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.
The blaze began about 1 p.m. along the 32200 block of Trabuco Creek Road, near the Trabuco Flyers Club, according to Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern.
“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.”
The Airport fire had charred about 7 acres by around 2 p.m., and jumped to around 1,900 acres within three hours. By around 9:30 p.m. it was mapped at 5,432 acres with no containment.
• Also see: This map shows the location of the Airport fire burning in Trabuco Canyon
Simon Turner, a member of the Trabuco Flyers Club and a former board member, said the club’s vice president got a call shortly after the fire was spotted. He headed over to the property, which was locked and no one was there.
There was no one flying the radio-controlled planes at the time, Turner said.
The club has a good relationship with local fire authorities, Turner emphasized, offering use of its parking lot and runway when needed for staging areas. The club shuts down on red flag days and keeps vegetation trimmed back on the property and has the proper equipment on site, he said.
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.
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.
“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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Staff photographer Jeff Gritchen contributed to this story.
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