The Associated Press
MALIBU, Calif. — Huge walls of flame ate through scrub brush and crawled along hillsides early Wednesday in a rugged canyon north of Malibu.
Fire crews to the southeast, meanwhile, made significant progress in containing a larger blaze in Orange County.
The Malibu fire broke out shortly before 5 a.m. and may have been sparked by a burned-out vehicle found at the scene, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Savage said.
About 25 acres were consumed on hillsides near the Pepperdine University campus. No homes were threatened and no evacuations were immediately ordered.
More than 100 firefighters were battling the blaze, aided by five water-dropping helicopters, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Jason Hurd. The fire was growing slowly in all directions, he said.
The blaze just east of the cities of Orange and Anaheim burned 7,179 acres and was 18 percent contained by early Wednesday, said Dennis Shell, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. Temperatures were rising, humidity was falling and winds were whipping up, he said.
“Today’s going to be a very critical day for us,” Shell said.
Remnants of a controlled burn fanned to life by Santa Ana winds are believed to have caused the blaze, which triggered the evacuation of more than 2,000 homes, a U.S. Forest Service official said.
More than 1,000 firefighters were on scene, Shell said.
By the time evacuation orders were lifted, some residents had already managed to return. Others had disregarded fire crews’ calls to leave and stayed to protect their homes in case the fire approached.
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/