Photo by Marisa Padilla
With two fires in the past week, the Malibu area is fast approaching fire season.
A small fire burned the Malibu Pier Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
Officers on the scene speculated that a cigarette fell between the cracks and ignited the wood underneath. This is the fourth time this year the pier has caught fire.
“It’s another small fire on the West side of the pier,” said Maria Grycan, a community services liaison on the pier. “It appears to be consistent with an improperly discarded cigarette.”
At 2 p.m. officers were ripping out parts of the deck and spraying sections affected by the flame. A rescue squad was spotted on site along with law enforcement and firefighters.
As a reminder, Grycan told the Graphic that smoking is strictly prohibited on the pier, which is indicated by numerous signs and warnings.
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A fire caused by sparks from a skill saw at a construction site ignited nearby brush in the La Costa neighborhood of Malibu on Thursday. In front of hundreds of students during Waves Expo, the fire crew pulled water from a pond in Alumni Park to help contain the blaze.
Firefighters responded to 3341 Rambla Pacifico Road at approximately 1:20 p.m. and quickly extinguished the fire in an area heavily populated with homes. An area of approximately 20 by 30 feet was burned. A lack of wind in Malibu that day helped to prevent the fire from spreading further north, according to the Malibu Times.
Construction workers were cutting a piece of steel with an industrial skill saw when sparks flew into the surrounding brush at the construction site. There was reportedly fire damage to a couple of trees that were subsequently cut down by firefighters from Fire Station 70.
As published in the Aug. 26, 2013 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
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