Photos courtesy of Roxana Astemborski (Art Editor), Kelly Sayre, Thor Anderson, Sabrina Jones & Chris Segal (Director of Strategic Planning)
SHANNON KELLY
Editor In Chief
The Malibu fire is still zero percent contained and has burned more than 2000 acres, but students and staff have been told to return to their on-campus residences by Pepperdine’s emergency response team, according to the Emergency Operations Committee’s (EOC) associate vice president Rick Gibson.
Three homes and two commercial buildings have been confirmed destroyed and at least nine other residences have been damaged.
The structural loses include Malibu Presbyterian Church and Pepperdine faculty member, Connie James’ house, which is close to the church. Flames also destroyed Malibu’s famous Castle Kashan.
University officials are confident at this point that it is safe for students to leave the Firestone Fieldhouse and the Café, although they’ve been asked to remain on campus, said Director of Public Relations Jerry Derloshon.
“We’re going to watch things very closely and are working in conjunction with the L.A county fire officials,” he said.
Monday classes have also been canceled.
Students will be notified via the emergency alert system text messages about any updates.
The Graphic Web site was shut down for more than two hours by the Pepperdine EOC while covering the fire this afternoon.
“The committee decided that with an emergency of this magnitude, it was necessary to put the University message upfront,” Gibson said.
The EOC has since allowed online coverage to resume.
Updated at 4:29 p.m.
10-21-2007