Cher, Dick Van Dyke and other celebrities were forced to evacuate their homes on Tuesday after a wind-swept fire engulfed portions of the Southern California community of Malibu. In a post on Facebook, the 98-year-old legendary actor said that he and his wife Arlene had safely evacuated their homes as the Franklin fire blazed through the area. “Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo [their cat] escaped as we were leaving,” the famed actor, who turns 99 on December 13, wrote. Dick Van Dyke, Cher among stars to flee Malibu homes as raging brushfire rips through Southern California https://t.co/8XCjB3DZ7M pic.twitter.com/2dXCHAfJWH — New York Post (@nypost) December 11, 2024 “We’re praying he’ll be OK and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires,” he added. A publicist for Cher, Liz Rosenberg, told the Associated Press that the singer/actress had left her home as ordered and was staying in a hotel. Barbara Streisand also has a home in the area and a spokesperson for her told The New York Times she didn’t have to evacuate yet. The brush fire started around 11 p.m. on Monday night and thanks to the strong Santa Ana winds, the fire grew to six square miles and was just 7% contained on Tuesday, the AP noted. CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE “The deep and rugged terrain, along with the strong winds and low humidity, continue to pose challenges for firefighters,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said in an incident update. However, officials noted that a change in the weather on Wednesday could help them significantly. “We’re far better off this morning than we were in the last 30-plus hours,” Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart said at a Wednesday news conference. Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony C. Marrone said that more than 7,500 structures, mostly homes, were threatened, with more than ten thousand people under evacuation orders. Much of the fire has not only consumed the area with celebrities’ mansions, but also affected Pepperdine University. A spokesperson for the university, Michael Friel, said Wednesday morning, “You literally could see the flames from the top of the hill from campus.” The cause of the fire is still under investigation.