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CNN Live Today
Fires Rage in Colorado, Arizona
Aired June 20, 2002 - 10:05 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Firefighters battling blazes in the Western U.S. have a new hot spot to work on today. The dry timber in Arizona's eastern forests are feeding a fast moving wild fire this morning. Thousands of people have been evacuated, and others in the town of Show Low, Arizona have been put on alert to be ready to move out at any time. That community is about 125 miles northeast of Phoenix.
Scott McGee of our affiliate KTVK has more now from Show Low, Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCGEE, KTVK CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even with the dark cloud of smoke looming right over his head, Vance Plumb says he's not leaving his home -- not without a fight.
VANCE PLUMB, RESIDENT: I have nothing else. This is it. You know, everything we got is in this old house. Been putting a lot of money into it, too, trying to get it up. Where are we going to go?
MCGEE: But just in case, his family has already packed, and is ready to go.
PLUMB: When I see that fire over that hill, I'll get a little more nervous.
MCGEE: But most people say they are nervous now, and heeded calls to get out of harm's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have evacuated probably about 99 percent of the area. That one percent being those that are refusing to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was nuts. People were running all over the place. You could see the smoke. The ashes were coming down. It was wild. It was something out of a movie.
MCGEE: Neil Carter is one of the thousands of people who saw the smoke, and took off as fast as he could, bringing whatever he could find.
(on camera): Pretty much everything you own?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I just grabbed what I could, and got out.
MCGEE: Now all they can do is wait and wonder what tomorrow will bring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I got everything. I would like to go back and get a few more things, but all you can do is pray, and hope your home don't go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right, we are trying to get a report from Arizona from the fireline there. We'll have one for you in just a moment. In the meantime, we check on the situation in Colorado where a forestry service worker accused of starting that big blaze, the biggest blaze in the state's history, we should add, has been indicted on new federal charges. However, officials say that the true motive in this case still remains a mystery.
CNN's Charles Molineaux joins us now from Lake George, Colorado. He has got the very latest -- good morning, Charles.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. We actually have firefighters scrambling today to take advantage of a rare opportunity after some very severe conditions against them.
Overnight, things dramatically improved. Temperatures are down, humidity is way up, and there was actually some rain. Not just the tantalizing thunderstorms we have been seeing for weeks, but actually rain on the fire itself. And fire crews are out there planning to hit real hard on the south eastern corner of this fire, where it made some big runs yesterday in very dry weather, and firefighters actually had to bail out of their firelines a couple of times over the past couple of days. More homes were destroyed, and more people were evacuated.
This, of course, all comes as the firefighter and forest worker accused of setting this fire is going to go to court. Terry Lynn Barton was indicted yesterday on four federal counts by a federal grand jury. This includes setting a fire that put firefighters at risk. She will be in court in Denver for a bail hearing, and probably her arraignment. If she's convicted on all the charges, she could be sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in jail, all the way up to more than 60 years.
Also today, the state attorney general and four local district attorneys will be working on plans to hit her with state charges, too. Most likely scenario there, something like fourth degree arson. With the federal charges now in the works, state prosecutors say they are no rush, but they are working on coming up with state charges against her as well.
And, of course, the question as to why it happened is still up in the air, although, if you look at the language of the indictment and the earlier affidavits, it says "willfully and knowingly" set this fire. That is at variance with the story that she has told firefighters about this fire accidentally starting when she burned a letter from her estranged husband. Prosecutors do not seem to believe that at all, and one investigator with the forest service told me "willfully and knowingly" is what the affidavit says, read between the lines.
Meanwhile, we have got a third Type I Incident Response Team now working on the southern end of this fire. It is very rare to see more than one Type I team on a single incident, and here we have three. These are, of course, the top national teams who deal with major fires where there is severe risk of property damage and injury, and that's just giving you an idea, because, of course, this is the biggest fire in Colorado history, now at 136,000 acres and this morning it is 40 percent contained.
A couple days ago, it was 47 percent contained, so actually less of it is contained today after the big runs that it made over the past couple of days in extremely dry conditions. The expectation is that those conditions will return over the weekend, so firefighters are working as fast as they can to take advantage of the break that they are getting today -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. A lot of folks wishing them luck, too. Charles Molineaux, thank you very much. Appreciate that.
Let's now go back to Arizona where we were checking just moments ago on that story there. We understand that -- authorities say that the Rodeo fire there has destroyed at least three log cabins in the town of Pinedale.
And Gina Maravilla of our affiliate KTVK is standing by, she is in nearby Linden, Arizona. Residents there have been asked to leave their homes we understand, Gina.
GINA MARAVILLA, KTVK CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They have been evacuated. They were evacuated last night as were the residents of Pinedale, and one other community in this area, Clay Springs. There are other -- there are several other communities in this area that are on alert status. Residents in these particular communities have been told that they need to be ready to evacuate within one hour of notice. Those communities are Show Low, Pinetop, Summer Pine, Lakeside, and Wagon Wheel (ph).
Now talking to the U.S. Forest Service, they say that last night was a good night for them. They say there was little activity as far as the fire is concerned. However, they are bracing for the worst today because they expect the weather to be uncooperative, if you will. There will be low humidity, little rain. Actually, there will be no rain, and already here at about 7:15 local time, the heat is already feeling pretty intense.
Last night, the Forest Service said that they conducted infrared flights, and they determined that approximately 48,000 acres have already burned. There are some 250 to 300 local firefighters battling this blaze. At this point, though, they are monitoring the fire and they are trying to put themselves in a structure protection mode where they are standing by structures that are perhaps threatened.
But at this point, they are waiting for resources to come in from around the country. Because there are some 16 other fires burning around the country, they are having a tough time bringing in those resources because as you can imagine, firefighters stretched thin at this point. They have called California, Nevada and Utah looking for resources as far as firefighting is concerned.
They have, though, brought in a Type I team here to Show Low, Arizona and the Type I team has taken over command. At this point, zero containment. The fire is moving north northeast, and again right in the line of path -- line of fire, if you will, of this fire Clay Springs, Pine Dale, and Linden. There could be as many as 10 to 15,000 more residents in other communities -- surrounding communities that could also face evacuations.
Right now, there are approximately 10 aircraft on this scene here trying to help out with the efforts. Today, they expect winds to gust between 15 and 25 miles per hour, so as you can imagine, something that firefighters are not looking forward to today. They believe that this was man caused, and the governor here in the state of Arizona declared a state of emergency. However, she also expressed her anger at the fact that this was indeed caused by a human being -- Leon.
HARRIS: Boy, this is incredible, and incredible pictures to go along with this story, too. Gina Maravilla. Thank you very much, Gina. Be careful out there.
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