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CNN Live Today

Wildfire Burns in Angeles National Forest

Aired September 02, 2002 - 10:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Want to turn our attention to fire now. A huge forest fire is cutting a large swathe through the Angeles National Forest, a popular holiday retreat. It's about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. Some 20 aircraft are launching an aerial assault and more than 100 firefighters have been dispatched to wage the ground war so to speak.
For the latest we want to check in with Lisa Breckenridge of CNN affiliate KTTV -- good morning.

LISA BRECKENRIDGE, KTTV-TV REPORTER: Good morning to you.

This is a very difficult fire for the firefighters. We are on Highway 39 just above Azusa. This road is closed. Only the fire crews are being allowed up it. As you can see, it's a very windy day, a very hot wind and that's making it all the worse, not helping the situation at all.

Now overnight we have some video from what's been going on. These firefighters have been very difficult -- had a very difficult task. They've been trying to stop this curve fire (ph) as it's being called. It's already burned about 11,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest and there is no end in sight. We're being told there's zero percent containment.

The fire is burning through all types of dry brush from Highway 39 just north of the Rencon Ranger Station (ph) to the Crystal Lake area. This is a very popular camping area. And yesterday between 7,000 to 8,000 campers, hikers and residents had to be evacuated. At least six structures have been burned; they've been lost. That number could actually increase, though, because the firefighters really haven't been able to get into the thick of it right now.

And as for a possible cause, we're being told that there were a lot of lightning strikes in the area yesterday. One could have hit one of those cabins and that could have caused a propane tank to explode.

So again, the conditions that we have today, the high winds, the dry, the heat, not helping the firefighters, and the terrain here is extremely steep.

Live near Azusa, I'm Lisa Breckenridge, back to you in the studio.

COSTELLO: All right. Lisa, the amazing thing is they managed to get all those people out of there so quickly. BRECKENRIDGE: Quickly and no one was injured at this point. So that's the best news.

COSTELLO: All right. Lisa Breckenridge reporting live for us out of California this morning.

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