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CNN Live Today

Wildfire Will Likely Reach Show Low

Aired June 24, 2002 - 10:01   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN this Monday morning, the Arizona wildfire and its devastating march across the mountains. Firefighters have managed to slow down the fire, but they say it's virtually inevitable that this blaze is going to be eventually advance into the town of Show Low, Arizona.

CNN's Charles Molineaux is there. Let's check in with him now for a live update -- hello, Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. Yes, firefighters are keeping up their aggressive rear-guard action against this fire to keep it from moving into Show Low as long as they can.

We are looking at a big column of smoke on the horizon. This is actually the result of a burnout. Firefighters actually set fire to take out some of the underbrush and trees in advance of this fire. They have been using bulldozers, shovels and chain saws, as well as fire itself, to create big breaks. They have been working hard overnight.

And the latest word overnight from the Forest Service is that it was textbook. They are very concerned about a new west wind out of the West pushing this fire towards Show Low, but they are saying that at this point if it does start this way, it's going to encounter a big, black barrier of no fuel that could slow it down a lot. Their forecast had been for the town to be overrun by fire by today, but the weather has been a lot more cooperative.

This as thousands of people have been evacuated from the area; 25,000 to 30,000 people have been cleared out of Show Low and surrounding towns. The Red Cross reports that some 6,000 to 10,000 have shown up at area shelters. They have got four shelters set up, and the Red Cross is trying to send out the word that more shelter facilities are available for people, many of whom are sitting with no idea of what their homes look like right now, if they have any homes to come back to. A lot of them have been watching TV, trying to get some kind of clue as to what's going on. For a lot them, it has been some frustrating detective work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERT GOODMAN, EVACUEE: From one of the news station, we were just seeing a couple of spots that looked familiar on the ranch. But there's a couple of us in that whole area that might have railroad boxes of storage, so we don't know. But we thought it was part of our place.

AMBER TIDWELL, EVACUEE: Very, very frustrating -- very. We can't get answers from anybody. My son-in-law has been fighting the fire every day. He tries to bring back word, but he just hasn't been able to get into our ranch close enough to see the damage that's been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: About 300,000 acres have burned up in the now combined Rodeo-Chediski fires. Two hundred homes have been destroyed, including in half a dozen small towns, which have been overrun such as Overgaard, Pinedale, Heber. There has been a lot of destruction in those areas, although the Forest Service is saying with some element of pride that they have still managed to save a lot more homes than they have lost -- Leon.

HARRIS: In fact, Charles, that was the question I really had to ask you this morning, because I know we have been talking about how many structures have been lost. Any idea how many have been saved?

MOLINEAUX: Well, they are saying hundreds. There were cases where the fire did overrun areas, such as Pinedale, and what they are saying is that they did manage to get in, dig fire lines with bulldozers shovels, as well as, in some cases, just going in with slurry bombers or helicopters and dropping water or slurry on or near these homes, and in some cases cutting off the fire just next to them.

The destruction that we have been able to see from aerial views has been almost a checkerboard. There have been places where two or three homes have been destroyed, and then a couple more had been saved in a very close area. It has really been sort of sporadic as we have seen which homes have been destroyed and which ones have been survived.

But the Forest Service is still saying that it has succeeded an awful lot in this fire in saving structures. And of course, that will be a big test once it does move into Show Low, if it moves into Show Low, because then we are going to see the Forest Service working hand- in-hand with the Show Low City Fire Department fighting not just brush fires, but then house fires, too.

HARRIS: Yes. Boy, an incredible situation out there. Charles Molineaux, thank you very much -- be careful out there. We'll check back with you later on throughout the day here on CNN, OK?

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