Overview
- City leaders approved the emergency this week after Los Angeles County Fire Department samples showed live fuel moisture at 63%, below Malibu’s 65% hazard threshold.
- The declaration lets city crews and the sheriff provide same-day notice and remove unpermitted camps in areas the city classifies as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
- Officials say the policy pairs nonprofit outreach from People Concern with enforcement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and that refusals to vacate can lead to citations or arrest.
- The order will remain in effect through the hazardous season until the city records at least two inches of rain, live fuel moisture reaches 80%, and there are no recent or forecasted Fire Weather Watches or Red Flag Warnings.
- Malibu frames the move as wildfire prevention built on prior work that cleared dozens of camps each year and on the memory of recent destructive fires, while the 2026 homeless count recorded 27 people in the city.