An explosive 5,000-acre fire in Trabuco Canyon has forced families out of their homes as crews in Orange County battle in the blaze. Anastassia Olmos reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.
This story will no longer be updated, for the latest information on the Airport Fire, click here.
The Airport Fire exploded in size overnight to more than 9,000 acres, forcing evacuations in Orange County Monday.
More than 1,000 firefighters were working overnight to try extinguish the flames in the Trabuco Canyon area.
The fire was reported at around 1:15 p.m. on Trabuco Creek Road near an remote-controlled airplane airport, went from scorching 7 acres to over 2,000 acres within a few hours. By 9:30 p.m. Monday, the blaze grew to burn more than 5,400 acres with 0% containment.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
By Tuesday morning, the fire had scorched 9,333 acres with 0% containment.
Officials said a family of three -- a husband, wife and their 3-year-old child, were rescued while hiking on Joplin trail.
Separately, a man and a cat were resting at a shelter after being rescued from the trail as well.
The rescued people were flown out of the fire zone with aircraft flown by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, officials said.
The latest fire was moving toward the site of the Holy Fire, which burned more than 23,000 acres in 2018, officials said.
Evacuation orders, warnings
In addition to the mandatory evacuation order issued for those in Robinson Ranch and Trabuco Highlands, officials said those under evacuation warnings should be prepared to leave their homes.
“Don’t wait for a mandatory evacuation order. If you are under an involuntary evacuation order, please know those are not issued lightly. That is the time to get going,” Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said during a news conference with fire officials.
The map of the neighborhoods under evacuation orders and warnings can be found here.
Road closures
The following roads were closed to the public as fire crews battled the flames.
- Santiago Canyon Road and Live Oak Canyon Road
- Plano Trabuco and Joshua Drive
- Plano Trabuco and Robinson Ranch
- Antonio and Alas de Paz
- Trabuco Canyon and Trabuco Creek
- Santa Margarita and Antonio
- Avenida Empresa and Santa Margarita Parkway
Real-time map updates on road closures can be found here.
Shelters
A temporary shelter is set up at the Lake Forest Sports Park located at 28000 Vista Terrace in Lake Forest, available to provide assistance until 10 p.m. Monday.
A long-term care shelter was established at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center at 22232 El Paseo, Rancho Santa Margarita.
Animals
A large animal shelter was established at 88 Fair Drive in the city of Costa Mesa.
Mission Viejo Animal Services set up a meet-and-reunite area inside the Ralphs parking lot at Santa Margarita Parkway to help people with pets.
OC Animal Care, located at 1630 Victory Road in the city of Tustin, is also able to shelter other pets.
