Malibu Under Evacuation Orders as Massive Fire Rages

By Pat Saperstein

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The city of Malibu is under a mandatory evacuation order as the Woolsey fire threatens the communities of Calabasas and Malibu, covering as much as 8,000 acres as of Friday morning.

The city tweeted that the evacuation affects areas between the Ventura county line and Malibu Canyon.

All Santa Monica Unified School District schools and Pepperdine University are closed. There is also a power outage in the Big Rock neighborhood, which is outside the immediate evacuation area.

The area under mandatory evacuation includes the exclusive communities of Paradise Cove, Point Dume, Broad Beach and Malibu West.

The 101 freeway is closed as the both the Hill and Woolsey fires have jumped the freeway near Camarillo as well as in Agoura Hills near Malibu. The fast-moving Hill fires started near the community of Thousand Oaks, which was in the midst of grappling with the Wednesday night shooting that killed 12 at the Borderline nightclub.

The L.A. Times reported that a total of 75,000 homes in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties are currently under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders, including Westlake Village and parts of Calabasas, where numerous entertainers including Alyssa Milano and Kim Kardashian have lavish homes.

In Northern California’s Butte County, a huge brush fire devasted the town of Paradise, where 1,000 structures were lost.

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported at 7:53 a.m. Friday that a brush fire has also broken out in Griffith Park, near the zoo. Zoo officials tweeted are preparing to evacuate some animals and hosing down the hillsides. In recent days, warm, dry winds have swept Southern California, which has seen just one rainstorm in the past several months.

Rainn Wilson tweeted Thursday that he had also evacuated, and asked for prayers — and cash — for the people of Thousand Oaks.