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CNN Live Today

Interview with Bobby Kitchens; Firefighters Battle Western Blazes

Aired June 20, 2002 - 12:05   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, out West, where firefighters in Colorado are hoping for help from the weather today. That blaze south of Denver is now six times the size of the state's previous biggest fire. And, guess what, adding insult to injury, now another big fire is growing.

And CNN's Charles Molineaux has the latest on the fires out there. And he's in the town of Lake George -- hi there, Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Here in Lake George, firefighters are concentrating on the Hayman fire, the biggest in Colorado history, and also scrambling to take advantage of some real advantages that nature is throwing our way. The temperatures have dropped dramatically, the humidity has gone way up. There was even some rain overnight. So they are getting out on the fire lines, especially on the southeastern part of the fire, where the fire made big gains a couple of days ago.

Bobby Kitchens is with the forest service and he's been watching what has been going on. I understand that you were really trying to make hay while the sun does not shine, I guess, right now, right?

BOBBY KITCHENS, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: That's right, Charles. Today, in fact, we're going to get up close and personal and give this fire a big hurt, and the weather is giving us a break, and we got out of camp this morning at full speed and we really are going to feel good, I hope, when the end of the day is over about the situation on this fire.

MOLINEAUX: Explain the conditions and why things are so much better today.

KITCHENS: Well, you already said the humidity is up. We expect the lowest relative humidity today to get down around 25 percent perhaps. And that's compared with the last several days, when we measured, if you can believe it or not, three to four percent relative humidity.

MOLINEAUX: Now we've been talking to a few people who actually got in to their homes, which are still there. They're mighty relieved, but in some cases they say this line of this orange slurry across their yards, only a few yards away from their homes. Has it been that close?

KITCHENS: It has in many places, and I wish we would have filmed that. We just couldn't. You know we've had to get out several days because we were so close to the fire on media tours. But people are going to find some houses that are painted red with slurry. And they'll have a little trouble washing that off, but at least their house will be intact.

MOLINEAUX: That will be fine with them, I imagine. But now do you have the air crews going looking to where fires are closing in on houses and just dropping right on them?

KITCHENS: Yes, sometimes we have to do it if it gets that close. But the first thing is to have ground crews in doing some prep work to protect the structures, to make them more defensible.

MOLINEAUX: Now the meter is running for you, right? Because you've got a forecast coming up this weekend that's not so good.

KITCHENS: Exactly. It looks like we've got about two days in which we can really put a blow on the fire. And then we're going to return into this southwest wind flow of a hotter, drier, less humidity cycle, in which the fire could get up and run again if we don't have most of it really contained. In fact, got to have almost all of it contained or it has that potential.

MOLINEAUX: All right. Thank you very much, Bobby Kitchens, with the forest service.

The latest word we're getting from the forest service is that 95 structures have been destroyed or are known to have been destroyed by this fire. That includes homes and possibly outbuildings as well. We've still got about 8,900 people evacuated in the face of this fire, which the biggest in Colorado history is now at 136,000 acres.

There are now three Type I Incident Response teams handling this fire. That is not unheard of, but it is extremely rare to have three of those national level, highly expertise endowed teams working on a single incident. And they're working on this one and the meter is running as to whether it picks up for this weekend.

But right now we're looking at conditions that are a lot more favorable for firefighters as they try to get out on that fire -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you very much, Charles. Appreciate it.

And as it relates to that Hayman fire, the largest fire now in the state's history, a bond hearing is scheduled for later on today involving the U.S. Forestry worker who has now been charged with intentionally setting that blaze. And, of course, as that happens we will be bringing that to you.

On to Arizona now, where there is fire there as well. In fact, a wildfire that just started yesterday has now forced thousands of people to evacuate. For more on that story, we turn to Rosa Linda Roman of CNN affiliate KSAZ.

ROSA LINDA ROMAN, KSAZ CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the big story today here in Arizona seems to be the wind. It is kicking up a lot this morning. It was not the case earlier today.

And if you take a look there behind me, you can see the effects of that wind blowing smoke all the way to Winslow, which is about 60 miles away. And a few minutes ago we were able to get an update on the latest numbers on the Rodeo fire here in the White Mountains from Forest Service officials, and at this point, the fire has grown to about 50,000 acres.

Remember, it was only 600 acres yesterday morning. Now if you take a look at some aerial shots, you can see this is a particularly mean fire. By yesterday afternoon it had moved into the treetops, with flames shooting 60 or more feet in the air.

When it gets to that point, it certainly becomes very dangerous for fire crews, and they have now been pulled off the front lines because of the fire's erratic behavior. To give you an idea of how bad it was, the fire was moving by about four miles an hour, heading straight for the town of Pinedale, which is why a mandatory evacuation was ordered for Pinedale, Linden, Clay Springs. That's about 4,000 to 5,000 people.

But, you know, there were some people who refused to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ANDERSON, NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE: We had about 30 to 40 families originally decided to stay with their homes and do some more work on them. A number of those have now left, having been satisfied with the work they could do or assessing the situation to be in their best interest, and then left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMAN: And good thing, too, because you can see the winds are kicking up, and at least one structure has been burned. Obviously, firefighters are very concerned about this fire this morning, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you very much, Rosa Linda Roman, from our CNN affiliate KSAZ. Appreciate it.

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