A fast-moving brush fire that erupted in Orange County on Monday afternoon has expanded to 1,900 acres, injuring three people and prompting evacuations in Trabuco Canyon. The blaze, dubbed the Airport fire, started about 1:30 p.m. along the 32200 block of Trabuco Creek Road near a field in Trabuco Canyon for remote-controlled airplanes. By 2 p.m., it had burned at least seven acres. By 4 p.m., it had grown to 800 acres and half an hour later was already at 1,300 acres, according to fire officials.
Fire investigators determined the fire was unintentional, caused by a spark from heavy equipment used by workers to place large boulders on Trabuco Creek Road, McGovern said.
“They were moving boulders to block access to the vegetation ... to keep people out because of the weather we have right now, and the fuels are getting to that point,” he said.
Two firefighters sustained heat-related injuries and were transported to a local hospital. One civilian was transported to a local hospital due to smoke inhalation.
About 1,000 firefighters were on the scene, McGovern said, and no properties had been damaged.
Firefighters were attacking the blaze from the ground and air using water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The focus has been on protecting nearby homes, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Sean Doran.
“We’re focusing our resources on defending those communities,” he said. “We have a heavy presence to make sure, if there’s any homes or people threatened, that’s our first priority.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department encouraged residents living along Rose Canyon Road, Trabuco Creek Road, Trabuco Canyon Road, Trabuco Oaks Drive, Joplin Loop and Cook’s Corner to evacuate. Homes in the Robinson Ranch and Trabuco Highlands communities in Trabuco Canyon were under mandatory evacuation orders.
A temporary evacuation center was set up at Lake Forest Sports Park, at 28000 Vista Terrace, until 10 p.m. Monday. A long-term shelter was established at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center, at 22232 El Paseo in Rancho Santa Margarita. A large-animal shelter was established at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa.
An air quality alert due to increased fine particle pollution from the wildfire smoke was in effect until 11 p.m. Tuesday across Orange County inland areas and the Inland Empire.
Corona-Norco Unified School District announced that Wilson Elementary, Temescal Valley Elementary and Todd Elementary will be closed Tuesday along with their after-school programs because of poor air quality due to the Airport fire. The district, which consists of about 50 schools, also canceled outdoor activities and athletics at all schools until further notice.
Evacuation Orders and Warnings Spread
A brush fire that broke out near the site of a radio-control flying club in an in unincorporated area of Trabuco Canyon and burned 5,432 acres by late Monday, Sept. 9, was unintentionally caused by heavy equipment used by an Orange County public works crew, authorities said.
The fire prompted officials to issue evacuation orders and warnings for nearby residents in Rancho Santa Margarita, though by late Monday the fire was reported to be moving away from an evacuated Orange County community. However, new evacuation warnings spread into Riverside County in the Santa Ana Mountains east as far as the 15 Freeway.
“When initial crews arrived on scene, they recorded a half-acre vegetation fire on both sides of the road and that there was a potential for a large, major incident right off the get go,” McGovern said. “Crews immediately requested multiple additional resources to help from outside of our county, to our neighboring counties and to our region.”
What Caused The Fire?
During a Monday night news conference, McGovern said Orange County Public Works crews began working in the area near Trabuco Creek Road around 7 a.m., using heavy equipment to place boulders meant to replace barriers used to restrict access to the vegetation.
“The fire is classified as unintentional. The cause of the fire was a spark from heavy equipment,” McGovern said. “After placing a load of boulders, the operators began seeing smoke coming from the area of the loader’s basket.”
“The operator and the supervisor used multiple fire extinguishers and the loaders to attempt to extinguish the fire while 911 was being called,” he said.
Evacuations and Shelter
Around 2:45 p.m., residents in the areas near Rose Canyon Road, Trabuco Creek Road, Trabuco Canyon Road, Trabuco Oaks Drive, Joplin Loop and Cook’s Corner were under an evacuation warning.
Residents along Meander Lane were ordered to evacuate around 3 p.m., with residents in the Robinson Ranch community, along Robinson Ranch Road and Shadow Rock Lane, ordered to evacuate soon after, officials said. The O’Neill Regional Park campgrounds were also closed to the public.
Another evacuation warning was issued by the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department for an area in the Santa Ana Mountains in Riverside County east of the fire.
That warning is for an area east of the Orange County line, west of the 15 Freeway, south of Bedford Motor Way and north of Ortega Highway.
And Monday evening, the Lake Elsinore Unified School District said all schools would be closed Tuesday “in light of the current local fire conditions.”
The Corona Norco Unified School District announced that because of the Airport fire, three elementary schools would be closed Tuesday. They are Wilson, Temescal Valley and Todd elementary schools.
Firefighters Battling Blaze
Engine strike teams, hand crews, bulldozers, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft were assigned to the fire, including the OCFA’s new Firehawk helicopters.
Two hikers were evacuated in the afternoon near Holy Jim Canyon and were uninjured, according to Cleveland National Forest District Ranger Darrell Vance
Two firefighters suffered minor heat-related injuries and were taken to a hospital, along with one resident with smoke inhalation, McGovern said. No structures had been damaged by the fire on Monday.
“By the morning, I would anticipate we will have a small percentage, its not going to be a big number, on the containment,” McGovern said.
Airport Fire Burns Through The Night
“I want to start off with good news: the Airport fire is burning away from the community of Robinson Ranch,” OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi said Monday evening.
Authorities attributed the success of keeping the fire away from the neighborhood to the natural buffer zones the ridges behind Robinson Ranch provide. Radio towers, TV towers and other infrastructure atop Santiago Peak had also been threatened by the fire, but the threat was halted thanks to fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant near the peak.
