Sonali Tiwary
A wildfire in Malibu’s Santa Monica Mountains prompted evacuation orders Thursday evening and continued spreading Friday morning as Southern California entered what forecasters called the peak of a significant Santa Ana wind event. The Bryson Fire had burned approximately 200 acres (81 hectares) as of Thursday night, according to the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. No containment figure had been reported by early Friday.
The fire erupted shortly before 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 15. Multiple fixed-wing aircraft and water-dropping helicopters worked the blaze until sunset, the Los Angeles Times reported, and more than 285 firefighters continued overnight operations, according to the Associated Press. Fire officials were expected to brief the public Friday morning.
Conditions were forecast to worsen through the day. Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, told the Los Angeles Times that Friday would be “the peak of the Santa Ana event,” with wind speeds roughly 10 miles per hour greater than Thursday. A Friday morning National Weather Service forecast cited by the Times put peak gusts at 50 to 70 mph across Ventura and Los Angeles county mountains, with gusts between 25 and 45 mph possible even in areas that do not typically see strong Santa Ana conditions. Rose Schoenfeld, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Associated Press the region was facing “a pretty widespread event of elevated fire weather, so the whole SoCal region should really be on alert.” A red flag warning for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties remained in effect through Saturday at 8 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported.
Evacuation orders covered the Encinal Canyon area near Trancas Canyon; a broader evacuation warning applied to a larger portion of Malibu, the Los Angeles Times reported. An L.A. County juvenile detention and rehabilitative facility in the area was evacuated Thursday night, according to the Associated Press. At Camp Pendleton, the Henderson Fire had burned 1,404 acres as of Thursday and briefly closed the Interstate 5 Freeway, the Times reported.
Pre-Deployment and the 2025 Standard
The Bryson Fire arrived against a backdrop of sustained scrutiny over how Southern California institutions prepare for fire weather. Reviews of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s response to the January 2025 firestorm found critical failures to pre-stage resources — most notably a decision not to pre-deploy engines to Pacific Palisades despite warnings of extreme fire weather, according to the Los Angeles Times. Thursday’s red flag alert was described by the Times as one step below the rare “particularly dangerous situation” designation issued before that earlier fire.
Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday that the LAFD had pre-deployed personnel and resources to the San Fernando Valley, the Santa Monica Mountains, and Hollywood ahead of the winds. “We are closely monitoring the Bryson fire in Malibu,” she said, as reported by the Times. L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger urged residents to act before conditions deteriorated: “We know how quickly these conditions can turn dangerous, and we know that preparation saves lives.” The L.A. County Fire Department added approximately 100 personnel to its on-duty roster, and additional crews arrived from the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the Times reported.
Power shutoffs extended the fire weather impact well beyond the immediate fire zone. More than 150,000 customers across California were without electricity as of Friday, according to poweroutage.com, as cited by the Associated Press. California utilities have in recent years begun proactively shutting off power during dry, windy weather in an effort to prevent blazes, the AP reported — a practice that followed major fires linked to utility infrastructure, including the January 2025 Altadena Fire, which officials determined was sparked by an idle transmission tower owned by Southern California Edison.
The current wind event is not forecast to reach the intensity of January 2025, when gusts peaked between 60 and 100 mph. The Palisades Fire killed 12 people; the Altadena Fire killed 19 and destroyed more than 9,400 homes and businesses, according to the Associated Press. Schoenfeld told the AP that this week’s Santa Ana winds were expected to be weaker than those that drove the 2025 fires.
Official figures for acreage beyond Thursday night’s 200 acres, the cause of ignition, and any containment data had not been published in the sources available as of Friday morning. A fire department briefing was expected later in the day.
