Already-Heavy Debris Truck Traffic Will Increase By 50%, Army Says

Truck traffic is heavy … and going to get heavier … in western Malibu.

Heavy truck movements through Malibu are only going to increase.

At times yesterday .. four trucks per minute were observed hauling covered loads of fire debris to the west up PCH past Zuma Beach … towards landfills in Ventura County or maybe beyond.

Colonel Brian Sosser … the Army Corps of Engineers commander … says truck traffic will increase … by another 50 percent or so from the current level each day. 

Demolition crews are concentrating work at La Costa Beach right now … just west of Duke’s Restaurant. 

In the next few weeks … work will shift to the east … and to the west.

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“We’ve been really focusing on La Costa Beach … working on that as an environmentally sensitive area. 

“We’ll be done with the government portion (opt-in) of La Costa Beach by the end of this month.

“That’s approximately 43 out of 57 parcels.

“The majority of those other parcels have opted out.

“So at least for the government portion … when you see beach, there is a concrete barrier there right now  … that’s done on purpose.

“We’re gonna transition most of our assets down to Las Tunas Beach (east) and that’ll be the new focus in April is Las Tunas Beach.

“And then Carbon Beach (west) simultaneously in the month of April.

“And then the center part … around Big Rock on the beach side … that is gonna be the month of May.”

There are three major projects going on along the highway at the same time.

– The Army debris removal.

– Southern California Edison is constructing big underground power vaults east of Duke’s. 

– And down in the Palisades … L A County is hauling dirt out of storm basins near Sunset Mesa. 

Sawser says the Army has to do a dance with those partners. 

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“Why do we do it like that?

“Cause it’s to synchronize with utilities, and sediment removal.

“So you’ve got three large activities going on PCH right now in terms of work.

“It’s not only the debris removal, which is very visible, but it’s also that utility work that’s going on … you see the buried transformers … and then there’s the sedimentation work by the county.”

The Army Corps of Engineers Col. Brian Sawser says that … in terms of trucks hauling debris out … they are at 78 percent of capacity right now … and that is gearing up to 100 percent.  

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“It’s gonna put a lot of strain on PCH. 

“There’s a lot of trucks now there’s gonna be more.

“So if we’re at 850 trucks yesterday we’re gonna be at 1200 trucks in short order. 

“That’s the only way that you do this fast and so we’re trying to do it fast at quality.

“And so that’s the sheer numbers.

“I say that coming into Malibu because I’m fully aware that you see those trucks driving by in Malibu.

“It’s all based on turnaround times and optimization because we’re trying to get two if not, three turns out those trucks a day.”

But that’s not all. Other constituencies are trying to get a piece of Pacific Coast Highway also.

Topanga Canyon residents are desperate to get resumed access onto PCH … either through the middle of the construction zone on Topanga Canyon Boulevard… or by detouring down little itty-bitty Tuna Canyon Road.

Both of those routes dump out onto PCH … right in the middle of the three big construction projects… 

And using them would require stopping traffic on Pacific Coast Highway to admit traffic coming down from the mountains.

Topanga Canyon residents plan a public rally on Sunday … to pressure the state to reopen Topanga Canyon Boulevard to connect to PCH … right in the middle of the PCH closure. 

That would mean a traffic control operation on PCH .. further delaying trucks.

And Malibu business owners are asking for the road to be reopened to general traffic on weekends … to save Malibu businesses.

Tonight from 6 to 8 … the government officials from the military … the state. … the city and the county will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the ongoing disaster on PCH.

You can submit questions to the officials at a web site we have posted.

The meeting is being held on computers via a Zoom link.

Submit questions prior to the town hall: https://forms.office.com/r/5iB43zJaMr

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84413429196 

Law Firm Alleges DWP Caused Second Fire Front To Sweep Into Malibu

A second source of ignition for the Palisades Fire has been identified by a law firm … a possible second source of the flames that consumed eastern Malibu in January. 

And if that theory is true… the City of Los Angeles is now a defendant in the billions of dollars of lawsuits that are certain to come.

A lawsuit filed Monday claims that a city of Los Angeles power line snapped and fell 12 hours after the initial fire broke out.

The lawsuit claims that the original fire broke out near Palisades at Skull Rock on the Temescal Canyon Trail … a place where smoldering embers from a previous fireworks blaze may have reignited in the hurricane force winds. 

That was the first par tof the fire … which bore down on Sunset Boulevard and tore through the Pacific Palisades commercial district. 

But 12 hours later … according to the lawsuit … … a DWP electric line snapped and fell into flammable brush …on the north side of the Palisades Highlands neighborhood. 

The suit alleges the fallen line was energized and became a second ignition point for the fire.

This second front quickly consumed homes in The Summit neighborhood … before joining the other wind-driven flames that spread west into Malibu.

Roger Behle is with the legal team that filed the lawsuit against DWP on Monday.

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“You can have multiple ignitions … and all of those different ignitions can converge into one massive fire that just spreads throughout the community.

“There were multiple … perhaps hundreds and potentially thousands of structures that were destroyed as a result of these subsequent ignitions.”

Roger Behle spoke with ABC7.   nd his lawsuit adds the massive LA-owned DWP onto the list of defendants responsible for billions of dollars of damage in Malibu and Pacific Palisade.s 

The lawsuit claims that the DWP told the Washington Post days after the fire that the line in question was not energized at the time of the blaze … and had not been used in the past five years.

But DWP reversed itself a few days ago … saying the line was indeed active at the time of the blaze.

