By Luke Simpson
Staff Writer
Winds gusted at 40 miles per hour, only creating larger flames and more destruction. Wildlife scurried from the wilderness into the parking lots, finding refuge in the concrete jungle. From the cafeteria, the student body had a 360 degree view of black smoke. The fire surrounded the campus.
This was the scene in 1996 during the worst fire Malibu had ever seen. Flames burned the back hills of the university, but also jumped both Malibu Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway, reaching all vegetation to the beach. Pepperdine was spared from the devastation.
FILE PHOTO
TOWERING INFERNO: Wildfire burns behind Richard
Rockwell Towers in 1996.
Fires are common for the California desert and canyon terrain and even more common for Pepperdine with three major fires in the past two decades. Harsh Santa Ana wind gusts and dry vegetation after long dry summers provide perfect conditions for major fires.
In order to protect the campus, Pepperdine University has in place the greenbelt, an area that divides the campus from possible brush fires, which includes the green lawn and brush cutting up to 200 feet.
University President Dr. Andrew K. Benton, a Pepperdine administrator during the past fires, said “The students change and sometimes even the faculty and staff change, but we still have the same planning.”
Developing from the match of an arsonist, the 1993 fire burned from an Old Topanga Canyon hillside. The fire burned right up to the edge of the Pepperdine campus. The effects of the fire were seen on the campus with firefighters utilizing Pepperdine as homebase. Helitankers refueled their water and flame retardant supplies in Alumni Park, the Fieldhouse parking lot became a command center for fire chiefs and several dorm lawns became campgrounds for tired firefighters.
Off campus, the fire consumed at least 21 students’ and six faculty members’ homes and possessions. Pepperdine physical education instructor Patti Bright, a Las Flores resident, lost her home in the blaze.
“While at Pepperdine teaching classes, I got the word,” Bright said about the inferno. Rushing home to observe the situation, Bright discovered the “fire had gotten worse.”
“I was only able to save some pictures, antique tools and silver china.”
A few days after the fire had dwindled down, Bright spoke with a firefighter friend. “He told us that he had news,” Bright said. “The good news was that our garage was still standing, but that our house had burned down.”
The most recent fire in 1996 severely endangered Pepperdine, surrounding the campus in a ring of fire. No buildings were burned, except the lacrosse field, and an 800-square-foot horse stable. Volunteers rushed to save the horses housed inside.
Originating from a fallen Eucalyptus tree upon power lines near the intersection of Highway 101 and Las Virgenes Road, the scorching blaze swept through 15,000 acres from Calabasas to Malibu.
With three different response centers in the area, “you must synthesize the information, and accurately decide on the best action,” said Benton on the communication between Pepperdine and officials.
In 1996, Pepperdine had to make a decision before professional firefighters arrived. Public Safety officers were sent to battle approaching fires to save the George Page Residential Complex.
Once on the scene, firefighters combated flames that charged toward the faculty condominiums and the president’s house. Burning the outer edges of buildings, the firefighters were able to push the fire back.
While distracted with fires on the upper edges of campus, smaller fires worked their way between the School of Law and Towers Residence halls. Flames doused the parking lots and resulted in burning several cars, including a Pepperdine truck. Working with two hoses, Public Safety officers thwarted the fires before they could be completely extinguished by 4,000 gallons of water from two helitankers.
For some students, the thick smoke that inundated the entire campus was too much and they evacuated on their own accord. Others held out in their housing, watching the flames while wearing respirator masks.
Several times classes have been canceled and students were evacuated due to safety precautions. If such an event does occur, “Students will go to Taylor Campus Cafeteria, where there will be a big screen television, telephone banks, people there to give most current information, food, water and a medical team,” Benton said. “The backup is Firestone Fieldhouse.”
October 23, 2003
