Brush fire breaks out in Malibu amid Red Flag conditions; some residents ordered evacuated – Press Enterprise

A brush fire broke out Monday evening off Malibu Canyon Road in Malibu amid Red Flag conditions prompted by Santa Ana winds.

Watch Duty, a nonprofit that tracks wildfires, reported the fire broke out in heavy brush. California Highway Patrol logs show it was reported around 10:48 p.m. By 11:18 p.m., crews on the scene reported it had grown to 30 acres, Watch Duty reported. By 11:54 p.m. the fire was at three-alarm status and had reached 100 acres, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Just before 1 a.m., a fire-mapping aircraft measured the fire at 314 acres.

Water-dropping helicopters were assisting LA County firefighters on the ground in attacking the Franklin fire, which broke out in the area of Malibu Canyon Road, north of Pacific Coast Highway and south of Piuma Road.

Both sides of Malibu Canyon Road were being closed, as well as a stretch of PCH, as evacuations were ordered, CHP logs showed.

The city of Malibu on its website said the Serra Retreat area was under a mandatory evacuation order.

The County of Los Angeles later posted a map showing a large evacuation area in Malibu stretching north from PCH.  An area to the east and northeast of Malibu was under evacuation warning status. For updated evacuation area, see the City of Malibu site on X and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lost Hills Station site on X.

Pepperdine University in Malibu on social media said it was monitoring the fire and was in contact with emergency authorities.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage.

Information on what started the fire was not immediately available.