Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Twenty Wildfires Strike Oregon

Aired July 17, 2002 - 11:32   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: Well, spotty wildfires are burning at 20 different locations across Oregon this morning. Reporter Ryan Deal from CNN affiliate KPTV takes a look at the situation in the forest outside of Culver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN DEAL, KPTV CORRESPONDENT: For the first time, evidence some of the fire lines are holding, some of them for two days now. Today, some firefighters were pulled back just long enough for helicopters to drop water, 3,000 pounds of water in each bucket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are just bumped out, and we are getting our tools sharpened and getting ready to go back in and dig some more.

DEAL: But to the West, where hundreds of thousands of Junipers and Ponderosa Pines symbolize a lucrative lumber industry for native Americans, the lines are not holding, and the fire is spreading.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a lot different than we see in other places.

DEAL: In places where the fires scorched houses, owners whose homes are still standing shake their heads in awe. Some even wonder if the safety pruning and brush removal is actually what stopped this unpredictable fire in the canyon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should have fire protection underneath there, after looking at this.

DEAL: And there are others who are angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That fire probably could have been out sooner, before it jumped the lake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Our thanks to reporter Ryan Deal of our affiliate KPTV in Culver, Oregon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com