Evacuations, Road Closures Persist as Firefighters Battle Extreme Conditions
Gail Pinsker, Community and Public Relations Officer for the Santa Monica – Malibu Unified School District confirmed that Malibu’s four schools, Webster Elementary, Malibu Elementary, Malibu Middle, and Malibu High School, would continue to be closed because of conditions caused by the Franklin Fire. Santa Monica schools are unaffected by the closures and will be open as normal.
She added a letter that was sent to the parents at the Malibu School District today notifying them of the closure and the state of the Malibu schools:
Email on behalf of Superintendent Dr. Antonio Shelton
Dear Malibu Families and Staff,
All Malibu schools will be closed Wednesday, December 11, and Thursday, December 12 due to the Franklin fire and power outages. Authorities are urging residents and visitors to stay clear of the area, as the Franklin fire continues to pose a significant threat. Evacuations remain in effect and there are road closures.
The fire continues to spread and is zero percent contained as of this letter. Firefighters from many agencies are actively working to contain the blaze, but extreme conditions and high winds are complicating efforts. Local authorities are coordinating evacuations and providing shelter to displaced residents, including a Red Cross site at an SMMUSD facility, 2802 4th Street, Santa Monica. Small crated dogs and cats with their humans are welcome at this shelter.
The safety and health of our students and staff are our top priorities. We never take the decision to close schools lightly as we value the continuity of learning.
We are starting to learn of the impact of this fire and lost property and we are saddened to hear of loss amongst our SMMUSD families and staff. Webster Elementary School has suffered significant damage to its electrical grid, minor building exterior damage, and smoke damage that are being evaluated. I visited Webster today with Carey Upton, Chief Operations Officer; Glen Infuso, Maintenance and Operations Director; Carina Diana, Webster Principal and an electrician, to inspect the school.
It’s heartbreaking to see damage to our beloved school but appreciate the efforts of our firefighters to limit the damage. We will have more information regarding Webster in the next few days. All four schools will undergo emergency professional restoration and cleaning following the lift of the evacuation orders, prior to the resumption of school.
Our SMMUSD Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is closely monitoring and evaluating the situation and communicating with the City of Malibu and other partner agencies on the status of this incident in real-time.
You may follow the City of Malibu alerts at www.malibucity.org and Malibu Radio KBUU at www.RadioMalibu.net for updated information regarding Malibu evacuations, roads, weather, surf and conditions.
Our hearts and thoughts are with the Malibu community during this difficult event. We are hopeful that our professional firefighters will extinguish this blaze with minimal damage. We will share some resources tomorrow and will provide you with an update regarding school closures. Please watch for direct messages from your site administrators as well.
Sincerely,
Superintendent, Dr. Antonio Shelton
