35 homes burned in Malibu brush fire

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Investigators have concluded that the Malibu fire started in the vicinity of a cave, pictured, in Corral Canyon known for being a late-night party hangout. The blaze destroyed 53 homes. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Investigators believe that the Malibu fire started near a cave in Corral Canyon. Here a sheriff’s deputy examines one of the many other caves in the area. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Remnants of a burnt shrub near the Malibu fire’s point of origin in Corral Canyon. Mop-up efforts continued Tuesday, though the blaze has been declared fully contained. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Winn walks toward the entrance of a cave, off to the right, where fire investigators have located the origin of the Malibu fire. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors to the cave area, known as a late-night party hangout, have left their marks. The Corral fire consumed 53 homes and destroyed or damaged scores of other structures in Malibu. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Sunset as viewed Monday evening from one of the scores of homes burned in Malibu. The Corral fire was fully contained that night, though mop-up efforts are continuing. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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An aircraft drops water on the Corral Canyon area. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Latigo Canyon resident Dahlia Toberoff collects some of her children’s toys off her driveway. The Malibu fire destroyed her home. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Members of a hand crew from Humboldt County play chess during a break from firefighting. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Larry Roth tries to identify a mystery object he found in the garage of his home in the El Nido neighborhood. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County firefighters Pete Adamo, right, and Patrick Dunham of Station No. 32 in Azusa greet the day Monday after sleeping on a bluff overlooking the beach in Malibu near Corral Canyon Road. (Brian VanderBrug / Los Angeles Times)

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Charred branches frame the waning moon as it sets Monday morning in Corral Canyon. (Brian VanderBrug / Los Angeles Times)

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Rene Ovando searches through the ruins of his Newell Road home in Corral Canyon. (Brian VanderBrug / Los Angeles Times)

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Bayfield, Colo., firefighters Adolph Young, right, and Dustin Wright mop up the fire at a Newell Road home in Corral Canyon. (Brian VanderBrug / Los Angeles Times)

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Eleanor Mills looks around the kitchen of her Corral Canyon home. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Doug Pace, who fought the Corral fire with a garden hose in an attempt to save one of his homes and a neighbor’s, looks at his destroyed house along Vistamar Drive in the El Nido area on Sunday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Eleanor Mills, 78, walks through her fire-ravaged property in Corral Canyon on Sunday afternoon. Mills has lived in the canyon nearly 50 years and raised her eight children there. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Jeff Mills walks with his mother’s dog Sheeba on her property in the Malibu Bowl neighborhood. Eleanor Mills, 78, lost about 50% of her property. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Sheeba licks the face of Jeff Mills in the Malibu Bowl area Sunday afternoon. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters mop up hot spots at a home on Lookout Road in Corral Canyon on Sunday morning. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Suzanne Sickner surveys her neighbor’s burned home on Vista Mar Drive in the El Nido neighborhood of Malibu on Sunday morning. Sickner lost one home in the area; another of her family’s homes survived the Corral fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighter Brian Reynoso talks with homeowner Suzanne Sickner, whose home was destroyed in the Corral fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Lucas Sickner, 8, looks over his parents’ charred Porsche in front of their home that was spared. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters work a smoldering hot spot where a home was destroyed in the El Nido neighborhood of Malibu. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A deer walks across a scorched hillside in the El Nido area of Corral Canyon. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Priscilla Avedon views what’s left of the home she had been renting for the last two weeks along Vistamar Drive. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Hand crews hike on a hillside in Latigo Canyon. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Victor Calandra and neighbor Bill Brown try to douse hot spots in the El Nido neighborhood at Corral Canyon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Latigo Canyon residents Emily Ochmanek and her brother David present homemade muffins and hot coffee to Marin County firefighters Sunday morning. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County firefighter John Carnero tries to put out flames Saturday in the El Nido area of Malibu. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County fire Capt. Ed Lazar uses a garden hose Saturday while waiting for a truck to refill with water. By midday, the Corral fire had destroyed dozens of structures and led to the evacuation of 10,000 to 14,000 residents. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter tackles the blaze on Sea Breeze Drive off Corral Canyon Road. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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A home goes up in flames. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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A home lies in ruins in the El Nido area of Corral Canyon, one of the areas hit hardest by Saturday’s blaze. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Flames engulf a home in Latigo Canyon on Saturday. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Downed power lines block access on Latigo Canyon Road just north of Pacific Coast Highway. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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A helicopter makes a water drop on a hillside above Malibu. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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Smoke billows above the hills in Malibu. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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A plane drops retardant on the blaze. About two dozen aircraft were assigned to the firefight. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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A DC-10 drops retardant. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter tries to douse flames gutting a home in the El Nido neighborhood. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County firefighter John Carnero waits for a firetruck to release water as flames roar behind him. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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A deer in the El Nido area that couldn’t escape the fire. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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Smoke from the Malibu fire as seen from Thousand Oaks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Firetrucks are on the scene near Malibu before dawn. By afternoon, about 1,750 firefighters were battling the blaze. (Craig Durling / Associated Press)

