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American Morning

Firefighters Stand Down in Fight Against Brush Fire

Aired April 29, 2003 - 07:34   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: Let's go ahead and check in on Ohio now. Firefighters who battled a brush fire in Ohio are standing down this morning, letting the blaze burn itself out. The fire already targeted about a third of a nature preserve near Cleveland. It sent up huge plumes of black smoke and it threatened some homes in the nearby city of Mentor.
Our Jeff Flock is there and has more -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning to you.

I'll tell you, it's sifting through the ash of it. This is what they call the Mentor Marsh and this is what they call fragmites and cattails. You know this material probably as reed. And essentially there's about 850 acres of it here just to the east of Cleveland. Maybe you see some of the scope of the disaster. Maybe 325 acres of it burned yesterday and a lot of it's still smoldering out there.

We've got some dramatic pictures from yesterday, most of them -- the most dramatic ones from the air. As we said, 325 acres burned. There was about four and a half miles of fire line. You really don't think of Ohio when you think of brush fires and particularly just east of Cleveland, which is where we are here this morning. But a very dramatic fire.

And as you've been reporting, a lot of homes nearby this marsh -- and they were threatened, although 35 right in a direct threat. None of those, however, were significantly damaged. I think there was one house that had an awning melted, but beyond that they lucked out.

Back live here now, perhaps you can see, this is an observation point into this marsh and it burned up pretty good. We don't want Rick to walk too far down the road there. And then off onto the distance, I don't know if you're able to see, you can still certainly see the smoldering out there. I don't know if you're able to see some of the wildlife that is already beginning to return, but, in fact, some geese and some ducks out there this morning amidst the smoke, as this is pretty much out.

But very dry. It continues to be very dry here and folks say until there is significant moisture, there is going to continue to be the danger of brush fires, probably in a lot of places across the U.S. where there is drought.

That is the latest from the Mentor Marsh just east of Cleveland, Ohio -- Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Jeff, thanks so much.

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Aired April 29, 2003 - 07:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and check in on Ohio now. Firefighters who battled a brush fire in Ohio are standing down this morning, letting the blaze burn itself out. The fire already targeted about a third of a nature preserve near Cleveland. It sent up huge plumes of black smoke and it threatened some homes in the nearby city of Mentor.
Our Jeff Flock is there and has more -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning to you.

I'll tell you, it's sifting through the ash of it. This is what they call the Mentor Marsh and this is what they call fragmites and cattails. You know this material probably as reed. And essentially there's about 850 acres of it here just to the east of Cleveland. Maybe you see some of the scope of the disaster. Maybe 325 acres of it burned yesterday and a lot of it's still smoldering out there.

We've got some dramatic pictures from yesterday, most of them -- the most dramatic ones from the air. As we said, 325 acres burned. There was about four and a half miles of fire line. You really don't think of Ohio when you think of brush fires and particularly just east of Cleveland, which is where we are here this morning. But a very dramatic fire.

And as you've been reporting, a lot of homes nearby this marsh -- and they were threatened, although 35 right in a direct threat. None of those, however, were significantly damaged. I think there was one house that had an awning melted, but beyond that they lucked out.

Back live here now, perhaps you can see, this is an observation point into this marsh and it burned up pretty good. We don't want Rick to walk too far down the road there. And then off onto the distance, I don't know if you're able to see, you can still certainly see the smoldering out there. I don't know if you're able to see some of the wildlife that is already beginning to return, but, in fact, some geese and some ducks out there this morning amidst the smoke, as this is pretty much out.

But very dry. It continues to be very dry here and folks say until there is significant moisture, there is going to continue to be the danger of brush fires, probably in a lot of places across the U.S. where there is drought.

That is the latest from the Mentor Marsh just east of Cleveland, Ohio -- Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Jeff, thanks so much.

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