Malibu seeks to crack down on illegal camping

City says homeless people pose a fire risk when cooking or keeping warm

- ANDREW KHOURI

DAVID VERWEY watches a man walking his dog at Legacy Park in Malibu.

On Monday morning, a homeless man sat in front of the county courthouse in Malibu, where he sleeps each night.

In front of him was a small, green propane tank affixed with a torch, which he said he uses to cook and form wood pipes for tobacco and cannabis.

A short walk away is Legacy Park, an oasis of coastal prairies, bluffs and native woodlands. The Santa Monica Mountains rose in the backdrop.

“Once ina while, somebody will see one of us cooking and they will call the ... fire department,” the homeless man said, who would give his name only as Daniel.

In Malibu, hard hit by the Palisades fire and long prone to wind-fueled conflagrations, elected officials and some residents increasingly fear their homeless neighbors could inadvertently start an inferno while cooking or using flames to keep warm when camped in the brush or other locations across the city.

Last month, citing heightened fire risk, the Malibu City Council declared a state of emergency and directed the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office to remove people engaged in unpermitted camping and, if necessary, arrest them to accomplish that goal.

"Malibu’s history as it relates to fire is hugely devastating," Mayor Marianne Riggins said in an interview. "We are making every effort to limit the opportunities for that type of devastation."

City staff originally proposed directing sheriff officers to ensure the city was free of encampments, while also making sure those efforts did not "criminalize individuals living unhoused."

At the request of Councilman Bruce Silverstein, that language was removed and the arrest language added.

How sheriff officers will respond is unclear. At the meeting, a captain said officers are limited in what they can do, because it was the policy of the county not to criminalize homelessness.