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American Morning
Colorado Fires Still Plaguing Residents
Aired June 18, 2002 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning and this hour, an air tanker fighting a fire crashes, killing all three crew members on board. That plane fighting a 5,000 acre blaze near Lake Tahoe before it burst into flames and fell apart during a low pass. The image serving as a tragic reminder of the incredible dangers that firefighters face all across the country.
It is the burning season in so many parts of the country. In Colorado, firefighters continue to battle the state's largest blaze ever. Lack of rain, erratic winds, humidity again yesterday only making conditions worse there.
Rusty Dornin live this morning in Castle Rock, Colorado, where the sun has come up on another tough day there -- Rusty, good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. Well, you know, in the Hayman fire, about 5,600 people have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Now, some of those people are allowed to go back in every day and check on things, and then they have to leave again. Now, photographer John Cowles (ph) and editor Mike Miller (ph) and myself joined a buffalo rancher here who was going to check on his herd, and also check on the damage at his ranch.
We got a little more than we bargained for, and a lesson in how stubborn wildland fires can be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): Twenty miles from the nearest paved road, there is not much standing of Neil and Teresa (ph) Fischer's buffalo ranch. Gray ash, that's all that is left of six buildings on the property. Fires marched right up to the back door of their cabin. Firefighters turned it back.
(on camera): Were you just amazed when you came in to see what had been destroyed and what had been saved?
NEIL FISCHER, BUFFALO RANCHER: I was just beyond words. I mean, we couldn't -- I couldn't believe that these could be totally burned down, and the house isn't burned.
DORNIN (voice-over): We've gone behind the fire line with the Fischers. They're only allowed in for a few hours a day, a quick look up the hill, an eerie reminder of just why.
FISCHER: Just over the hill, there is another fire that just kicked up, and up over the hill is the bigger part of the fire, and then, you saw down where the buffalo are, there is another spot fire. So, it is far from being out.
DORNIN: Fischer is worried about that smoke just over the hill. There, flames once extinguished rise again. During a fire like this, there is no such thing as spectators. The TV crew becomes part of the fire crew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on the tree. Ready? Go.
DORNIN: For 45 minutes, we haul water to dampen the blaze.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, it's burning on the other side of the stump again.
DORNIN (on camera): The firefighters come and put the fire out, but then you have got to worry also, too, about it coming back?
FISCHER: This happened last year. They put it out, and they said watch it. The next morning, myself and the four kids were out doing exactly this for four hours.
DORNIN (voice-over): Satisfied we had reduced it to a smolder, it is back in the truck, and on to the main mission, feed the herd of 27 buffalo.
FISCHER: A few days ago, they were just laying down and they were almost dead. Smoke was so heavy here for three days.
DORNIN: So Fischer mixes a medical concoction of aspirin mash and sweet syrup.
FISCHER: This is going to help the inflammation in their lungs to subside somewhat.
DORNIN: But fire, smoke, helicopters hauling water, and firefighters invading their pasture have stressed out the herd. Fischer says he can usually walk safely among them. Not today. The risks of life on the ranch...
FISCHER: Spending time up here, there is no place like this in the world we know of.
DORNIN: Risks they're willing to continue to take.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Now, Fischer has no idea, along with thousands of others, when he is going to be able to return home permanently. Now, yesterday, there were 100 more people evacuated just south of here when erratic and very aggressive winds forced the fire back over the fire line. So, mainly, firefighters here are once again battling the weather -- Bill. HEMMER: Rusty, thanks. And as you mentioned, Chad Myers talked about it last hour, it is going to be hot and humid again today, high of about 93. Rusty, thanks. Rusty Dornin in Castle Rock, Colorado.
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