Malibu Devastated by Fire for Second Time in Two Months
Forty-nine homes destroyed and up to 14,000 residents forced to evacuate.
Nov. 25, 2007 — -- The battle to save residents' homes continued overnight in Malibu, following a day of day of terror and tears as wind-whipped fires raged through the Southern California canyons.
For the second time in two months, Malibu residents awoke Saturday to an inferno, fanned by wind gusts approaching hurricane strength. The blaze consumed acre after acre and house after house in an idyllic community of million-dollar homes.
Forty-nine homes were destroyed and 27 other homes were damaged in the fires, while 10,000 to 14,000 people were evacuated, according to the Associated Press.
These fires are fickle. In some cases, an entire block of houses was destroyed while one remains standing. In another instance, a home was burnt to the ground, while the family car was relatively untouched by flames.
"My buddy Dale, who was a Navy Seal in Vietnam, says this is what Vietnam looked like, the burning and the desolation," said resident Tom Sturman.
Jerry Wersh and his girlfriend Laura watched helplessly as the flames inched closer and closer to their home.
"Unbelievable, it's really the only way to look at it," Wersh said. "It was a wall. It was a like a Hollywood effect. You could hear the 'cchhhhh' and the roar of the flames."
Wersh's home and many others survived, thanks to the two-pronged attack of firefighters, who lit backfires of the ground while mobilizing almost two dozen aircraft to drop fire retardant from above.
"Unfortunately, a wind-driven fire doesn't matter the amount of resources in the air or on the ground," said one firefighter at the scene. "This fire, the winds are gonna blow it down canyon, and it's gonna follow the path of the land."
Officials earlier this week pre-positioned hundreds of firefighters around Los Angeles because the forecast called for high winds. That planning may have prevented more homes from being destroyed.
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