Airport fire in Orange County, CA has spread over 9,000 acres
Extreme heat, strong winds fueling explosive growth of Trabuco Canyon Fire
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By Hannah Fry
, Summer Lin and Ashley Ahn
Published Sept. 9, 2024 Updated Sept. 10, 2024 12:03 PM PT
Firefighters Tuesday were battling a fast-moving brush fire in Orange County that injured three people and prompted evacuations in Trabuco Canyon.
The blaze, dubbed the Airport fire, started just before 1:30 p.m. Monday along the 32200 block of Trabuco Creek Road near a field in Trabuco Canyon for remote-controlled airplanes and quickly raged out of control. At least 9,333 acres have burned, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
In its first hours, the fire raced up the canyon and away from the Robinson Ranch neighborhood.
By Tuesday morning, a plume of thick gray smoke had blanketed the hillside above homes in Robinson Ranch. The fire appeared to be heading away from the single-family housing tract, providing some relief for residents who had packed belongings quickly as the fire raged the day before.
A woman walking through the neighborhood waved to firefighters as they sped up the hill toward the inferno. “Thank you!” she shouted as they passed.
Michael Bernardin, 62, wasn’t home when the fire broke out Monday afternoon.
When he got back to Robinson Ranch, the road into the neighborhood was already blocked off. He parked in a nearby shopping center and walked the roughly half-mile stretch back to his house in the heat. He packed two suitcases — all he could carry — and grabbed his dogs, Pepper and Honey Noodles. He went back a second time to grab more items, unsure of when his family could return home.
“One of the suitcases was so loaded that I don’t think we could have checked it in on an aircraft,” he said. “It was hot and I was struggling.”
On Tuesday morning, Bernardin and his wife, Roseann, made the trek back to their house. They’re planning to stay put unless the winds shift, he said.
In the 27 years they’ve lived in the area, there have been a few fires, but this is the first time they’ve had to evacuate, he said.
“I didn’t sleep much last night,” he said.
With its close proximity to nature and open space, the features that make Trabuco Canyon an attractive community for residents also put the area at risk of massive fires.
Resident Marilynn Reideler was driving around the neighborhood in her Ford F150 truck giving rides to residents who were struggling up the hill with heavy suitcases and bags.
“It’s still hot and it’s a long walk,” she said.
Despite the orders to evacuate, many residents, including Reideler, decided to wait it out and watch the fire’s movement before committing to leave.
Robert McCoy happily accepted a ride mid-morning as temperatures climbed into the high 80s. He and his wife had left Monday out of an abundance of caution, but now felt safe returning.
“The firefighters are on it,” McCoy, 61, said. “I wanted to stay [Monday], but [my wife] was nervous.”
The cause of the fire was a spark from heavy equipment used by workers to place large boulders on Trabuco Creek Road and was considered unintentional, Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern said at a press conference Monday evening.
“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.
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Two firefighters sustained heat-related injuries and were taken to a local hospital. One civilian was taken to a local hospital due to smoke inhalation.
About 1,000 firefighters were on the scene, McGovern said, and no properties had been damaged.
Steve Kilgore stood outside his home on Raintree with a pair of binoculars watching as the flames devoured brush along the ridge above his neighborhood.
Kilgore was one of a group of neighbors on his street who decided to stay despite evacuation orders. The neighbors worked in shifts throughout the night to monitor the fire and determine if and when to leave.
Kilgore packed his truck with essentials and family photos and is prepared to flee if the winds shift.
“There’s something about leaving your home in this situation — it’s awful,” he said. “It defies logic. I’ve never had to do a 20- to 30-minute assessment of every valuable thing in our lives.”
Wayne Nelson, who also lives on Raintree, stood with his wife in their driveway watching as a helicopter dropped thousands of gallons of water on the blazing inferno. His home backs up to Cleveland National Forest.
Fire trucks with crews inside were parked in the neighborhood through the night assessing the blaze’s movement.
“Firefighters saved these homes,” he said. “It was literally an air show here last night. We’re so grateful for them.”
The Airport fire is among several blazes that have scorched thousands of acres across California amid record-breaking heat. In San Bernardino County, the Line fire had scorched 26,426 acres and was 5% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire.
The Bridge fire in Los Angeles County had burned 3,786 acres and had no containment as of Monday night, according to Dana Dierkes, public affairs officer for the Angeles National Forest.
Firefighters battling the Airport fire 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. The Trabuco Highland apartment complex was also under mandatory evacuation orders.
(Don Kelsen)
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.
The weather service issued a red flag warning, which indicates increased risk of fire danger, for the mountains around Angeles National Forest, including the area of the Bridge fire, until noon Wednesday.
On Tuesday, wind speeds are forecast to be 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 35 mph by the afternoon.
Red flag conditions are expected to continue in the San Gabriel Mountains into early Wednesday and expand into the Interstate 5 corridor and Antelope Valley.
Authorities issued evacuation orders for areas near the Bridge fire, including the East Fork communities of Camp Williams Resort, the adjacent river community and the Baldy Village Area from the dam to Mt. Baldy Resort.
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 fire. The district, which consists of about 50 schools, also canceled outdoor activities and athletics at all schools until further notice.
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The fire started amid an extended heat wave that had scorched Southern California for days. Temperatures in the Orange County canyon community were expected to reach into the mid-90s and an excessive heat warning was in place through Tuesday night, said Philip Gonsalves, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Firefighters were expected to face another hurdle fighting the blaze by midday Tuesday when a stronger sea breeze sweeps through the area. Wind speeds up to 20 miles per hour are anticipated, Gonsalves said.
“It’ll literally fan the flames,” he said. “It increases the rate at which the fire will spread. That’s the bad news. The silver lining is that the direction of spread becomes a little more predictable.”
The fire was burning so intensely on Monday 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.
Air quality is expected to continue to be poor throughout Tuesday. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an air quality alert through Tuesday night due to increased fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke.
Temperatures are expected to fall in the Los Angeles Basin and in Orange and San Bernardino counties over the next few days, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Robbie Munroe.
In the L.A. region, most places will cool 10 degrees on Tuesday, with areas away from the coast in the 80s and 90s and in the 70s along the coast. By Wednesday, it’s expected to cool another 10 degrees before landing around near-below average temperatures on Thursday, with highs in the 70s and 80s.
Winds near the Bridge fire will be topping off in the 10- to 20-mph range for wind gusts and possibly 20 mph along the ridge tops with continued dry conditions, Munroe said. Humidity throughout the week is expected to be in the teens, but it will likely improve by Thursday, as the marine layer deepens and carries moisture to the area.
Orange and San Bernardino counties are expected to have similar conditions, with the Inland Empire being the warmest and driest area in the region.
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.”
read more & watch LA Times video at:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-09/fire-erupts-near-homes-in-orange-county-triggering-evacuations