The fire erupted during extreme Santa Ana winds. The National Weather Service issued "a particularly dangerous" red-flag warning for much of the local area for the second time in a little over a month. Those are triggered during extreme conditions, ones that can cause fires to ignite easily and spread quickly, officials said.

Mass evacuations have been ordered and Pepperdine University is under shelter-in-place orders as a wildfire exploded in Malibu overnight. In the late-night hours of December 9, firefighters were called to a small brush fire, but with Santa Ana winds whipping overnight, the blaze quickly grew into a raging inferno that's consumed over 2,200 acres.