 The Freddy Fire began around noon on January 8, 2025, above Leo Carillo State Beach, in Malibu, on the second day of the massive Palisades Fire blazing about 10-15 miles east. This was a small, three-acre fire that was rapidly suppressed. The fire began in a small gully literally on the county line on the side of Pacific Coast Highway on the non-beach side above Leo Carillo. I've seen homeless camping out here or on the road next to it. I drove by about 10 minutes prior and saw nothing; came back to fire. Arson is a definite possibility due to the proximity to the road and the ease of starting a fire, though it could have been just carelessness like dragging chains, cigarettes, etc. Personally I vote for arson because it's an easy access point to brush in a wind-sheltered area with no structures immediately around. Some jerk could have ignited it figuring it wouldn't really impact anything then fled the area.  Engine 56, 3/4 of a mile down the road, was not in quarters. A CalFire officer saw it, though. It took about 10 minutes after I first saw smoke for the first fire engine to arrive. State Parks rangers and lifeguards arrived, but couldn't do anything useful. It took about 20 minutes until the copter got on scene and made the first water drop. It was about 30 minutes total before meaningful water was deployed from the ground. When seconds count, the fire department is many minutes away. This was a very remote area and it took time to get resources in place, even so, a "good" fire department response is 5-10 minutes in well-staffed suburban areas. Thankfully this was in a wind-sheltered area and the wind speeds had moderated by then so the spread wasn't too bad. But CHP took forever to show up (they are surprisingly lightly staffed apparently on the "one ranger, one riot" model) and the deputies even longer. Drivers are also stupid. Many of them kept driving and went right around the fire trucks and through the smoke. More drove right up to the CHP officer blocking the road and had some inability to understand "TURN AROUND, THE ROAD IS CLOSED" (multiple times). Funnily enough, Malibu was DEAD this morning (seriously, there was more traffic on Christmas) but as soon as the fire starts, all sorts of traffic is coming down from Oxnard. Update: The fire was indeed arson and the suspect, a 60 year old woman, was arrested by State Parks rangers; a solid hook by the squirrel police. Comments are closed.
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