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The Latest: Wildfire triggers evacuation order for Malibu
The Latest on Southern California wildfires (all times local):
7:25 a.m.
A raging Southern California wildfire has triggered a mandatory evacuation order for the entire beachside city of Malibu.
The fire broke out Thursday northwest of Los Angeles and roared southward, jumping the U.S. 101 freeway early Friday and sweeping into the Santa Monica Mountains.
Malibu has about 13,000 residents and lies along 21 miles (34 kilometers) of coast at the southern foot of the mountain range.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department tweets that the fire is headed to the ocean, punctuating the message with the declaration: “Imminent threat!”
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7 a.m.
Wildfires raging west of Los Angeles have forced school closures.
Pepperdine University has canceled classes Friday at its Malibu and Calabasas campuses. The Calabasas campus is also evacuated.
Malibu public schools are also closed.
To the west in Ventura County, Moorpark College is closed due to the impacts of fire and Wednesday night’s deadly mass shooting in nearby Thousand Oaks.
California Lutheran University had already canceled Friday classes due to the shooting. Cal Lutheran says its Thousand Oaks campus is not under evacuation orders but residential students have been put on standby.
The Thousand Oaks-area Conejo Valley Unified School District also has closed all its schools.
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6:30 a.m.
Two wildfires raging west of Los Angeles have force thousands of people to leave their homes.
The Los Angeles and Ventura County fire departments say multiple buildings have been destroyed or damage, but exact numbers are not available early Friday.
The flames are being driven by Southern California’s notorious Santa Ana winds, which blow from the northeast toward the coast.
Both fires erupted Thursday afternoon and have grown rapidly.
One fire that broke out near the northeast corner of Los Angeles has roared westward, jumped U.S. 101 in the Calabasas area and is surging up the Santa Monica Mountains.
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2:04 a.m.
Portions of Southern California remain under siege as two large brush fires are threatening numerous communities.
ABC7.com reports that one of the fires has now scorched 8,000 acres as winds picked up early Friday, with some 75,000 homes under evacuation orders along the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Los Angeles Fire Department Public Information Officer Erik Scott says the blaze has destroyed or damaged many buildings.
A second fire has been burning in the Santa Rosa Valley east of Camarillo, west of Simi Valley near Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks. By Thursday evening, it had scorched up to 7,000 acres and sent residents of more than 1,200 homes fleeing, the Los Angeles Times reports.
No injuries have been reported in either fire.