A brush fire that broke out in Malibu Thursday morning threatened several structures and forced a nearby kids camp to prepare for evacuation.
The fire broke out about 3:11 a.m. three miles north of Pacific Coast Highway near Mulholland Highway, according to Sgt. Joyce with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The fire had burned about 20 acres and firefighters were focusing on structure protection, said Inspector Chris Reade with the Fire Department at about 5 a.m. The acreage of the fire was later downgraded to 7 acres by supervisor Wright with the Fire Department.
Flames were threatening at least one home as of 4 a.m., according to an update from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Several homes were evacuated due to the dangerous fire conditions, but it was unclear exactly how many, according to Joyce, who described the area as sparsely populated.
The fire was burning in the vicinity of two nearby kids camps, one of which was expected to be evacuated, according to Joyce.
Some campers at Camp JCA Shalom were apparently using their own vehicles to evacuate the area, Joyce said.
The Sheriff's Department was also called to help evacuate campers who boarded busses, but the evacuation order was lifted before busses left the camp, Joyce said.
Flames were burning away from the second camp, identified by Joyce as Camp Bloomfield. An evacuation of that camp was not necessary.
Camp Bloomfield was described as a camp for blind, visually impaired or multi-disabled children, according to their website.
Helicopters were attacking the flames with water drops as ground crews worked to contain the fire as quickly as possible, Reade said.
Winds were calm and were not yet a factor in battling the blaze, which was burning up some very steep terrain, Reade said about 5 a.m.
Firefighters had gotten a good handle of the fire and made significant progress, Capt. Brian Jordan with the Fire Department said about 6 a.m.
By 6:30 a.m., the fire was 35 percent contained, according to Wright.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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