Just when Southern Californians thought the worst was behind them, a new wave of wildfires whipped by “devil winds” from the desert roared through the celebrity-studded enclave of Malibu and other communities in a rerun of last week’s infernos.
Great walls of flame driven by seasonal northeasterly winds topping 50 miles an hour raged out of control across the Santa Monica Mountains northwest of Los Angeles, torching everything in their path to the Pacific Ocean.
For the second time in as many weeks, thousands fled for safety from a fire of suspicious origin, and giant black mushroom clouds rose above exclusive hamlets and mountain ridges ringing the nation’s second-largest city as hundreds of firefighters waged a losing battle
Scores of houses were torched and reluctant residents were evacuated from rugged, remote areas-some at gunpoint by sheriff’s officers when they refused to leave their homes-as the damage mounted by the hour.
Los Angeles County lifeguard boats rescued two women and their two dogs who had fled to the beach from burning homes, officials said, and the Coast Guard deployed a cutter offshore near Malibu to evacuate people.
Three firefighters and two residents were injured in the Malibu fire, which authorities suspected was set by an arsonist. The two residents were in critical condition after being burned while trying to save animals.
Other brush fires stoked by the searing Santa Ana winds barreled through mountain canyons and swept across populated areas outside the town of Banning in Riverside County, in northern San Diego County and in San Bernardino County, southeast of Los Angeles.
But the most dangerous conflagration was in this posh oceanfront residence and playground for the rich and famous, where trendy restaurants and boutiques vie for space with rustic cabins and multimillion-dollar beachfront and hillside mansions long home to Hollywood’s elite.
Hot embers swirling in the wind set rooftops and expensive homes ablaze across several thousand acres stretching from the hillside suburb of Calabasas, across Old Topanga Canyon Road and the Santa Monica Mountains, to Malibu, crossing Pacific Coast Highway in places to burn homes along the sea.
Even before night fell, grounding helicopters and tanker aircraft that dropped water and fire-retardant chemicals on the blaze, the property of actor Charles Bronson caught fire, authorities said.
Among those evacuated from the Serra Retreat neighborhood were actor George C. Scott and former U.S. Sen. John Tunney, son of famed heavyweight boxer Gene Tunney.
Also evacuated were residents of the multimillion-dollar homes in the plush Malibu Colony, a sealed-off beachfront area populated by such celebrities as Sting, Bob Newhart, Pia Zadora and Larry Hagman, among others.
There were countless tales of courage, as well as terror. A Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter plucked 80-year-old Loretta Foye, a well-known pilot from decades past, from her swimming pool, where she had gone to escape the flames. Buffeted by the heat and high winds, the copter landed in her yard after missing on three previous attempts.
The sky turned bright orange over the black ridge of the mountains at nightfall at Topanga Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway. Confusion and anxiety reigned as motorists whose cars were loaded with household possessions tried to escape the burning hillsides.
In the distance, a woman in fine English riding gear calmly rode her horse along the coastal highway and led three other horses behind her, accompanied by a police escort.
LuRay Gall, 36, a contractor remodeling a home in Las Flores Mesa Canyon, was given a list by the owner of things to save.
“I don’t know how they got out of there. I’m sure the house is gone,” Gall said. “We stayed there too long. I didn’t think the flames were going to make it there. I watered all day long-that’s all I did, sprinkled and watered.”
When the flames came, he was able to get out with some silver, valuable papers and artwork. “I was going to put an old hutch in the truck, but I didn’t have enough time,” Gall said. “It happened so fast.”
The explosive fury of the flames was reminiscent of the more widespread and destructive firestorms that swept across the southern portion of the state last week, burning down more than 800 structures.
At least six of the nearly 15 fires last week were believed set by arsonists, and one other by a homeless man who had lit a fire for warmth.
The wildfires come at the height of the annual fire season, fueled by the hot, dry gusts and an overgrowth of brush from last year’s heavy rains, turned to tinder by the summer drought.
Classes were canceled at Pepperdine University on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and more than 1,000 students were evacuated to an athletic fieldhouse as the campus was taken over by firefighters.
Further down Pacific Coast Highway, Jerry Scordan had fled the home he rented in Las Flores Mesa Canyon. “From everything I saw, it was real bad,” he said. “It was getting impossible to breathe.”
