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# Bluffs blaze bedevils commuters
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bluffs-blaze-bedevils-commuters/
- Published: 2005-07-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:23:37.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Environment, Pacific Palisades, #archive-import, Homeless

*Bluffs blaze bedevils commuters*

*By ROBERT FATURECHI Special to the Daily Press*

PCH — A small brushfire just off Pacific Coast Highway slowed the morning commute Monday, as lanes were temporarily closed in the midst of rush-hour traffic.

Though the cause of the early morning blaze is still under investigation, the stretch of trees and brush where the fire broke out was likely a homeless encampment, according to Santa Monica Fire department battalion chief Dan Matthies. Sleeping along the bluffs between Palisades Park and PCH was outlawed by the Santa Monica City Council in 2003.

The fire burned below the bluffs adjacent to the beach — between Entrada Drive and the California Incline.

“The terrain is so steep that we had to attack it from the bottom,” Matthies said.

It took 31 firefighters, from the Santa Monica Fire Department and the neighboring Los Angeles Fire Department, about two and a half hours to knock out the blaze.

Though the initial flames were put out relatively quickly, fire-fighters equipped with small hoses and shovels stayed for a couple of hours to smother any remaining live embers.

“With all that brush there, if we leave one little ember blowing the wind will pick it up, fan that thing up and it’ll start that brushfire all over again,” Matthies said. “With brushfires, it’s hand-to-hand combat with shovels and small hose lines.”

When they arrived at 6 a.m., the fire-fighters were forced to close off all lanes on the PCH as they stretched out their hoses along the road from hydrants spaced out beachside. While firefighters worked to put out the flames, California Highway Patrol officers at Fourth Street diverted traffic westbound onto Interstate 10, said CHP public affairs officer Jon Samson.

CHP officers reopened southbound lanes on the PCH relatively quickly, but northbound traffic remained partly blocked off until after 9 a.m., Matthies said.

By noon, the only signs of the morning’s fire were a few blackened tree trunks, mud washed along the sidewalk below the bluff and a heavy smell of soot.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/071205-03_01.jpg)

Firefighters battle a brushfire Monday morning along the Palisades Bluffs. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/071205-03_02.jpg)

Firefighters battle a brushfire Monday morning along the Palisades Bluffs. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071205.pdf?ref=smdp.com)