Rambla Pacifico Is Closed by Landslide

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Rambla Pacifico’s Fire Camp 8 is back in the news. This time it’s because the road to the fire department facility and residences in the area has collapsed due to a landslide.
“Rambla Pacifico is closed but Las Flores is open, and residents can still get through,” LACFD officials at Camp 8 confirmed.
Initial reports blame a broken water main for the collapse, but some residents allege an ambitious grading project on the property above the road might have contributed to the problem.
“The county gave a major grading permit right at the landslide,” one resident told the Malibu Surfside News. “The road is completely gone. I don’t see how [the county is] going to fix it.” The area with the slide is in unincorporated Malibu.
Some of the area’s residents stirred up a media maelstrom recently over a proposal to enlarge Camp 8 to temporarily house 80 inmate firefighters who were displaced when the Mount Gleason facility was destroyed in the Station Fire.
The resident outcry led to the proposal being removed from consideration. The inmate firefighters are slated to go to Camp Holston in Big Tujunga Canyon.
The Rambla Pacifico road collapse is currently under investigation. County engineers will be assessing the cause, the potential for recurrence and whether repairs are feasible.
The area has a long history of geologic instability, with major slides on Las Flores, Rambla Pacifico, Schueren, Tuna Canyon and Topanga Canyon roads in recent years.