Airport fire in OC’s Trabuco Canyon grows to 5,432 acres, evacuation warnings spread to Riverside

a brush fire that broke out near the site of a radio control flying Club in an in unincorporated area of truko 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 100 p.m. along the 32,200 block of truko Creek Road near the truko Flyers club according to Orange County Fire Authority deputy chief TJ McGovern when initial Crews arrived on scene they recorded a Halfacre 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 2:00 p.m. and jumped to around 1,900 Acres within 3 hours by around 9:30 p.m. it was mapped at 5,432 Acres with no containment Simon Turner a member of the truko 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 truko 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 coming from the area of the loaders basket the operator and the supervisor used multiple fire extinguishers in the loaders to attempt to extinguish the fire while 911 was being called he said around 245 p.m. residents in the areas near Rose Canyon Road truko Creek Road truko Canyon Road truko Oaks Drive Joplin Loop and Cooks Corner were under an evacuation warning residents along Meander Lane were ordered to evacuate around 300 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'Neal 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 Motorway and north of Ortega Highway and Monday evening the lake Elenor 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 tascal 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 ocf Capp Steve kinaly 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 at top 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 mccullick residents under evacuation who opted to remain in their homes were instructed by Orange County sheriff's deputies to sign up 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 truko elementary schools cancelled 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 department and the OCA 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 I USD spokesperson Annie Brown said Irvine schools will adjust outdoor activities based on air quality standards to ensure student safety around 6:00 p.m. authorities announced road closure me es for intersections including Plano truko Road and Joshua Drive Plano truko Road and Robinson Ranch Road Antonio Parkway and alasa pause truko Canyon and truko Creek roads Santa Margarita and Antonio Parkways and avenita impressa and Santa Margarita Parkway at about 8 p.m. Santiago Canyon Road and live o Canyon road was closed to traffic Vehicles trying to get to homes in Robinson Ranch were being turned around on Plano truko Road a Smart and 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 lith Warz and Javier Campos were at the lake forest Sports Park sitting with their dog watching the fire Warz 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 Warz said roxan subiran and AET pente watched on as well Puente said they saw the same Flames earlier but they were no longer visible by 5:00 p.m. quote 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 Paso in Rancho Santa Margarita two animal shelters were also set up one for large animals at the Orange County Fairgrounds at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa and another at a Ralph's parking lot located at 31,48 Santa Margarita Parkway Sher fankhouser 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 a while with the fire moving across the ridge behind the water towers in Robinson Ranch fankhouser said around 400m 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 fankhouser 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 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 mstream road starting to pack up at 5:15 p.m. he was sitting at top his truck bed watching firefighters drop retardant on Flames visible from his front yard we're going to head out on our ebikes 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 mstream Road as a sheriff's deputy walked door Todo 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 Daryl 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 it's not going to be a big number on the containment McGovern said