Pepperdine University survived the Franklin Fire and other devastating blazes. Campus officials aren’t surprised

Pepperdine University escaped the Franklin Fire with minimal damage after social media videos showed flames charring hillsides and nearing the library where students were sheltering.

And university officials aren’t surprised — the Malibu campus is designed to withstand wildfires.

Jon Weber, the director of Emergency Services and Insurance and Risk, told LAist it’s not if another wildfire is coming, it's when, and a lot of pre-planning goes into keeping the students, staff, and community safe.

“Pepperdine is the  safest place you can be in Malibu,” he said, “It's an oasis.”

Pepperdine’s fire strategy

The university uses fire-resistant materials for its buildings, including stucco walls and tile roofs.

They are also constructed in clusters, so even if flames were to reach one set, it would be more difficult for it to spread directly to the next set.

The landscaping team clears 200 feet of brush around every single building, so if a fire does approach campus, firefighters have a defensible space to push back from.

They also try to use fire-resistant plants, and that’s usually those that are native to Southern California.

Pepperdine has a shelter in place policy, which was activated during the Franklin Fire, and has been around since the 1990s. This allows university officials to keep the community safe in on-campus shelters that’ve been approved by the L.A. County Fire Department, Weber noted.

“During the Woolsey Fire back in 2018, it was taking people six hours to get from our campus to the Santa Monica Pier,” he said. “And so [it’s] much better to keep our community here, and keep all those extra cars out of that congestion to allow other people to use those roads to get out, as well as the first responders to get in.”

Lessons learned

The campus has seen its fair share of devastating fires, including the Woolsey Fire in 2018 that burned nearly 100,000 acres and killed three people. It’s also learned lessons along the way.

Officials realized they needed to communicate quicker, which was reflected by the regular updates during the Franklin Fire. (You can stay up to date with Pepperdine’s emergency information here.)

With another red flag fire weather warning issued for Tuesday and Wednesday, Weber said the burn scars should help insulate the campus, but a fire could always affect other areas, including roads.

“ I would encourage our community to stay on our campus and be safe,” he said. “That's the best place to be.”