A fire started along PCH by Coastline Drive, most likely from illegal fireworks.
Circling the News received this letter from a Castellammare resident:
“Something else you might want to look into, fireworks and fires at the beach between Sunset and Coastline Drive. We’ve called the police many times and rarely get a response. This morning we sent the following email to our lead officers:
“Dear Officers Moore and Redican:
“I know this is a busy time and fireworks are probably pretty low on the police priority list, but it is getting dangerous. We live on Castellammare Drive overlooking the beach.
“Over the last month there have been fireworks and illegally parked cars on PCH just about every night. We’ve called the LAPD non-emergency number and sometimes a patrol car would come by. Last night (Sunday, June 7) we called at about 9 p.m. to report fireworks. No response.
“At about 11 p.m. there was a fire started, perhaps by the fireworks, in the brush near Castlerock. City and county firefighters extinguished the fire, but had there been stronger winds the whole neighborhood could have caught fire. And this morning Castlerock is covered with graffiti.
“Just enforcing the parking regulations with regular patrols at night would go a long way toward reducing the fireworks. We’d sure appreciate any help.”
CTN spoke to the resident, who reported that the late-night illegal fireworks have caused pets a great deal of anxiety.
Several people reported that the fireworks appeared to be shot from the intersection of Castle Rock and Coastline Drive from PCH towards the hillside.
That area is a high fire severity zone and one resident posted on Nextdoor, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d really like to not have another Malibu Fire!”
On June 8, CTN contacted LAPD Captain Jonathan Tom, commanding officer of the West Los Angeles Area, with the resident’s letter and information. Tom responded, “We definitely need to enforce the ‘no fireworks.’ This is a dangerous time to be doing that.” He promised to follow up and send enforcement.
That night around 10 p.m., a resident wrote to CTN: “People (and their dogs) who live in Sunset Mesa and Castellammare and maybe elsewhere, have been hearing some booms over the last couple of nights. As I write this, I have not heard ‘booms’ tonight. But it could happen later. It’s frightening since this is dry and windy fire weather.”