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CNN Live Today

Arizona Firefighter Loses Home to Blaze

Aired July 01, 2002 - 10:30   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Onto the latest now on fire news, the Dakotas are facing their own wildfires. Over the weekend, a prairie fire burned down the tiny town of Shields, North Dakota, population 15. One official says the only thing left standing in Shields is one home, one bar, and the post office.

The gambling resort of Deadwood, South Dakota is facing uncertain odds with the 4,500-acre grisly gulch blaze breathing down its neck. The town has been evacuated, including the 80 or so casinos in the area. Casino owners had to get special permission from the governor to clear out some money inside their establishments. The flames have come within 100 yards of cemetery where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickcock were buried.

High winds are whipping across the Canadian prairies and pushing a fire out of control near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The blaze has already swept across 17,000 acres and the acreage loss expected to climb with strong winds forecast for today and tomorrow. Fire crews managed to stop a three-day old blaze just about seven miles outside of Prince Albert. But the southern edge is advancing out of control.

And now on to Arizona and charges that a firefighter starts what would become the largest blaze in state history. Police say that 29- year-old Leonard Gregg has admitted to starting one of the two wildfires that merged and burned a total of nearly a half million acres. Investigators say the part-time firefighter was trying to assure that he would have summertime work. More than 400 homes have been lost, but authorities now say, for the first time in 11 days, the crews are gaining the upper hand.

Our David Mattingly joins us. He is in Pinedale, Arizona in the northeastern part of that state -- good morning.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Pinedale found itself on the front lines of this fire very early on and we're here for two reasons. First of all, it demonstrates the fickle and cruel nature of this fire; also, it demonstrates what heroic individual effort can do to prevent catastrophic property damage.

Now, the fire came over that bridge. You can see all those blackened and browned trees. It was raining sparks and embers into this valley, threatening all of the houses here. But you can see the fire seemed to pick and choose where it would hit and where it would burn. For instance, those woods over there burned. These woods over here burned. But the log cabin right in the middle of them didn't. It's standing today fully intact. But the house behind it, behind this patch of burned woods, that house was burned to the ground.

Now, there was one very prominent structure here in Pinedale. That was the volunteer fire department building and you're looking at right here. The volunteer fire department was one of the casualties in this fire. With me is Walt Hedges (ph), one of the volunteer firemen here.

Walt, it's a very interesting story. Against the wishes of just about every federal agency fighting this fire, you came back in here to check on your property.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. My son-in-law had a pickup truck down here with all of his work tools in and he was out of business without it.

MATTINGLY: And when you came back in, you saw the fire coming over the ridge. What did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the fire was coming into town. It's a scary thing, these fire fronts. I never want to see another one. But a lot of people have been praying about this. And I, myself, had been praying to get this fire to the west of town and as it was about an eighth of a mile out of town, we got a wind out of the east and blew it three-quarters of a mile out of town. We don't have extensive damage right to the center of town.

MATTINGLY: And at the same time, you were able to alert your fellow volunteers that you needed to get the equipment back in here. You need to start working on these homes. There are 120 homes in this water district, you say. This is in an incorporated area. And you managed to save how many of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 108 out of 120.

MATTINGLY: That is remarkable and how did you do that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, our guys are pretty good structural firemen. And, of course, this was a wild land in structural fire. Wildfires are all together different. But these guys learn, you know, in a real quick hurry how to quick it put out. You've got to get to the fire and that's what they did. We were prevented from doing that for a while. But when we got in here, we did that. We got into the fires and put them out the way we had to.

MATTINGLY: Well, let's step in here just for a second, past the fire line. I need to ask you this question. How is it while you're around here protecting all these fires that you let your own building burn?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, actually, this was the first building I saw that was endangered when I came in the second time. And the fire had just started up the back of it. And I called the guys on the radio and said, "Hey, we got to get trucks in here. We're about to lose the fire department." By the time they got here the attic was involved and it was a goner. But, you know, that -- this is small potatoes compared to a person's half million dollar house and we've got a couple of those here in town or had.

MATTINGLY: Now, you've got a little bit of salvage interest in this rubble here. You had a little piece of equipment in here that got lost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, some of my own personal property is in that rubble. But...

MATTINGLY: Any chance you're going to find it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'll find it. Whether Ii can use or not is another question. But...

MATTINGLY: Well, Walt, again, thank you very much. Even though the buildings were lost, Pinedale, a big success story here, Daryn.

We'll be back with you a little bit later to tell you more about it. So back to you in Atlanta.

KAGAN: Hey David, before you let Walt (ph) go there, I think people are going to be really touched by his story. His own building goes and yet, he goes back in there and helps fight and saves other buildings. Can you ask what his plans are now, if he plans to rebuild or stay in the area?

MATTINGLY: Your house is standing. Your fire building -- your firehouse is what went down. Your own personal house is still standing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My personal house is standing right over there.

MATTINGLY: Now, there is work going on right now to get donations to rebuild here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. People here in town have already volunteered materials and all to put the fire station back up. It was insured so we may not need that. But that's just the type of up to we live in. Everybody does their best to help each other.

MATTINGLY: The word...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a neat place to live.

MATTINGLY: And the word today -- send money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, you come up with a claw hammer if you want.

MATTINGLY: OK, Walt, thank you very much.

Daryn, back to you. KAGAN: Hey David, having lived in Arizona five-and-a-half years, I know that those are very hearty folk and they will take care of their own as well. Thanks for the story. We'll see you in...

MATTINGLY: That's right.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

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