Malibu Evacuated As “Apocalyptic” Fire Rages; 75,000 Told To Flee Ventura County

The upscale California town of Malibu has been ordered to evacuate after a raging wildfire jumped the 101 freeway at approximately 5 a.m. and barreled towards the seaside community amid high winds. 

MANDATORY evacuation is in effect for the entire area south of the 101 Fwy from the Ventura County line to Las Virgenes / Malibu Canyon, and southward to the ocean, including all of City of Malibu. (Update 6:55 AM) Residents should use PCH to evacuate and avoid canyon roads. -Malibucity.org

Live coverage: 

75,000 homes in LA and Ventura counties were ordered to evacuate as a second fire broke out Thursday afternoon, destroying an unknown number of structures. The Woolsey Fire was zero percent contained as of 6 a.m. Friday after destroying at least 8,000 acres. 

CBS2 reporter Tom Wait described conditions on the ground as “apocalyptic,” as ember and ash rained down on the streets below.

A large swatch of Malibu was under a new mandatory evacuation Friday morning: from Liberty Canyon, west to Decker Canyon, south to the Pacific Coast Highway.

Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Scott Dettorre told CBS2 that “dozens of homes” had been damaged or destroyed, but there was no exact count. –CBS Los Angeles

“The fire has progressed down into the city of Thousand Oaks,” said Dettorre.  

“It’s a mandatory evacuation, what that means is, you don’t have to leave, we want you to leave,” said Ventura County Fire spokesman Rich Macklan. “But people know they can’t get back in once they do leave. We want people to leave early, when firefighters ask you to, because firefighting equipment needs to come in and do their work. And if you leave early, it helps us tremendously.”

Developing…

via RSS https://ift.tt/2zBEBFc Tyler Durden

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *