Malibu Residents Are Fleeing Franklin Wildfire
Two days in, Malibu’s Franklin Fire rages on. The 3,000-acre blaze, which began on Monday night, continued to destroy homes well into Wednesday morning, NBC news affiliate KGW8 reports. So far, authorities have evacuated nearly 20,000 residents, and Southern California Edison has shut off power for tens of thousands of customers across Ventura and L.A. Counties. While Franklin has threatened local farms and the lives of around 3,000 students at Pepperdine University, it’s also breached the seaside neighborhood’s famous celebrity enclave.
Pepperdine University students watch the #FranklinFire burn #Malibu from inside the campus' buildings https://t.co/p8n9vJHVCA pic.twitter.com/nzFTiEFYdT
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) December 10, 2024
Per the New York Times, among the community’s evacuated residents are Cher and Dick Van Dyke. Cher’s publicist told the Times that the 78-year-old fled her mansion with her pets and checked into a hotel on Monday night, while Mary Poppins star Van Dyke announced his and his wife’s safety on Facebook. The 98-year-old, who turns 99 on Friday, said they were able to grab all their pets except their cat, Bobo.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo escaped as we were leaving,” he wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
Van Dyke followed up with an old video of the cat, writing, “Hoping Bobo is OK.”
Barbra Streisand, who also lives in the area, was previously thought to have fled, but a spokesperson told the Times that the 82-year-old actress was not ordered to evacuate.
While Malibu’s wealthy residents may draw the most national attention, Kasey Earnest, the executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, told KGW8 that she’s more concerned about the lower- and middle-class families, ranchers, and farmers who are a central part of the community.
“I refer to those residents as the heart of Malibu,” she said. “They’re just normal families — nobody’s landing a helicopter on their property.”
Related