(CNN) — A fire near Southern California’s downtown Malibu was spreading quickly Tuesday, prompting mandatory evacuations and threatening homes and businesses, including the city’s iconic Malibu Pier. Nearby Pepperdine University canceled classes Tuesday, as students were forced to shelter in place for hours while watching the flames in the distance.
The Franklin Fire has burned through an area larger than five football fields every minute since igniting late Monday night and burning toward Malibu. The inferno is so intense that it’s altering the weather around it and worsening already extreme conditions.
“The fire is burning so hot that it is modifying the local winds… (and) bending them towards and into the fire,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned Tuesday morning.
Here’s the latest:
– High winds and low humidity are worsening conditions near the fire. Winds are gusting in the 40-mph range and are expected to ramp up around daybreak. Humidity levels are critically low, with values as low as 5%. “Strong and damaging north to northeast winds are expected through at least late Tuesday morning, peaking around daybreak,” a special spot forecast from the weather service reads. “While winds will weaken some during Tuesday afternoon, critical fire weather conditions are very likely to persist into Wednesday.”
– The fire’s footprint is now at 2,200 acres grew from 100 acres at 11:54 p.m. Monday to more than 1,800 acres about four hours later, according to the Los Angeles County Fire and CalFire officials – at one point nearly tripling in size in just one hour.
– The Los Angeles County Fire Department issued evacuation orders east of Malibu Canyon Road and South of Piuma Road and the Serra Retreat area, where units are on the ground battling the fire. About 6,000 people and more than 2,000 structures are under evacuation orders, CNN affiliate KABC reported, citing information from fire officials.
– All Malibu schools are closed Tuesday due to the fire threat, the city announced. Several schools in San Diego County are also closed Tuesday due to preventative power shut-offs and inclement weather.
– More than 57,000 customers in California are without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Videos taken at Pepperdine University overnight show people walking around the grounds, the darkness lit by an orange glow as flames blaze in the distance. The university is asking students to shelter in place at the campus library and student center at least through daylight, and the school has canceled classes and finals for the day.
“We’ve been in the library for about six hours, awaiting orders,” Pepperdine University student Nick Gerding told CNN’s John Berman early Tuesday morning. “Ironically, it’s finals week so there was already a lot of people here, but it’s pretty jam-packed. There’s’ about 300 to 400 kids in here and overall.”
Gerding headed to the library after the power went out in his dorm around 11:30 p.m. Monday and he got a call from his roommate saying there was a large fire in the area, he said.
In the packed library, the night was calmer than expected, with some students praying and waiting for occasional updates from the university president, he added.
“There honestly wasn’t much that we could do in that moment, and I feel like we all collectively understood that, so I’m grateful for the non-panic that happened. But it was still very, very scary.”
Fire engines are on campus, where the worst of the fire has now passed but some spot fires remain, the university said.
“All community members on the Malibu campus are directed to shelter in place in the Tyler Campus Center or Payson Library. Despite any evacuation orders from Malibu city or surrounding areas, the University community should follow University instructions,” the university said, noting its plan was approved by the fire department.
The library and student center are “well protected against any type of threat from the brush fire,” Pepperdine public information officer Michael Friel told news outlet KTLA.
A ‘particularly dangerous situation’
Parts of Southern California are under a rare red flag warning, deemed a “particularly dangerous situation,” and a level 3 of 3 extremely critical fire weather risk Tuesday because of the combination of powerful Santa Ana winds, dry air and tinder-dry fuel creating extreme fire behavior.
The last such red flag warning came in early November when the Mountain Fire tore through nearly 20,000 acres of Ventura County. Forecasters warned Monday that the fire weather conditions would be severe enough to rival those experienced during recent destructive fires – a dire prediction playing out in real time Tuesday morning with the Franklin Fire.
The strongest winds for the fire zone will last through late Tuesday morning before easing slightly, though they will remain gusty during the afternoon and evening hours. Wind gusts up to 40 mph are likely through the morning for areas closer to sea level in Southern California, with some gusts as high as 60 mph in the mountains. Gusts up to 30 mph in lower elevations and 45 mph in higher elevations are likely in the afternoon and into the overnight hours.
It won’t be until Wednesday afternoon that winds and other fire weather conditions will begin to improve significantly.
Stormy weather will push into the Pacific Northwest Wednesday night and some rain will spread over northern and central parts of California by Thursday morning. A few sprinkles may reach Southern California, but it won’t be nearly enough to douse the Franklin Fire.
The real help will be the slightly more humid air from the storm that reaches Southern California and kicks out the bone-dry air currently in place.
The-CNN-Wire
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