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A crew prepares to tackle a burning home. (Dan Steinberg / Associated Press)

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Smoke dominates the skyline above Malibu. (Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images)

By Bob Pool and Jason Song

Nov. 24, 2007 8:51 AM PT

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

At least 35 homes have been burned and about 200 more are threatened in Malibu as a wind-driven fire raced through 1,500 acres this morning, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.

The fire, driven by fierce 50-mph winds, engulfed homes along Newell Road in the Malibu Bowl area. The evacuation zone included neighborhoods in Corral and Trancas canyons and Malibu Bowl. An evacuation center has been opened at Agoura High School.

At least 300 firefighters, six water-dropping helicopters and two fixed-wings planes were attacking the fire, which broke out at 3:30 a.m. at Corral Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway, fire officials said.

“The winds are all over the place and the fire is moving in every direction,” said Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Sam Padilla.The blaze is being called the Corral fire. The cause has not been determined.

Malibu was hit in October by a brush fire that destroyed or damaged more than a dozen structures.

Dry conditions and a return of Santa Ana winds prompted red flag warnings Friday by the National Weather Service for Los Angeles and six other counties, an indication of added fire risks.

The warnings, which took effect at noon in mountain areas of L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura and Kern counties, are expected to last until at least 6 p.m. Sunday. Winds of up to 75 mph are expected.

Warnings also were issued for coastal areas -- where gusts of up to 60 mph are expected -- until noon Sunday.

Red flag parking restrictions will be in effect until at least 10 p.m. today for the Hollywood Hills and other fire-prone areas of the city, Los Angeles fire officials said.

“If something sparks up, this does have the potential to get very serious and out of hand,” said Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “That’s why we have the red flag warnings -- to alert the fire agencies and the general public that with these winds it doesn’t take much for something to start growing.”

Kittell said a cold storm system moving across Arizona from Utah was keeping temperatures unusually mild for Santa Anas -- in the low 70s during the day -- bringing stronger-than-expected winds and blowing out lingering fog as the humidity dips to the single digits.

Fire agencies scrambled to bring added resources to Southern California amid decreasing humidity and increasing winds.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had a dozen helicopters on standby, including five supplied by the California Army National Guard; 270 fire engines; more than 1,000 personnel; and two incident command teams across the region, said spokesman Daniel Berlant.

Federal resources included 11 air tankers, 18 helicopters, four military C-130s, 170 fire engines, 21 hand crews and four incident management teams, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Berlant said the added personnel and equipment would stay in the area through the weekend.

Winds are expected to die down Sunday but pick up again as a new storm moves into the area Tuesday.

To check parking restrictions, visit www.lafd.org/redflag.

bob.pool@latimes.com
molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com