What would you do if, at two in the morning, you woke up to find flames bearing down on your home?
For my mother, longtime Malibu resident Deanna Madsen, that question was no longer theoretical. She received a call from a friend warning her that the Franklin Fire, which erupted late Monday night, was already at her doorstep.
Within moments, she knew she had to leave.
Strong Santa Ana winds propelled the Franklin Fire to burn more than 2,800 acres by early Tuesday morning, prompting evacuation orders and cutting power to thousands of residents. Pepperdine University canceled classes and issued a shelter-in-place order while dealing with power outages. Officials struggle to control a situation with the fire still at zero percent containment.
With no electricity, no Wi-Fi, and advancing flames, the community’s priority was clear — get out safely before the wind-fueled blaze crested the next ridge.
“We evacuated,” Madsen said, recalling the chaos of that early morning. “I woke up my neighbors and we all started loading our cars with whatever we could. It was pitch dark — no lights, no Wi-Fi — and the fire was literally right behind our houses.”
Video: Deanna Madsen
“It was a nightmare,” Madsen said. “I had to catch my birds in the dark and get them into a carrier. I couldn’t see anything, and I was all by myself at first.” As she left her home, Madsen saw firetrucks rolling in to respond in force.
“It’s scary,” said Madsen, now housing temporarily in Santa Monica. “They won’t let me back yet. I’m just hoping they can hold it off and protect the houses.”
The human cost of wildfires often goes beyond burned structures and smoky skies. Madsen’s experience highlights the anxiety and uncertainty facing many residents, as they wait for permission to return home and assess the damage. Behind every fire perimeter map and evacuation zone stands a family making life-or-death decisions in impossible moments.
Officials warn that shifting winds could send smoke and ash into surrounding communities, affecting air quality as far as Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles, and beyond. For now, the priority remains containing the Franklin Fire and preventing further destruction.
Madsen, like many in Malibu, waits for word that it’s safe to return home. “I’ve been in a fire before,” she said quietly, “and it still freaks me out every time.”
For her, and for so many others caught in the path of the Franklin Fire, that’s the reality: a jarring evacuation in the dead of night, memories hastily packed into a car, and a future uncertain — defined only by the hope that firefighters will push back the flames and let them come home again.
