A Santa Monica Canyon resident wrote “I noticed smoke coming from the bushes when I was driving south on PCH from Entrada with a friend.” He identified the area as directly below 49 Mabery right on the lower wall of PCH.
“As we passed it, I could tell something was about to light up, so I made a U-turn and noticed a small fire starting,” he said. “I immediately called 911 and was put on hold probably four to five different times with the operator on the call before they finally answered.”
While they were waiting for LAFD to respond, one of the Caltrans workers walked over and used one of the orange cones to put the fire out.
“If he wasn’t there, this could have easily lit up the entire hillside,” his friend said. “We waited 25 minutes and still no one showed.”
The resident said he was concerned that the fire would light back up, but the Caltrans worker said he would be there overnight and until 5 a.m. the next day.
When the two came back an hour later the Cal trans guy was not around, “So I don’t know if fire department ever came,” the resident said. “I’ve checked the hill a couple times and itseems to be out.”
He added that he didn’t think the original flame was big enough to reignite.
His friend said that a homeless-looking guy at the top of the bluff told him he heard fireworks and saw some kids throw them off bikes towards PCH. The resident said he couldn’t confirm it, and “for all I know he [homeless guy] could have thrown a cigarette off of the side.”
Saturday night, my friend and I were walking in the parking lot of the Beach club when we heard this extremely loud pop/bang on PCH. It looked like someone threw a very large firecracker out the window of their car into the bushes. It was smoking and we alerted the personnel at the beach desk. People are unhinged.