UPDATED: Baker Fire 25 Percent Contained

Originally posted at 12:47 p.m. Oct. 6, 2013

By Penny Arévalo and Martin Henderson

About 240 firefighters from throughout Southern California, including air tanker support from two planes, "aggressively" fought a fire that broke out mid-morning Sunday in Baker Canyon.

The blaze, known as the Baker Fire, has burned about 50 acres, but had the "potential for a couple of hundred," a fire official said.

"Right now we have a deep-seated, stubborn mulch fire," said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi. 

As of 10:30 p.m., a little more than 12 hours after the fire was reported by employees at Aguinaga Green, a private green waste recycling facility in Baker Canyon, the fire was 25 percent contained. Although there was a Red Flag Alert through Sunday, 6 p.m., winds were light, preventing the fire's spread. Winds were about 10 mph during the day, and less than 5 mph at night.

One firefighter suffered a ankle injury and was taken by paramedics to an area hospital, according to Concialdi, who said Sunday night that 240 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Cal-Fire, and several county and city fire departments were involved in the firefighting effort.

Black Star Canyon Road is shut down. Voluntary evacuations occurred for six homes in Baker Canyon, and at the Ranch RV Park in Baker Canyon, Concialdi said. 

The American Red Cross briefly set up an evacuation center at El Modena High in Orange. 

The fire is being fought on the ground and from the air. Two tanker planes dropped fire retardant on the blaze, and two helicopters were also used.

The fire began in one of the huge piles of mulch on the recycling site. It burned nearby vegetation, and sparked a spot fire of about 20 wilderness acres in the Santa Ana Mountains. 

The fire was in brush next to a nursery near Baker Canyon and Black Star Canyon roads. That location is not near any subdivisions, but is in the rugged Santa Ana Mountains a mile from the corner of Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon roads. An outbuilding was also damaged by fire.

The fire started in a nursery in a mulch pile and and embers sparked a second fire amid wild vegetation, Concialdi said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 10:10 a.m. Concialdi said there was nothing suspicious about the blaze. 

"It completely started in the mulch pile," he said.

—City News Service contributed to this report