A brush fire that broke out on Monday evening in Malibu Canyon has led to authorities issuing mandatory evacuation orders in parts of southern California as the fire rapidly spread, authorities said.
The fire began approximately 3 miles north of the Pacific Coastal Highway in Malibu, according to an emergency alert issued by the city of Malibu late Monday.
City officials said the Los Angeles County Fire Department is on scene and trying to control the “rapid rate of spread.”
The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. and was initially estimated at just about 10 acres but, In just about one hour, officials estimated it to have grown to at least 100 acres, according to ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC, and a high volume of dry brush in the area and strong Santa Ana winds means that there is potential for the blaze to continue to spread rapidly.
Evacuations were ordered in the area east of Malibu Canyon Road and south of Piuma Road as well as the Serra Retreat, KABC said.
A brush fire that broke out on Monday evening in Malibu Canyon has led to authorities issuing mandatory evacuation orders in parts of southern California as the fire rapidly spread, authorities said.
KABC
The fire is currently burning on the hillsides just a few miles away from Pepperdine University but was not immediately encroaching the institution and appeared to be heading south toward Santa Monica, KABC said.
The wildfire was not immediately encroaching on Pepperdine but the university was reporting power outages on campus. It appeared the flames were heading south in the direction of Santa Monica.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or structure damage and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.