News Alert

Mayor to Hold Public Meeting on Possible Paparazzi Curbs

Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich indicated at this week’s Malibu City Council meeting that she will meet with constituents and “anybody who would like to attend” to explore the now contentious paparazzi regulation issue.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 1, at 11 a.m. at Malibu City Hall.

• Are We Where Yet? •

When MSN editor Anne Soble opened her emails Monday morning, the winner of the prize for email of the day was this photograph taken by local public policy activist Ryan Embree.
Could it be? A major Malibu intersection without any identification? If it wasn’t a case of clever handiwork in Photoshop, the photo clearly indicates that there is no road name sign at one of Malibu’s most important intersections—Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon Road.
A much bemused Soble began emailing the Caltrans public information office. Puzzlement was expressed. Several emails later, Soble was told that she was the first person to inform that august agency, whose official vehicles must pass the intersection several times a day, that the sign was missing.
According to the Caltrans PIO, “Today is the official recording of the missing sign and we thank you for bringing it to our attention. Caltrans relies on motorists and local observers to help be our eyes and ears in the field since we can't be everywhere at once.” Really.
The Caltrans spokesperson indicated that the agency has no idea what happened to the sign but she said that there may not be a replacement soon. It seems the money has to be requested and then allocated, and that’s not going to happen until the state budget is completed.
As for some kind of temporary signage to keep Malibu Creek State Park visitors from driving to Point Dume and beyond in search of Malibu Canyon Road, the spokesperson said, “Unfortunately, since all signs must conform to state specifications, there is no way to post temporary signage.” Really.
When Caltrans was told about the newspaper’s concerns that the lack of signage could prove critical during a wildfire in the canyon, with out-of-area emergency equipment unable to figure out where Malibu Canyon Road cuts into PCH, there was no official comment.

Hang Glider Mishap Ignites Small Brushfire on Bluffs

REMAINS-A burned-out engine block, twisted metal frame and singed wooden propeller mark the site where a motorized hang glider crashed and ignited just west of Malibu Bluffs Park Wednesday. The ensuing brushfire was putout quickly by local crews. The pilot was transported to an area medical facility. MSN/Hans Laetz

• Lack of Wind Enables Firefighters to Quickly Bring Blaze under Control •

By Hans Laetz

A gas-powered ultralight’s engine, worn by its pilot like a backpack, may have caught fire in the air moments before it crashed into tinder-dry brush just west of Malibu Bluffs Park on Wednesday, sparking a half-acre fire.
The pilot suffered second-degree burns to his back and legs, and was taken to UCLA Santa Monica Hospital by ground ambulance. Fire paramedics said they do not believe the man’s burns to be life threatening, and have not released his name.
The crash sparked a small fire in two-foot-high brush that has sprouted on the mesa in the months since the Jan. 9, 2007 Malibu Road fire, which damaged or destroyed 11 houses along the beachfront. A lack of wind kept the fire from spreading quickly like the earlier one, which burned through brush from Pacific Coast Highway to the beach in 15 minutes.
More than 40 firefighters and inmate camp crew workers had the small blaze extinguished a short time after the 11:10 a.m. crash, county firefighters said.
The fire scene was small, and water-dropping helicopters appeared to have arrested the fire in its earliest stages. Fire crews had no problems running water lines over a quarter-mile of brush from Pacific Coast Highway.
In the center of the charred brush sat twisted aluminum tubing and the charred, backpack-sized engine, its propeller blackened and flaking apart.
Early reports from TV helicopter crews said power lines had been hit, but county firefighters said the nearest utility lines were below the bluffs on Malibu Road, and there was no indication of any having been snagged.
The aircraft involved was an unlicensed, motorized airfoil similar to a parachute. Several such aircraft, called motorized hang gliders, are frequently seen being launched from the bluffs west of the Michael Landon Recreation Center, and flown along the coast.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board does not investigate unlicensed aircraft crashes, and spokesman Ian Gregor said this crash apparently involved such an unlicensed crash.
Some residents of Malibu Road, below the 2007 fire area, have accused the Mountain Conservation Resources Agency, which owns the land, of endangering people and property by failing to clear weeds and non-native shrubs that cover much of the bluffs.
Wednesday’s fire occurred in dry weeds sprouted since the 2007 blaze, which originated through unknown causes in a grove of dead trees next to PCH at Malibu Canyon Road. Burned charcoal trunks also remain at that site.
The January Malibu Road fire, which occurred in strong Santa Ana winds, was the first of three major brushfires that hit Malibu last year. The October Canyon Fire claimed six homes and two businesses, and November’s Corral Fire destroyed 55 houses.

Upper Malibu Canyon Fire on the Fourth Is Squelched Quickly

By Hans Laetz

Water-dumping helicopters worked quickly to save a campground filled with more than 200 people near Malibu Creek State Park on a July Fourth
holiday and avert even worse consequences, as a fast-moving fire broke out and ruined the afternoon for the parkgoers. The fire shut down Las Virgenes Road for hours.
Los Angeles County and federal firefighters had the fire
"essentially out" after it burned for three hours near the historic
King Gillette Ranch, centerpiece of the Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area. It claimed about 25 acres.
The fire broke out at about 3:27 p.m., reportedly as a resident
worked on a mobile home next to a landmark Hindu temple, about a mile
south of Mulholland Highway. The temple was not damaged as the fire
burned north along the eastside of Las Virgenes Road, jumping the
road occasionally..
"The helicopters dropped water along the road to prevent [the
fire] from spreading across the way to the campground," said Kathy
Kirkpatrick, fire chief for the local National Park Service unit.
"Rangers immediately emptied the campground, which was only a
few hundred yards [from the point of] ignition.'' More than 55
campsites and a ground campground were at capacity, she said.
"Most of those people were packed into their cars and driven
out quickly," Kirkpatrick said.
"The fire did catapult across Las Virgenes Road and burned near
the campground entrance," she said.
As the evacuation was ordered, several dozen campers were away from
the main campground, along Malibu Creek near the old "MASH'' set.
Those people were allowed to stay there as the fire was blowing away
from them.
The fire burned a small hill south of the Gillette Ranchhouse,
whoch is destined to be the new headquarters for the three
overlapping parks agencies that operate in the mountains recreation area.
Rangers worked to ensure that a fire department bulldozer that
was cutting a line on the fire's north flank, near the ranchhouse,
did not damage oak tree roots and other fragile flora. The National
Park Service garage and maintenance center were also briefly threatened, but not damaged.
With the fire extinguished at about 6 p.m., state park
officials reopened the campground. Campers returned to the tents and other camping materials left behind during the hurried evacuations.
Most of the fire crews had left by 6:30 p.m., but patrols remained on the scene all night to be certain flare-ups didn't occur, firefighters
said.