Evening star., 1942-10-21
California Brush Fire
Imperi|s Prison Camp;
5000 Acres Scared
Troops, Civilians Bottle
To Check Flames Near
MoIibu Beach Co''ony
BY the Associated Press.

SANTA MONICA, Calf, Oct. 81.
"A wildly flaming brush fire had
advanced to the edge of a county
prison road camp in the Santa
Monica Mountains this morning,
a sheriff's deputy reported, and
hasty preparations were being
made to evacuate the go inmates
and dozen or so attendants.
A camp chef reached the sheriff's
Malibu substation with all his be-
longings, then returned to the prison
base with the statement it would
almost certainly be necessary for
the men to get out within an hour
or less. There are two roads out,
and it was thought unlikely the men
would be trapped, a deputy said.
The inmates, honor prisoners, live
in barracks and are not locked up.
A grimy force of soldiers, Coast
Guardsmen and civilians were
striving with scant success to check
the flames, which already had de-
nuded an estimated 5000 acres,
much of it valuable watershed.
Warner Ranch Menaced.
A second blaze broke out on the
Warner ranch near Calabasas, about
miles north of the main blaze.
The ranch has been the setting for
numerous Warner Bros pictures.
A crew of nearly 100 was rushed
to the scene, and fire official de-
scribed the situation as pretty
bad"
So far all the homes dotting the
region, in which the fashionable
Malibu Beach film colony is located,
had escaped the flames, but through
the night many Of the householders
sat sleepless, ready to evacuate with
such belongings as they could take
should adverse weather conditions
send the fire racing nearer their
properties.
The Los Angeles County Fire De-
partment had stripped its stations
of all but the barest emergency
dS ~ dUSu 1GS
motorized forces on the blaze.
County firemen and road camp
prisoners were working shoulder to
shoulder in the sitting heat and
smoke with Army troops, States
Guardsmen. members of the Coast
Guard and sheriff's deputies.
And at the far-f1ung city limits
Ios Apoe1es Arnvooo etood or,,ord
ready to take a hand if the flames
approached their jurisdiction.
Dam Opened for Water.
At one stage Of the battle last
night the gates of the Malibu Dam
were opened to swell the flow of a
creek, depleted by the tons of water
the motorized bumpers were hurting
on the flames.
The fire, which started on the
ocean side Of the range and at one
time burned to the edge of the
Roosevelt highway, skirting the
coast, turned its course late last
night and sped inland. A concentra-
ton of forces and improved weather
conditions enabled firemen to check
this threat late last night, but new
reports said the flames were moving
back toward the sea in previously
unburned sectors.
The Malibu film colony, separated
by a wide expanse of sand from the
bush-covered area, was not believed
in immediate peril. But the noun
tain home Of Film Star Richard Dix
was in the danger zone, as was the
81, ,000, 900 castle" built by Mrs. May
Rindge in Malibu canyon. recently
sold for conversion into a monastery
by the Franciscan Friars.
Spence Turner, Los Angeles Coun-
ty fire warden who is directing the
fight, made the estimate of 5000
acres burned.
At the Malibu sheriff's SUBJ STATIC
scores Of f1remen were given emer-
gency treatment for burns and
smoke sickness, although none was
believed In serious condition.