Malibu residents survey fire damage

Fifty homes were destroyed Saturday by the wildfire.

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Residents began making their way through back streets and dirt roads Sunday afternoon into evacuated areas of this upscale community to see whether their homes survived a wind-driven wildfire that scorched surrounding brush-covered hills.

Some homes along a road near the source of the blaze had been reduced to blackened wrecks, while others were barely damaged.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” said Frank Churchill, who returned home with his wife and four children to find his white stucco home largely undamaged, while three surrounding homes were leveled. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Fifty homes were destroyed Saturday by the fast-moving wildfire, pushed by Santa Ana winds. Twenty-seven other homes were damaged, and 10,000 to 14,000 people remained under evacuation orders.

The fire, which scorched 4,720 acres — more than 7 square miles — since early Saturday, was about 40 percent contained, with few flames visible to water-dropping helicopters, said Ron Haralson, Los Angeles County fire inspector.

“Winds have subsided considerably, and we’re making good headway,” he said.

By late Sunday morning, skies had cleared, and the column of smoke billowing over the hills had all but vanished. Aside from the dozens of firetrucks dotting the Pacific Coast Highway, there was little evidence the fire still was burning.

Investigators determined that the fire, which broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, was caused by humans but had not determined whether it was started intentionally, said county Fire Inspector Rick Dominguez.

Deputy sheriffs with dogs surveyed the roadside area Sunday, which neighbors said is a popular spot for young people to party outdoors late at night.

“I’ve been up there and seen howling groups of teenagers drinking,” nearby resident Ricardo Means, 57, said of the rugged spot near the top of his winding street, where blackened beer cans littered the ground.

When the winds began whipping up again overnight Saturday, the seaside enclave was still recovering from a fire last month that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted Santa Ana winds.

All the homes were destroyed in the fire’s initial Saturday morning surge before the winds slowed and firefighters gained a foothold. Full containment was expected by Tuesday, officials said.