lives were lost.

The portions of Malibu that burned last month are east to these fires. In that case, power lines that were blown down by winds were the instigator, inevitably causing the 4,565-acre fire that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church in the Malibu Canyon alone. The blaze was stoked by the same Santa Ana winds that destroyed more than 2,000 homes and killed 14 people in 15 separate fires.

Saturday morning, authorities drove through Corral Canyon which has about 350 homes, telling people to leave, and neighbors alerted one another.

Residents were given 15 minutes to pull out, and most managed to take very little as they fled from their beloved homes. Many of them will not have anything to come home to.

As in so many recent fires, some homes were reduced to embers while next-door neighbors were untouched. Flea, bass player for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, told the Los Angeles Times that his home had been "burned to a crisp."

Officials remained wary despite the decrease in wind speeds.

The mayor said the fire "could have been far, far worse than it was" but still urged residents to "listen to your radios, go outside and see which way the wind is blowing. Stay alert. Stay vigilant."

Mother Nature's Santa Anas do not discriminate, if the occupants of the land are rich or poor, she will have her way, and the Santa Anas will return.