“I’d like to remind the residents that the incident can change at a moment’s notice. It’s important if you live in the area to be prepared to evacuate, and I want to thank again the community for their support and patience,” said Orange County Assistant Sheriff John McCulloch.
Residents under evacuation who opted to remain in their homes were instructed by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies to sign a “refusal to evacuate” notice, telling them that failure to evacuate after enforcement from authorities is a misdemeanor and resources might not be available to them in the future should they choose to evacuate later.
School Closures and Air Quality
School districts in Orange County said they are monitoring the fire, and two elementary schools announced closures for Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Robinson and Trabuco elementary schools canceled all instruction, before and after school care, and other activities, Saddleback Valley Unified School District said in a message on its website. The two schools plan to resume normal operations on Wednesday “contingent on further guidance” from the Sheriff’s Department and the OCFA.
Meanwhile, schools in the nearby Capistrano Unified and Irvine Unified districts — on either side of Saddleback Valley Unified — plan to remain open, as of Monday evening. IUSD spokesperson Annie Brown said Irvine schools will adjust outdoor activities based on air quality standards to ensure student safety.
An air quality alert due to increased fine particle pollution from the wildfire smoke was in effect until 11 p.m. Tuesday across Orange County inland areas and the Inland Empire.
Impact on Local Residents
The fire was burning so intensely that it created pyrocumulonimbus clouds, also known as thunder clouds. Those clouds, which can create strong winds and lightning strikes, also were seen over the weekend above the Line fire burning in San Bernardino County.
“It doesn’t look like there’s any lightning within the cloud yet,” Zuber said. “But, unfortunately, this is just beginning so if it gets stronger, hotter, larger, it’s definitely not out of the question.”
Nicole Bennigsdorf, 40, has lived in the foothills of Trabuco Canyon for more than 12 years, during which she has experienced about five fires in the area. But never has a fire come close enough to her Rancho Santa Margarita home for her to see actual flames burning.
“I can see the red orange amber on the ridge, which I’ve never seen before,” she said, standing outside her home about seven miles south of the fire.
After Bennigsdorf began seeing news of the fire on social media platform X on Monday afternoon, she stepped outside around 3 p.m. to hot, muggy air and a large plume of smoke in the distance.
“It was a very defined plume, very dark, and it was much windier outside than it was at 2 p.m., and the base [of the fire] just grew wider, wider and wider,” she said.
By 4 p.m., the sounds of helicopters flying in and out of the smoke filled the neighborhood as she saw three or four aircraft at a time, dropping water and retardant on the fire.
“This is the largest [fire] I’ve seen and it’s definitely been the hottest and muggiest weather we’ve had and it’s just made it brutal out here,” she said. “I’m drenched in sweat just standing still outside.”
A Community On Edge
Sherry Fankhauser, who lives along Meander Lane, said her and her family had their bags packed and ready to go on Monday.
“Things keep changing as time goes on,” she said. “It got really scary for awhile with the fire moving across the ridge behind the water towers in Robinson Ranch.”
Fankhauser said around 4 p.m. that the fire appeared to be turning eastward down the ridge and away from the neighborhood.
“The firefighters are here going door to door helping residents stow away their propane tanks,” Fankhauser said. “There’s lots of black and brown smoke coming over the ridge but we can’t see the flames, which makes it harder for us to see where it is in location to us.”
Brandon Smith and his family had just returned home Monday afternoon after vacationing at Lake Havasu. While his family was unpacking, he saw his neighbors on Millstream Road starting to pack up.
At 5:15 p.m., he was sitting atop his truck bed watching firefighters drop retardant on flames visible from his front yard.
“We’re gonna head out on our e-bikes to go grab dinner,” he said, “‘Because we can’t drive our truck back in here if we leave.”
Smith wasn’t worried about evacuating immediately, but said if the wind changed they would consider going. Several other neighbors nearby watched the fire from Millstream Road as a sheriff’s deputy walked door to door advising residents about the ongoing evacuation order.
Road Closures
Around 6 p.m., authorities announced road closures for intersections including: Plano Trabuco Road and Joshua Drive, Plano Trabuco Road and Robinson Ranch Road, Antonio Parkway and Alas de Paz, Trabuco Canyon and Trabuco Creek roads, Santa Margarita and Antonio parkways, and Avenida Empresa and Santa Margarita Parkway.
At about 8 p.m., Santiago Canyon Road and Live Oak Canyon Road was closed to traffic.
Vehicles trying to get to homes in Robinson Ranch were being turned around on Plano Trabuco Road. A Smart & Final parking lot was full of cars and several people were lined up craning their necks to see the fire as it burned on a ridge in the distance.
Lake Forest residents Lizeth Juarez and Javier Campos were at the Lake Forest Sports Park sitting with their dog watching the fire.
Juarez examined a line of flames crawl northwest up the hills with a large pair of binoculars.
“We are not capable to imagine the impact that it has on the nature, so it’s horrible,” Juarez said.
Roxana Subiran and Ivette Puente watched on as well.
Puente said they saw the same flames earlier but they were no longer visible by 5 p.m.
“(The flames) were pretty aggressive,” Subiran said. She said her best friend lived at one of the homes in the evacuation area and was deciding what to take.
“What do you grab, what do you do?” Subiran said.
“Nothing, just run,” Puente replied.
Airport Fire Burns Into The Night
A reception shelter was established for evacuated residents at the Rancho Santa Margarita Bell Tour Regional Community Center, at 22232 El Paseo, in Rancho Santa Margarita
Two animal shelters were also set up: one for large animals at the Orange County Fair Grounds, at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa, and another at a Ralphs parking lot, located at 31481 Santa Margarita Parkway.
Staff photographer Jeff Gritchen contributed to this story.
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