So the Airport fire erupted on Monday — during blistering days of triple-digit heat — as Orange County Public Works crews used heavy machinery to move boulders into place along Trabuco Creek Road.
Why, you’re wondering, were they moving boulders with heavy machinery during blistering days of triple-digit heat? To block access to a wilderness area illegally used by off-roaders, to the irritation of nearby property owners, county officials said.
“There has been a history of off-roading vehicles damaging areas both along Trabuco Creek Road and on private properties adjacent to the roadway,” a statement Tuesday from the Orange County Operational Area Emergency Operations Center said. “Crew members were placing large rocks along the roadside to keep drivers on the roadway …. The work performed was intended to prevent or minimize property damage along Trabuco Creek Road and was not directly related to fire safety. The work was performed at the request of adjacent private property owners.”
The fire has devoured more than 22,000 acres, burned homes in Riverside County, injured at least 10 people, killed untold numbers of bunnies and deer and coyotes and mountain lions — and prompted many to tear at their hair and cry, “What the hell were they thinking?!”
“Why in earth would anyone, let alone the OC PUBLIC WORKS, be using construction equipment during a Red Flag day in the wild lands? The County’s liability could be staggering,” mused Mike Spurgeon, retired county bigwig, on Facebook.
“This has to be one of the most incompetent decisions …. Let’s just recap all the warning signs,” wrote LosOlivos2424 on Reddit. “Record breaking heatwave. Heavy dry brush. Scalding hot machinery working in that dry brush. Working during the hottest point of the day. What could go wrong?!”
“It was a reckless and stupid decision,” said Steve Palmer, who was a firefighter in Villa Park before the Orange County Fire Authority was born. “It’s triple digits and you’re going to use a big piece of steel equipment to hit rocks? That always causes sparks. Who wouldn’t know that or assume that?”
“Brain donor” is was one of the kinder terms Palmer used for the decision-makers here. “Stupidity does not absolve from responsibility. Purposeful or accidental arson is the same,” he said.
The National Weather Service clarifies that, while there has been a Red Flag warning for the San Gabriel Mountains, there has not been one for Orange County. Red Flag warnings involve high winds. Rather, O.C. has been under an Excessive Heat Warning — translating to high fire danger via extreme temperatures and low humidity, though high winds aren’t expected to make a bad situation worse.
O.C.’s Excessive Heat Warning stretched from Wednesday, Sept. 4, through Tuesday, Sept. 10; the work in question happened five days in, when it was so toasty one’s eyelids stuck to one’s eyeballs.
One did not need a crystal ball to predict trouble. After two wet winters fueling growth in the wildlands, foliage becomes quite dry, brittle and receptive to ignition, said Alex Tardy of the National Weather Service. If there’s a spark, it’s quick to spread. Hot air rises aggressively in what’s known as a “plume-dominated fire” — a blaze whose behavior is governed primarily by local wind circulation produced by strong convection above the fire, rather than by the general wind, he said.
Firefighters know all this. But public works folks? Huge blazes have been sparked by lawnmowers and road flares. Accidents, as they say, happen.
No no, Palmer’s not accepting that. It’s just a matter of common sense, he said. This disaster could have been easily avoided by, say, scheduling work during cooler months, rather than on one of the hottest days of the year. Or by asking the Orange County Fire Authority to have an engine on hand if the work was truly so critical it had to be done immediately.
Another retired firefighter noted that authorities have the power to curtail work in, and close access to, wildland areas when there’s high fire danger. At the very least, the OC Public Works crew should have had water, a pump and hose on hand, he said. When it’s as hot and dry as it’s been, a single spark from a chainsaw can ignite a disaster, and the fire extinguishers those workers had clearly weren’t up to the task of taming a would-be wildfire.
“O.C. is sure to face multiple lawsuits from residents, environmental groups, Riverside County and those that have lost their homes in Lake Elsinore,” Palmer said. He called for the firing of those who made “such reckless, stupid and disastrous decisions regarding the health and safety of O.C. residents.”
The county has launched an investigation into the fire, Supervisor Katrina Foley said, and will be looking for lessons learned. If all had gone according to plan, closing the area to off-roaders could have reduced fire danger.
Other county officials were not eager to discuss the county’s liability, or whose decision it was to do the work on that particular day at that particular time in that particular place.
When asked if OC Public Works should have been using heavy machinery in a fire-prone area on a hot summer day, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Paul Holaday said that’s a bigger question that will be addressed once the fire is out.
“They are going to evaluate their policies,” Holaday said.
Indeed.
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Staff writer Michael Slaten contributed to this report.
