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CNN Live Today

Firefighters Battling to Contain Blaze Before It Reaches Ancient Sequoias

Aired July 25, 2002 - 11:06   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: A woman faces arraignment today on charges of starting a wildfire that threatens some treasured trees in California. Firefighters are battling to contain this blaze before it reaches the towering ancient sequoias in California.

CNN's James Hattori checks in now. He's in Kernville, California. He's got the latest for us -- James.

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon. Let's start with some good news. That is that this fire, officials say, is now about 5 percent contained. Of course the bad news is that it's 95 percent not contained, still burning largely out of control, despite round-the- clock firefighting efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can always go to the hand line, go the fires. Maybe, you would rather do that.

HATTORI (voice-over): Fire managers adjust their strategy as the Mcnally blaze continues to grow. Officials say it has blackened more than 55,000 acres in the Sequoia National Forest northeast of Bakersfield, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not too much of stretch of imagination for this fire to double in size before we actually have any opportunity to corral it.

HATTORI: More than 1,500 firefighters are on the lines, somewhat encouraged, because so far they have managed to prevent major damage to nearby towns and cabins, encouraged because they think they know who started the fire Sunday afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Law enforcement officers for the forest service did arrest a woman, a current county resident, on suspicion that she did start the Mcnally fire.

HATTORI (on camera): Any idea how?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is believed an escaped campfire caused the fire, but they don't believe it was intentional.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HATTORI: Now the woman, who is identified only as a 45-year-old Bakersfield resident, is expected to appear in Fresno in federal court later this morning to face charges which have not yet been identified.

Now, we talked about damage, so far 10 structures destroyed, about 1,000 people evacuated, but so far, those treasured sequoia trees we're talking about -- we have been talking about have been spared. We're talking about a dozen groves, and they are national treasures considered national treasures. They are one of the primary focuses of the firefighter efforts to save these trees, in which in some cases 1,000-2,000 years old, 100 feet around in some cases. Now they are so old, of course, the question arises, how have they withstood fires in the past, and of course they have.

The concern now is there's so much underbrush and so much foliage that has not been burned naturally that a fire could start that is normally, or abnormally rather hot, which could not only destroy the trees and the foliage but environment around it, which could lead to destruction of the magnificent trees -- Leon.

HARRIS: And if their destruction were to come about, that would be a real tragedy.

James Hattori in Kernville, California. Thanks very much, James. We will check with you later on to see how things are shaping up.

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