The Franklin Fire in Malibu, California, that started Monday has grown to encompass nearly 4,000 acres. Residents remain under an evacuation order, with celebrities Cher and Dick Van Dyke also forced to flee.
As of Wednesday, 7% of the fire had been contained, according to a map shared by Malibu city officials. Seven structures were destroyed and eight damaged, city officials said on social media. No injuries have been reported by city or Los Angeles County Fire Department officials.
The fire has been swelled by the dry Santa Ana winds, and the number of evacuees has grown to about 20,000, according to The Associated Press.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo, who escaped as we were leaving. We’re praying he’ll be OK and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires,” Mr. Van Dyke, who turns 99 Friday, wrote on Facebook Tuesday. Bobo is one of his cats.
Cher, meanwhile, evacuated as ordered and was staying in a hotel as of Tuesday, her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, told AP.
Initial evacuation orders had 6,000 people on the go. About 8,000 homes and businesses in the area were affected by the blaze, according to CNN.
The fire has also jarred transportation and power. About 40,000 people in the region have been without electricity since Monday, when Southern California Edison turned off the power to prevent damaged equipment from starting a fire as it did for 2018’s Woolsey Fire.
A stretch of California State Route 1, also known as Pacific Coast Highway, is closed. The road is shut down in both directions between Kanan Dume Road and Topanga Canyon Road, the California Department of Transportation said on social media Tuesday.
At the city’s Pepperdine University, all remaining in-person exams have been canceled for the time being and students were allowed to leave campus. The most recent shelter-in-place order for remaining students, imposed Tuesday, was lifted at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, school officials said on social media.
There has been little to no damage to buildings on campus, and no injuries have been reported at Pepperdine, school officials said.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.