Flames that swept through Orange County’s Holy Jim Canyon left behind the rubble of recreational cabins in a patch of Cleveland National Forest considered a treasured mountain retreat.
The Airport Fire started Monday about two miles from the three dozen cabins in eastern Orange County. Many were destroyed that afternoon by flames that climbed a canyon wall.
Arturo Payan said his cabin is likely among them. He just signed the paperwork for Cabin No. 29 about one month ago.
“I put all my heart, effort, money (into it),” Payan said. “Now it’s gone, but I’m alive.”
Some of the cabins were built in the early 1900s.
Holly Permeh has owned one for about five years. She used a quad bike to ride up to the property Wednesday to see what was left.
“Horrific. I thought I would be able to get some souveniers, just something,” Permeh said. “It all melted. Everything is gone.
“It’s kind of a place just to get away from the hustle and bustle of OC. Just a place for my son and I to go, spend some time. Just seeing the devastation first hand just made it real.”
The Airport Fire has burned more than 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties. It is one of three major wildfires burning in Southern California.
Cooler temperatures were in the forecast, which will aid firefighters as they try to increase containment of the fire that has destroyed an unknown number of homes, and injured 10 firefighters and two other people.
So far in 2024, California’s state firefighting agency has reported more than 6,000 wildfires that burned more than 977,000 acres. The acreage burned is a dramatic increase from 2023, when Cal Fire reported 5,053 wildfires that burned 253,755 acres. The five-year average is 5,912 wildfires and 868,803 acres burned.
