Surfers Are Leading The “Community Brigades” That Are Fighting Malibu’s Wildfires
“The ‘hero-saving-victim paradigm’ only perpetuates our refusal to acknowledge our decision to live in a fire-prone area.”
There are five wildfires raging in Los Angeles today over 45 square miles of land.
So far, 29,000 acres of land have burned (the equivalent of 22,000 American football fields), 360,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, thousands of individuals and families have lost their homes, and, so far, five people have been discovered dead beneath the wreckage.
The largest of the five fires, the “Palisades Fire”, has virtually flattened the area between the Malibu Pier and Santa Monica. As of right now, it is still 0% contained.
The culprit? The Los Angeles area has received less than 0.5 inches of rainfall since April. The vegetation had become a veritable tinder box vulnerable to flames that exploded thanks to 100+ mph Santa Ana winds, the strongest wind event in this area in 15 years. In short, It was a “perfect storm” of wildfire conditions.
“Some areas look like a bomb was dropped on them,” said the Los Angeles County Sheriff. “This is the worst disaster in L.A. history.”
To combat these fires, California is “sparing no expense.” The state has already deployed 47,000 firefighters, six air tankers, 31 helicopters, and 1,002 fire engines.
But, the Malibu area is receiving an extra burst of help courtesy of a grassroots effort known as “Community Brigades.” The Community Brigades program is the brainchild of local surfer/shaper Keegan Gibbs, who, after banding together with neighbors to protect houses during 2018’s devastating Woolsey Fire, has since worked with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to form officially recognized groups of civilians that are trained and equipped to assist professional firefighters during these far-too-frequent wildfire events.
Essentially, the Community Brigades program is a “Neighborhood Watch” for wildfires. Each neighborhood has its own “division” of civilians that train, run drills, and receive equipment from the fire department to protect their streets. This not only minimizes the damage done to their own houses, but also frees up time and attention for the Fire Department to focus on other areas that might be less prepared.
Keegan himself was off the phone and on the tools, but we caught his friend and fellow Community Brigades member, Andrew Jacobson, who is a lifeguard and — yes — surfs really well too.
“The Woolsey Fire in 2018 was so devastating that Keegan Gibbs decided to get together with the locals and form the ‘Community Brigades,'” Andrew said. “Its purpose is so that when one of these horrific fires comes through again, each neighborhood has their own unit that is ready to go and is trained for this. So, two nights ago, the Palisades Fire ripped through everything south of the Malibu Pier. We were able to go with the firefighters and help save one of our friends’ houses. We have hoses, big water bags in the trucks, and protective equipment to be able to help, if only just in our small way. The real goal is to help, and not get in the way of the real firefighters.”
Andrew then explained why “Community Brigades” can be so helpful to firefighters.
“The last thing we want to be is a nuisance to firefighters. The reality is that when these things happen, the Fire Department lacks the resources to be everywhere at once. When these fires first start happening, it’s like anarchy. People are fearing for their lives and homes, you can understand the lack of order. The Community Brigade can help firefighters by creating more order among civilians and putting a plan in place.”
Andrew also shed light on the greater frequency of wildfires popping up in the area. “It’s easy for everyone to be like, ‘What’s the point of organizing, this won’t happen again,’ but it keeps on happening more and more. With these offshore winds every winter and less rainfall and the proximity of the canyon to the neighborhoods, it’s just gonna keep on happening. We hope the Community Brigades program can spread to other places as well to keep people safer.”
We also reached out to Trace Marshall, who is a staple of the Malibu surfing community and runs Brothers Marshall surf shop. We did a deep dive into the Malibu surf scene and Brothers Marshall that you can read here.
“The Palisades is like a war zone right now. Never in a million years did I think we’d get a fire that would reach this far into town. It’s complete and crazy devastation,” Trace explained. “It would likely be the same for those of us north of Malibu pier, but the smaller wildfire we had last month actually created a sort of dead zone between us and the Palisades that I think is the only reason we’re protected up here.”
Trace then explained how the Palisades Fire will likely change Malibu forever.
“You know all those houses south of the pier? You know, that iconic stretch that’s in all the movies? All of those houses on the beach there are totally flattened. It’s bizarre driving up PCH and being able to see the entire coastline how it looked before development,” Trace explained. “And those houses that were built on stilts on the sand were made back in the 70’s, we don’t think they’ll be able to get the permits necessary to rebuild with all the coastal erosion that’s happening in the area. So this will likely change how that stretch coasts looks like forever.”
This issue of home destruction was one touched on today at a White House press conference.
“Sadly, many insurance companies have canceled insurance for a lot of the families that have been affected,” Vice President Kamala Harris stated. “This will only delay and add more burden to those who are displaced. Without insurance, it will be hard for these families to recover in any meaningful way.”
Trace wrapped up our convo with a nod to Keegan and the Community Brigades.
“L.A. has a lot of haters. And, yes, it’s insanely expensive and hard to get by here, but it’s seriously so beautiful. There’s good people here, the waves are fun, there’s just still magic left here,” Trace explained. “And with the Community Brigades, Malibu has been able to peel away the red tape logistics and the bureaucracy and create essentially their own little wing of the fire department to help out down here and it’s pretty fucking amazing. And now, it can be model for other communities that live in fire-prone areas like we do.”
If you’re looking for a good resource for deciding how to help, Mutual Aid L.A. has created this spreadsheet that outlines vetted aid organizations for a variety of different causes.
Our thoughts and hopes are with all of those affected by these wildfires.
