Franklin Fire Burns in Malibu as Residents Are Forced to Evacuate

A wildfire spread rapidly in Malibu, Calif., early Tuesday morning, forcing evacuations along the coastline near Los Angeles where thousands of people live.

The Franklin fire had burned more than 1,800 acres, according to California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and had leaped across the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, the city said in a social media post. By 3 a.m., flames were nearing the iconic Malibu pier.

Residents in central and eastern Malibu, a city of more than 10,000 people, were under an evacuation order, which extended to the western limits of Los Angeles and included much of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Winds slowed before daybreak in Malibu, giving firefighters a window to make progress on the ground and from the air by dropping water. But forecasters were expecting another bout of high gusts as strong as 60 m.p.h. later Tuesday morning.

The fire ripped through the dry terrain of the Santa Monica Mountains near Pepperdine University, which issued a shelter-in-place order around 1 a.m. Tuesday as flames were seen from the campus.

In a statement posted to X early Tuesday morning, the university said that it had suspended operations at its Malibu campus and urged students and staff members to continue sheltering. It later said the worst of the fire had passed the area, but that shelter-in-place orders would remain at least until daylight.

The City of Malibu also closed all schools on Tuesday.

The blaze broke out in an area notorious for fast-spreading wildfires, where the dangerous Santa Ana winds meet the parched canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains. Officials had issued an “extremely critical” fire alert on Monday as very high winds were expected.

Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office based in Oxnard, Calif., said the winds peaked late Monday night when the fire started. Forecasters expect a second peak on Tuesday morning.

“We’re looking at winds gusting back to 45 m.p.h. to 60 m.p.h.,” Mr. Hall said on Tuesday around sunrise. “We’ll see winds increase over the next three hours. They should drop off around 10 a.m.”

The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings this week for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, with particularly strong winds expected Monday night into Tuesday. In the windiest locations, likely including Ventura and San Diego counties, isolated gusts are expected to exceed 80 miles per hour in the mountains.

Peak wildfire season is still in full swing in Southern California. Weather officials said the conditions are similar to those of early November, when dangerous winds belted Ventura County and fueled the Mountain fire, a nearly 20,000-acre inferno that damaged 243 structures, including homes.

Amy Graff contributed reporting.