By Jill Tucker, Erin Allday
San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright 2007 The San Francisco Chronicle
MALIBU, Calif. — Just a month after gigantic wildfires destroyed hundreds of Southern California homes, Malibu residents, still stepping through ashes left by the last fires, watched with horror Saturday as new walls of wind-driven flames swallowed dozens more homes and consumed the hillsides.
Conditions were ripe for it. A red-flag warning had been posted, and hundreds of firefighters had been placed on alert days ago. But none of that mattered. The Santa Ana winds fueled blazes that raced down canyons, destroying 49 homes and scorching 7 square miles of terrain. An additional 27 homes were damaged.
This time, many residents in the remote canyons had just minutes to escape in the early morning darkness. They frantically tossed clothing, pets and personal mementos into their cars and, once again, roared down the hills toward the Pacific Ocean, the fire clearly visible in their rearview mirrors, practically licking at their bumpers. More than 14,000 residents were forced to evacuate throughout the day.
“As I’m driving down the canyon, the fire’s moving with me,” said Corral Canyon resident Susie Duff. “The flames were 20 feet high when I was coming down.”
The cause of the fire was under review Saturday, and officials said arson investigators had been brought in to look for any possible suspicious circumstances.
The blaze started just before 3:30 a.m. in the vicinity of Corral Canyon, one of the many steep canyons that rise up from Pacific Coast Highway, and was only 25 percent contained by early evening with more than 4,500 acres burned. Hundreds of firefighters and dozens of aircraft arrived within hours to battle the fire. Six firefighters suffered minor injuries.
It was the second blaze in a month to sweep the Southern California coastal hillsides, with the dry Santa Ana winds once again fanning the flames across thousands of acres in a matter of hours.
Fire officials told residents to leave their homes in the areas of Corral Canyon and nearby Trancas Canyon as well as Malibu Bowl. Even students and staff at Pepperdine University, down near the ocean, were required to move to a campus shelter at 6 a.m., but they were allowed to return two hours later.
By Saturday evening, about 5,000 residents had been allowed to return home.
Duff said she realized the fire was really close when a neighbor pounded on her door at 4:45 a.m. to tell her to get out. She just had time to grab the box of her son’s childhood artwork and other sentimental items — which she hadn’t yet unpacked after last month’s evacuation — and run.
Saturday’s blaze was less than a mile from the area of last month’s 4,565-acre Canyon Fire, which destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church.
This time, hundreds of firefighters had been placed on watch for the weekend as the Santa Ana winds returned to Southern California and conditions were ripe for another blaze. Gusts up to 60 mph were reported in some mountain passes during the night.
“We’re at the mercy of the winds right now,” Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mike Brown told the Associated Press.
Fire officials said weather conditions were improving and they hoped to have the fire 50 percent contained by this afternoon.
An estimated 1,700 firefighters with 354 fire engines were on the scene Saturday afternoon along with 15 helicopters and 15 airplanes, including a DC-10 jumbo jet that was dropping fire retardant.
A Contra Costa County strike team with 22 firefighters with five engines headed to the scene early Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. Forest Service said federal resources were also available, including 11 air tankers, 18 helicopters, four military C-130 airplanes, 170 fire engines, 21 hand crews and four incident management teams.
Resident Matt Davidson apparently didn’t think that was enough. He started to evacuate just after 4 a.m. with his six dogs and four cats.
“I got halfway down,” he said, “and decided to give it another shot.” So he turned back to save his home, as well as a rare Bentley Continental SC automobile and five Harley-Davidson motorcycles, even though things didn’t look good - the house on the corner of his block was already engulfed in flames.
At his home, he threw his burning backyard patio furniture off the back porch and grabbed the garden hose. Hours later, his eyes were bloodshot from smoke and his clothes were thoroughly drenched. But the house, the Bentley and the Harleys were all saved.
A few doors down, there was nothing left of a neighbor’s home except for a charred fountain and a spectacular ocean view.
Carol Stoddard, 48, a freelance videographer and photographer, captured some of the fire’s destruction as trees beside her home and her collection of 12 uninsured cars burned.
“I stayed there until I couldn’t breathe and the embers were flying everywhere,” she told the Associated Press. “It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t grab enough stuff that was of importance, like my passport.”
She later returned to find that her $2 million wood home had burned to the foundation. She said she was numb.
Last month’s Canyon Fire started when power lines were blown down by strong winds. It was one of 15 blazes that killed 14 people, demolished more than 2,000 homes and scorched more than 800 square miles between Los Angeles County and the Mexican border.
In Malibu, where the houses are built in steep, narrow canyons, it is difficult to fight fires, but residents there say they have learned to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Karen Dumas, who lives in the El Nido neighborhood of Corral Canyon, said her car was still packed up with belongings in preparation for evacuation a month ago.
“We took our dogs, and we just drove down and watched things burn,” she said. “We’ve been through this eight times before, and after all that time you realize it’s just stuff.”
By late Saturday afternoon, she had heard her home was safe, but hadn’t been able to actually see it.
Evacuees were again directed to Agoura High School, but few took advantage of the center. Sue Sands was one of a handful of residents there waiting for word about her home.
“People who don’t live near Malibu think it’s this dangerous place, but it’s our home,” she said.
Duff decided to wait out the fire at the bottom of Corral Canyon in the upscale restaurant Beau Rivage, where the owners served evacuees free breakfast. She had heard 10 of the 13 homes in her neighborhood were gone.
An actor and director, Duff said her Malibu home isn’t a mansion, despite what people hear about the well-known seaside town. It’s a one-room cabin with a loft.
“It ain’t all Mel Gibson,” she said of the community that is famous because of the movie stars who live there.
With the fate of her home unknown, Duff was nonetheless in high spirits.
“It’s raining white ashes, but I’m looking at the ocean,” she said, adding she felt blessed to be alive. “That’s what these fires come to teach you.”
Jill Tucker reported from San Francisco and Erin Allday from Malibu. Chronicle news services contributed to this report.