Evacuation orders and warnings are in place as crews battle a fast-moving brush fire in far western Malibu amid hot and windy conditions on Thursday, officials said.
The Bryson Fire was reported near Mulholland Highway and Encinal Canyon Road in rugged terrain in the Santa Monica Mountains near the Ventura County line just before 5 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It grew to 200 acres and was 0% contained as of Thursday night.
Authorities issued an evacuation order for the Encinal Canyon area near Trancas Canyon. Other surrounding areas, including Zuma Beach, were under evacuation warnings. The latest evacuation information is available on the Genasys Protect website.
The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at Agoura High School, located at 8545 West Driver Avenue.
“There’s not really much you can do except, you know, wait and hope that, you know, all these wonderful firemen will, you know, get control of it,” said evacuee Susan Booker, who previously lost her home to the Woolsey Fire in 2018. “But it’s really windy, and it’s really scary to see this happening again so close to the house.”
The Los Angeles County Probation Department said 38 youth from Campus Vernon Kilpatrick were evacuated to Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall/SYTF in Sylmar.
The following road closures were in place due to the fire: Decker Road at Encinal Canyon Road; Mulholland Highway at Westlake Boulevard; and Kanan Road at Mulholland Highway.
The Bryson Fire was burning around 8 miles from Pepperdine University. The school said in a social media post that the fire did not threaten its Malibu campus and that winds were blowing away from the campus.
Officials said no structures have been lost and no injuries have been reported.
The firefight comes as a red flag warning is expected to remain in effect for most valleys and coasts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties until 8 p.m. Saturday.
LA County Fire Public Information Officer Keith Navarre described Thursday’s conditions as “vulnerable,” pointing to the dry air and strong winds.
“It makes it hard, and it makes the fire move faster through the dry fuel,” Navarre said.
Gusts in the area were between 20 and 30 miles per hour around 7:15 p.m., according to NBC4 Meteorologist Shanna Mendiola, who said she expected winds to weaken and temperatures to drop in the hours after sunset before picking back up after sunrise Friday.
“We’re working hard to keep it contained and stop it generally while it gets dark and the winds kind of die down a little bit,” Navarre said.
Navarre recommended people to charge their cellphones and keep their gas tanks full in case of planned power outages or downed power lines from high winds.
LA County Fire said its resources for the Bryson Fire include more than 300 personnel, two Super Scoopers and multiple firefighting aircraft that can operate at night.
It’s unclear what started the fire.
This is a developing story.
