Trabuco Canyon Fire: Map Shows Blaze Near Airport Lit by Fire Safety Works

A fire scorching its way across Orange County in California has reached 5,432 acres in area.
A CalFire map shows the blaze—which started at about 1 p.m. local time Monday afternoon during fire safety works near Trabuco Canyon—expanding rapidly to the northeast.
Robinson Ranch and Trabuco Highlands and Trabuco Highland Apartment Complex have been ordered to evacuate, with many other neighborhoods nearby having voluntary evacuation warnings in place.
“As of 9:30 p.m., the fire is at an estimated 5,432 acres. Firefighters will continue their work throughout the night,” the Orange County Fire Authority posted to X.
The fire started near a field for remote-controlled airplanes, and is thought to have been sparked unintentionally by heavy equipment being operated by an Orange County public works crew who were moving boulders.
“The fire has been classified as unintentional,” said Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern said at a press conference Monday night, according to local outlet ABC7. “The cause of the fire was a spark from heavy equipment being used to replace barriers out there. Two employees from Orange County public works were utilizing heavy equipment to place large boulders as barriers on Trabuco Creek Road to restrict access into the vegetation.”
The boulders were being moved to protect local vegetation from fire.
“Out Trabuco Creek road, they were moving boulders to block access to the vegetation … just doing barriers to keep people out of the vegetation because of the weather we have right now. The fuels are getting to that point. So we just don’t want a lot of people in that vegetation unnecessarily,” McGovern said.
The blaze grew rapidly to over 5,400 acres in eight hours. Around 1,000 personnel have been deployed to fight the fire, including helicopters and aircraft, but as of Monday night, it remained 0 percent contained. No properties have yet been damaged by the flames.
“Threat to structures. Fire is running upslope aligned with terrain and wind,” CalFire said in their most recent report at about 8 pm local time Monday night.
Two firefighters were taken to the hospital to treat heat-related injuries, and one civilian was hospitalized due to smoke inhalation, but all are expected to recover.
Cleveland National Forest District Ranger Darrell Vance noted in the press conference that the blaze was approaching the burn scar from the 2018 Holy Fire, which scorched over 23,000 acres.
“Obviously, we don’t want to make predictions on what we think it’s going to do, but we have high hopes that that’s gonna assist us with the prior burn scar,” Vance said.
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