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CNN Live Today

High Winds Make for Hard Day in Arizona

Aired June 21, 2002 - 10:07   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fire crews in Arizona are having a really hard time corralling the Rodeo fire now rampaging in the eastern part of that state. The situation is so dangerous that firefighters yesterday were ordered off the front lines.

CNN's Bill Delaney joins us from Show Low where thousands of people are standing by for possible evacuations -- and there have already been a lot of evacuations, haven't there?

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Carol. At least 5,000 evacuations, so far.

We're at the command center, Show Low High School, here about 120 miles northeast of Phoenix. The command center of the effort to fight this enormous fire, the Rodeo fire, as you said. Hundreds of firefighters involved in the battle against the Rodeo fire. Several of them slept here, right at Show Low High School, in these tents behind me.

Now, the skies over Show Low in this part of Arizona today only hazy, so far, in comparison to the enormous billowing clouds of smoke we saw yesterday that looked like the aftermath of an enormous bomb. Looks can be deceiving, though. Firefighters are very worried indeed about what could happen here today.

Winds, expected to gust to 40 or 50 miles an hour out of the Southwest, expected to fan this ferocious fire. As you said, a fire so ferocious firefighters actually had to pull back from it yesterday. That's expected to happen again today. Firefighters do not expect to be able to work through the day on this fire, it is so hot and so unpredictable.

Four thousand people evacuated, as you said, here in Show Low. And in the surrounding communities, about eight to 15,000 people, very much on notice that they would have to evacuate in an hour, if the evacuation notice here comes.

Now, as I said, there are hundreds of firefighters involved in all this. The numbers could reach more than a thousand. The fire officials very concerned about being able to find enough firefighters, particularly experienced firefighters, to fight this blaze as so many other parts of the West already burning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARRY HUMPHREY, FIRE COMMANDER: We have about -- roughly 660 right now on this fire. It will go up, probably projected size on this fire will probably be in the neighborhood of 1,000 to 1,500, if we can get the resources that we need, and we aren't getting a lot of resources right now.

DELANEY: Why's that?

HUMPHREY: Well, there's so many fires and not enough firefighters is what it amounts to. The Hayman fire in Colorado is extremely large. It's taken out a lot of homes. And it's just become a resource sink. You know, it takes a lot of people to do that. There's three national teams on that fire. There's only one here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DELANEY: Now, the nightmare scenario here is that a smaller fire to the southwest of here, which started a couple of days ago, only a few thousand acres so far, could link up with the much bigger Rodeo fire. A fire official told me that could make the Rodeo fire, already the biggest fire in Arizona's history, all that much bigger, consuming as much eventually, they say -- if these two fires link up, consuming as much as -- more than 300,000 acres here in Arizona, which would be, by far, the biggest fire ever in this part of the country -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Just a terrible situation. Bill Delaney reporting live for us. Thank you.

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