The Orange and Riverside County Airport Fire burned over 23,494 acres of land, leaving around 120 homes destroyed and 14 people injured. The fire ignited on Monday, September 9, and is not yet contained.
According to the Orange County Register, the fire was started unintentionally by heavy equipment in proximity to Trabuco RC Flyers Club in Trabuco Canyon. As of September 17th, 31% of the fire is contained. Due to concerns about the fire spreading, ELC01, RVC-1521-A, RVC-1622-A, RVC-1724-B, RVC-1725-B, RVC-1798-A, and RVC-1865-B zones were told to evacuate forcing more than 19,000 people to leave their homes. Some of them are members of the SJHHS community.
“I had to evacuate yesterday [September 11th]. My mom texted me around noon that we might have to evacuate. At 2 p.m., many sheriffs drove up to the neighborhood, tagged everyone’s house, and told everyone it was a mandatory evacuation. I was at school so I didn’t have to evacuate myself. My mom and dad stayed home from work because they were concerned about the fire,” said Maggie Flores who was forced to evacuate.
Fortunately, Flores, her family, and home remained unimpacted.
“Our house and community haven’t been affected. The fire was close and it did jump the Ortega to our side since the fire was headed north and the winds didn’t change. We were okay,” said Flores.
For those ordered to evacuate, several shelters are open to house people and animals. For more information on shelter locations, visit CAL OES News.
The fires have impacted commute times for those traveling from the Lake Elsinore area. Additionally, many SJHHS sports practices were canceled last week due to air quality concerns resulting from the fire.
The airport fire is one of three major fires currently burning throughout Southern California. According to the Washington Post and CAL Fire, the Bridge Fire is affecting the San Bernardino area, which is just over 54,795 acres. The Line Fire also started in the San Bernardino area was caused by arson and currently spans 39,111 acres.
Because all three of these major fires started and burned all around the same time, containment and allocation of resources have been a major issue. However, the cooler weather has aided firefighters in making progress in containing the wildfires.