Sheriff’s Deputies Warn Homeless Individuals in Malibu of Fire Risk

Members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) and the Los Angeles Services Authority offer homeless residents food, water, and transportation and housing options in Malibu, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Franklin swings down a rope from a blue camping tent perched a couple of hundred feet high, tucked between a thicket of shrubs and trees about a mile up Tuna Canyon Road in the western Santa Monica Mountains. He’s without a shirt, wearing just a pair of faded black shorts.

“I dug this spot out a long time ago, maybe 20 years ago; it was only big enough for one person to sit. And it’s fallen down a couple times, but it’s cool. I can get out of here in five seconds if I needed to, for a fire or anything,” Franklin told The Epoch Times.