Parched Postscript

ANNE SOBLE

I had just said to myself that I should stop ruminating out loud about Santa Ana winds, the lack of rain, the low humidity and the ever present red flag conditions that have prevailed in Malibu for the last few weeks. The dry eyes, parched skin and even the nosebleeds that some people experience during these bouts of meteorological abuse are bad enough in their own right, but the final insult—and injury—is wildfire. In the less than five minutes between when one of the student interns called on her cell phone to say she spotted what were the first wisps of smoke as she was turning onto the Pepperdine campus and we received a call from an ace local reporter who happened to be yards from the fire zone, two-and-three-story-tall flames were visible up and down the coast. Malibu Road was burning. Staff reinforcements headed down to the scene, others answered the growing number of “what’s-going- on” telephone calls that the newspaper receives during fires, floods and other natural calamities. So much for staying on production schedule. At times like this, it’s deadlines be damned.

Those who stayed to man the proverbial fort turned on the two television sets and one radio in the office. The first broadcast reports about the fire were riddled with inaccuracies: a helicopter reporter said the fire was near Kanan and PCH; a news reader wondered whether the fire might jump to Broad Beach; and, of course, everyone in Malibu was being described as a celebrity or extremely wealthy. Then maps of Malibu were found, and the aforementioned reporter was conscripted into service with such long stretches of air time on seemingly every television channel and radio station that we were beginning to wonder if a cloning had occurred. Accurate information, supplemented by historical perspective and local insight, begin to emerge. And this was done with the calm and control that Malibuites—from longtimers to newcomers—have learned is vital to enduring, let alone surviving, a raging brushfire.

Wildfire, whatever its origin, is a fact of life in Malibu. We can’t reiterate too often that every area of the community, even those where homes are located right on the water, is as vulnerable as the remote ranches steeped in chaparral. Fire is not about “if.” It is about “when.”

CAPTION 1., photo credit, MSN/Mariana Aroditis
MIXED MESSAGE—A City of Malibu-approved outdoor smoking area at Bluffs Park is just yards from where fire crews (seen working in the background) think the Malibu Road brushfire might have started. Might it be time for the city to rethink the wisdom of designating outdoor smoking areas?