As the Airport Fire exploded in size and forced evacuations in the Trabuco Canyon area Monday, more than 1,000 firefighters were expected to work overnight to extinguish the wildfire.
The Airport Fire, which 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.
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 …