Thousands of Southern California residents were under evacuation orders on Tuesday as firefighters battled a wind-driven wildfire in Malibu that burned near seaside mansions and Pepperdine University.
The university later said the worst of the fire had pushed past campus.
It was not immediately known how the blaze, named the Franklin Fire, started but Los Angeles County Fire Department officials estimated that nearly three square miles (7.7 square km) of trees and dry brush had burned and structures were threatened.
The fire burned amid dangerous fire conditions because of Santa Ana winds expected to last into Wednesday.
A damage estimate was not available, but “it’s certain some number of homes are definitely going to be badly damaged,” Matt Myerhoff, a spokesman for the city of Malibu, told the news station.
He said the fire moved south, jumping over the famous Pacific Coast Highway and extending all the way to the ocean, where large homes line the beach. At one point, it had threatened the historic Malibu Pier, but the structure was protected and is intact, Mr Myerhoff said.
Pepperdine cancelled classes and finals for the day and there was a shelter-in-place order on campus. Helicopters dropped water collected from lakes in the school’s Alumni Park onto the flames.
“The university understands the worst of the fire has pushed past Pepperdine. However, there are smaller spot fires on campus that are not threatening life or structures, and fire resources remain on campus to address these spot fires as they occur,” Pepperdine posted in a statement online.
North to northeast winds were forecast to increase to 30 to 40mph (48 to 64kph) with gusts up to 65mph (105kph) expected, the National Weather Service’s office for Los Angeles posted on X.
Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of the Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires.
The weather service issued a red flag warning for high fire risk with a rare “particularly dangerous situation,” or PDS, designation starting at 8pm on Monday into Tuesday for Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