Pictures show the H-frame pole structure had been snapped in half, sending active lines into the brush.

The Palisades fire destroyed 7,000 structures and killed 12 people.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is still investigating the origin of the Palisades fire. 

A DWP spokeswoman notes that the BATF and other investigating agencies have not indicated the LADWP was involved in the ignition of the fire

The DWP is also under intense criticism because its major water storage reservoir in the Pacific Palisades had been sitting empty for nearly a year, awaiting repairs to its cover. 

That left the community with only 3 million gallons of water in three separate tanks to fight the fire … instead of the 12 million gallons that could be stored int he reservoir.

The DWP negligence may have been amplified by the MRCA… The mountains, resource conservation authority… Which manages hillside areas that had been allowed to be choked with fire-prone brush. 

Duke’s Hurries To Say It Will Reopen After ‘Permanently’ Laying Off 134 Workers

The owners of Duke’s … the classic Hawaiian themed restaurant at Malibu’s east end … are assuring the public that they plan to reopen this summer.

This comes after the restaurant’s 126 employees were given formal layoff notices … under a state law that requires permanent layoffs to be announced to workers. 

An internet site that tracks layoff notices filed under the “Warn Act” reported that the company operating Duke’s Malibu will lay off its entire staff of 126 people,  and it listed the closure as permanent. 

WARN notices are submitted to state officials and are generally required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act when companies cut large numbers of workers.

The SF Gate news site talked to the chief executive officer … who confirmed the layoffs … but said they company plans to reopen Duke’s Malibu as soon as possible. 

The restaurant put out a statement late yesterday … assuring the public that they intend to reopen this summer. 

FEMA and SBA Deadlines Are Monday

Monday is the last day for businesses and residents to apply for loans for fire relief from the federal government.

Yesterday … the head of the Small Business Administration was in Southern California  to tell residents … they are also eligible for SBA loans as well as businesses.

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“The SBA uniquely covers homes and businesses.

“We know that over 600 businesses have been impacted. 

“We also serve homeowners with recovery loans up tot half a million million dollars. 

The SBA director … Kelly Loftier … said thousands of Kelly fire victims have already applied. 

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“SBA has just crossed the $2 billion mark in disaster response loans crossed the $2 billion mark in disaster response loans.”

FEMA assistance is also available … and there deadline to apply for that is Monday as well.

There is information online at recovery.lacounty.go .

And there are people to help fire victims walk through the application process at the disaster recovery center… On pico Boulevard at Westwood Boulevard in West LA.

Rebuilding Big Rock On Top Of Active Landslide Means No More Water

Getting back to Big Rock … last night residents of that neighborhood met with city officials on their specific issues. 

60 houses have toi be cleared by the Army up there.

The ASrmy’s colonel says demolition crews are finally getting up into Big Rock to remove debris. 

Col Broan Sauser

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“Took us a little bit longer to get up into Big Rock.  

“There was some utility work going on … and there’s some other structural road stuff that we were looking at. 

“We’re up in there now, we’ve got 2 to 4 crew up there habitually every day and most of your sites are taking two days to complete.

“Some will take more.” 

The Big Rock neighborhood sits on a mesa that is an active landslide .. that came to life in 1983. 

Residents last night were cautioned … they cannot add to the amount of groundwater coming out of their septic tanks.

City geologist Lauren Doyel said the effect of human sewage effluent on the landslide is well documented. 

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“It’s complex geology. 

“There’s a lot of faults that run through there, as we have learned over the years.

“So you can’t control infiltration from outside the slide.

“You can’t control infiltration from the atmosphere right … from rainfall. 

“The one thing you can control is the input … is the human input.”

And that human input comes from septic tanks

For years … Big Rock residents have been forbidden from adding toilets or faucets to their original plans.

There are 90 mapped landslides in Malibu.

But the Big Rock landslide is the biggest. 

The city has all along said they want existing houses to be brought up to a safety factor of 1 point 5 … 

That means new construction has to be designed to be one and a half times stronger than required of non-landslide houses.

Most houses on the Big Rock mesa cannot meet that required factor of safety of 1.5.  This is true even though pumps and drains are removing water from Big Rock mesa … and have been for years.

As houses are rebuilt … the question will be. … can they be brought to within the legal tolerance. 

City officials last night said … the safety factors will be reviewed on a case by case basis … and every lot will be different.

Woman At Food Truck Critically Injured At Highway 1 Train Crash

A woman bystander was critically injured last night when a truck got hit by a train on at the north end of PCH … between Malibu and Oxnard.

KCLU’s Lance Orozco has more. 

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“Oxnard police say the tractor trailer was on the track at the Rice Avenue 5th Street railroad crossing when it was hit by westbound Metrolink train at around 7:15 last night.

“Debris from the crash hit a woman who was standing by the food vendor stand. She was critically injured. 

“There were 13 people on board the train … two complained of pain from the collision.

“The driver of the tractor trailer rig was uninjured. 

“There’s no word on why it was on the tracks. 

“It’s the same crossing where a Metrolink train hit a pickup truck … which became stuck on the tracks in 2015. 

The train engineer died and 33 people were injured in that crash.

“Last month, construction started started on $134 million project at the Opart intersection to eventually separate the highway from the tracks.

“Construction for the overpass is expected to take four years. 

“Lance Orozco, KCLU News.”

And that overpass will connect Pacific Coast Highway up to the 101 Freeway.

KCLU is a news partner to KBUU.  They bring NPR to the California Coast at FM 88.3.