Real estate values trump fire fears

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Las Flores Canyon, Malibu:

Firefighters were hitting hot spots on the ridgelines of Las Flores Canyon hard throughout the day with water tankers, helicopters and planes. The canyon is a designated trigger zone for Topanga Canyon, whose 12,000 to 14,000 residents will receive mandatory evacuation orders if the fire spills into Las Flores.

A voluntary evacuation call was issued in Las Flores before midnight, but went largely unheeded. At 3 a.m., sheriff’s deputies came up in caravans, with bullhorns, and distributed a mandatory evacuation notice door-to-door. Some residents complied. But dozens and dozens, knowing that when they cross the barrier at the end of the road at Pacific Coast Highway, they can’t come back -- not for horses, not for expensive paintings -- ignored the order. On Monday, they gathered in the streets, keeping a close eye on the progress of the fire abatement effort. The wait, which would prove if they had been smart or stupid to linger, was nerve-wracking. Staying could have been the dumbest move of their lives. So when these residents rooted for the water bombers, it was with a special zeal.

One man, with a bandana over his face to protect against smoke inhalation, stood with a group of neighbors with binoculars, all of them watching a column of smoke rising on a mountaintop about a mile up the canyon. The group was about a half mile above PCH. Michael Blum, 36, a freelance graphic designer, rents a modest wood-shingled home surrounded by lush brush and oak trees, not far from a brook.

‘You could say I’m trying to make educated guesses about combinations of terrain and wind,’ Blum said. ‘My guess is that this lower portion of the canyon is safe - but the truth is, we’re nowhere near being safe.’

‘if you feel you’re going to be safe, you try and stay as long as you can.’

He spoke to a certain psychology of Malibu living: As long as the good guys are winning, residents are smart to stay. ‘There’s something special about living in Malibu; it has rural roots and there’s still people around here who arrived in the 1940s. Personally, I surf. Some of the best waves in the world are two miles from here at Surfrider Beach.’

All of a sudden a caravan of six sheriff cars and an ambulance sped up the road. A skinny, shirtless man with long sandy blond hair and wraparound sunglasses spooked and yelled, ‘Let’s scatter!’ Three or four people vanished. Blum didn’t budge.

The Malibu town crier later explained that if you get in an argument with the police, you might wind up in handcuffs.

Kris Russel, 31, ignored repeated orders to vacate his parents’ two-story, four-bedroom yellow and coffee colored stucco home, called ‘The Creek House.’ The house, which was built to replace a home destroyed by fire on the same site in 1993, had a For Sale sign at the end of the driveway.

‘My parents are worried about the impact this fire will have on the value of their home; they’re asking about $1.6 million,’ Russel said.

Last night a sheriff’s car cruised by at 2 in the morning. Kris was outside and deputies ordered him to leave. ‘Well, at first I thought, ‘This is it. I have to go,’’ he said. ‘But then I talked to some neighbors who said, ‘Aw man, you don’t have to leave.’’

Law enforcement said they can’t force someone to leave.

This the fifth major fire in the area since 1988 - the first one in 1988, the Monte Nido Burn in 1991, the Old Topanga Fire in 1993, the Calabasas Fire in 1996 and now the Canyon Fire.

Earlier Monday, authorities widened the evacuation zone to include the 20 to 50 homes along Pima and Scheren Roads.

Hundreds, perhaps even a few thousand, people live in Las Flores Canyon. The homes are remarkably diverse, ranging from extraordinary architectural fantasies to soaring four- and five-story adobe-colored mansions and small wood-shingled bungalows. The ridge crests are spiked with palatial estates.

Las Flores is lined with sycamore, oak, pine and pepper trees. The hills are cloaked in thick chaparral.

Last night, after the first evacuation order, new BMW’s and luxurious sedans and exotic sports cars filled to the rooftops with blankets and rocking chairs could be seen sliding down the canyon.

-- Louis Sahagun