The Orange County Public Works Department crew responsible for starting the Airport Fire in Trabuco Canyon failed to follow proper procedures, according to documents obtained by the Orange County Register.
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The fire, which destroyed 160 structures and injured nearly two dozen people in September, was started unintentionally by crews using heavy equipment to move boulders. Internal communications between department officials say the crew didn’t bring a water truck for fire suppression in case of an emergency.
"...We f---ing started a fire," Edward Frondoso, deputy director of operations and maintenance, said in a Microsoft Teams message to Deputy Director of Construction Fiona Man. "and it's bad."
"WE???" Man responded.
“Someone didn’t follow directives,” Frondoso later added.
In a message the next day, operations and maintenance manager Nona Quimsing said that the crew had been asked to take the water truck out on the morning the blaze started. Messages reveal the crew was aware of high fire danger, but continued their work anyway.
The Airport Fire burned for almost a month through Orange and Riverside counties. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate.
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