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CNN Live Today
Two Fires Have Burned About 200,000 Acres
Aired August 02, 2002 - 11:25 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: Now for the latest on the fires in Oregon, let's go to our Gary Tuchman who is standing by in Selma, Oregon with the latest.
Good morning.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
Seventeen-thousand residents here in the Illinois Valley in southwestern Oregon are still awaiting to hear word on whether they'll have to evacuate their homes, but so far, that word hasn't come. Two huge brushfires continue to burn just a few miles away from them. We have a beautiful sunny day today. But behind me, you can saw those clouds and the smoke, and it looks like a snowstorm rolling in over the mountains. What it is smoke from the brushfires 2-3 miles away from 99 percent of people who live here.
The good news is so far, their homes are not in imminent danger. The bad news is the flames are in very inaccessible places, in mountain passes and ridges, and firefighters are having a tough time getting to all the fire. But they're doing the best they can.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They are starting fires to stop fires. Some of the 2,000 firefighters in Oregon's Illinois Valley, purposely setting fires to inhibit the growth of two gigantic blazes in the southwestern part of the state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice, and slow and steady. We're watching the off side of the road.
TUCHMAN: They make sure their flames doesn't accidentally spread where they don't want it to, and watch in satisfaction as they kill the vegetation that helps fuel wildfires. Nearly 200,000 acres of land here have now been blackened from the Florence and Sour Biscuit fires, which are now almost joined together.
(on camera): The people in charge here say the fire will still be burning here into the fall, but that's something they can deal with. What they would have a tough time dealing with is that the flame spread just a few miles to the east.
(voice-over): Because that's where most of the 17,000 residents in this area live. An evacuation order could come at any time. The managers of a bed and breakfast had their blackberry bushes uprooted as a precaution.
TIM NORMAN, BED & BREAKFAST MGR.: We've had fires off and on since I've lived here in '87, but this is about the worst I've seen.
TUCHMAN: At this house on a ranch, they've put sprinklers on the roof.
PETER THOMPSON, RANCH RESIDENT: It's a shake roof, and the fire department doesn't like a shake roof, and they weren't going to make us any guarantees about protecting it , unless we had sprinklers on it.
TUCHMAN: There are a few cabins where the fire is now. These people obviously left quickly, their laundry still on the line.
Down the street from the cabin, Forest Service workers cut trees damaged by the fire, so they don't fall on people first.
ERIN MONTGOMERY, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: They could fall at anytime, anywhere at anytime.
TUCHMAN (on camera): So you're always on the lookout, right?
MONTGOMERY: Yes, you got to keep your eyes out for up above you, and below you even.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They will be keeping their eyes out indefinitely, because these fires are still only 5 percent contained.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: It's very nice spending the day with people who really enjoy what they do. These firefighters, these U.S. Forest Service personnel members, are very proud of what they do. They love the outdoors, and they are working hard. They had very good conditions yesterday for fighting the blazes. It was very calm outside. Today, we have winds of 5-10 miles per hour, still pretty light , and blowing away from the population center, blowing over the mountain. So that's a good sign. That's also a very good sign that 20 days after the fires started, these people still have not been forced to evacuate their homes.
Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: That is a good sign, Gary.
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