Drought and Climate Change Hit Home: Malibu Jolted By A Big Springtime Brushfire, 7 Years Ago
Written by 991KBU on May 6, 2020
It was 7 years ago that Malibu had a big brushfire just avoid the city.
It was the Springs Fire … a wildfire that started up on the 101 Freeway at the camarillo grade.
The fire burned only 15 hom it threatened 4,000. This threat passed when rain shower moved through the California area because of a low-pressure system off the coast. Some places got more than half an inch of rain,
The fire started at 6:45 AM on May 2, 2013, along the 101 Freeway where it goes up the Camarillo grade – the big hill west of Thousand Oaks. Several neighborhoods were evacuated, along with the campus of CUSU Channel Islands.
It burned south towards Point Mugu, blown by 40-50 mph Santa Ana winds from the north.
There was no stopping it in the wilderness and steep mountains aroudn Boney Ridge.
By Day Two … it was only 20 percent contained.
The Santa Anas stiopped … downcoasts winds developed … and th ebattle was on to save th western fringes of malibu … in Ventura County.
On Day 3 the fire was 60 percent contained, and on Day 4 the fire was almost extinguished as a big and very unusual rainstorm fell in the area.
Again this fire broke out at the beginning of May … four months before the “traditional” fire season was to begin in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The Springs fire was a wake up call that the coastal mountains near Malibu are no longer to be expected not to burn in the spring and summer.
