Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Firefighters Battling Arizona Blaze

Aired June 24, 2003 - 10:17   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR: Residents of Little Falls, Minnesota, are cleaning up after two days of flooding. High winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc in the small town on Sunday and Monday.
The storm caused the collapse of a roof at a movie theater while 20 people were watching "The Hulk." No one was hurt.

Kansas got hit, too. Some residents in the small town of Scandia (ph) are still without power. A few homes were flooded and a local farmer says the hail just about shredded his crop of corn.

The same system spawned a tornado in Nebraska. One person was killed and seven others injured in the small town of Deshler. An amateur photographer captured this video of the funnel cloud as it was forming.

The governor of Nebraska declared a state of emergency in the region. He's asking for federal aid for recovery efforts.

And now to the fire lines in the American west.

Fire crews are taking a stand against the leading edge of a fire on a mountainside fire north of Tucson, Arizona. Some 250 homes have already burned, and many people live in the fire's potential path.

We get the story now from reporter Mike Levitt of CNN affiliate KPHO.

Good to see you, Mike.

MIKE LEVITT, KPHO AFFILIATE: Good morning.

We can tell you that there is a big shift in these firefighting efforts, especially because of the northward movement of this fire. This fire moving over the top of Mount Lemon, which is located north of Tucson, and that fire coming down the north slope.

What firefighters are going to be doing, in fact, one-third of the entire firefighting force here, about 300 firefighters, moving into that northern area, along with heavy equipment and bulldozers, over the last 24 hours. The reason, they're going to be digging in fire lines, trying to establish fire breaks to prevent any more northward movement.

There is a little town called Oracle, which is located north of that area and they're trying as best they can to stop this fire before it gets any closer to that community. Also, what we were being told this morning here at fire command post is that nearly 20,000 acres have now been consumed. That's about 30 square miles of woodland, heavy pine woodland in the upper forest here up at the 8,000- to 9,000-foot elevation at the top of Mount Lemon. This fire about 15 percent contained now. Full containment not expected for two to three weeks.

As for the cost, it's costing upwards of $3 million to $4 million to fight this fire. And that is just in its beginning stages. We're expecting a lot more firefighting activity over the next couple of weeks.

But again, the winds could play a key factor today. They have played a factor over the last few days, the high winds in the afternoon preventing aerial tankers from attacking this fire at the most critical point. So they're hoping today that those winds will at least come down a little bit, allow that aerial attack to take place through the day, and possibly help prevent the advance of those flames -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Mike, as we talk about the force of the firefighters, are more expected to come to the rescue in this area?

LEVITT: No question. At this point, there are more teams being brought in every day. But a lot of them, remember, are relief crews, as some of these crews have been working straight through now nearly a week. And they need to be relieved by new, fresh firefighters coming in. Close to 1,000 people. That's a lot on a fire like this.

WHITFIELD: No kidding. All right, Mike Levitt of our affiliate KPHO. Thanks very much for that report.

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






Aired June 24, 2003 - 10:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR: Residents of Little Falls, Minnesota, are cleaning up after two days of flooding. High winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc in the small town on Sunday and Monday.
The storm caused the collapse of a roof at a movie theater while 20 people were watching "The Hulk." No one was hurt.

Kansas got hit, too. Some residents in the small town of Scandia (ph) are still without power. A few homes were flooded and a local farmer says the hail just about shredded his crop of corn.

The same system spawned a tornado in Nebraska. One person was killed and seven others injured in the small town of Deshler. An amateur photographer captured this video of the funnel cloud as it was forming.

The governor of Nebraska declared a state of emergency in the region. He's asking for federal aid for recovery efforts.

And now to the fire lines in the American west.

Fire crews are taking a stand against the leading edge of a fire on a mountainside fire north of Tucson, Arizona. Some 250 homes have already burned, and many people live in the fire's potential path.

We get the story now from reporter Mike Levitt of CNN affiliate KPHO.

Good to see you, Mike.

MIKE LEVITT, KPHO AFFILIATE: Good morning.

We can tell you that there is a big shift in these firefighting efforts, especially because of the northward movement of this fire. This fire moving over the top of Mount Lemon, which is located north of Tucson, and that fire coming down the north slope.

What firefighters are going to be doing, in fact, one-third of the entire firefighting force here, about 300 firefighters, moving into that northern area, along with heavy equipment and bulldozers, over the last 24 hours. The reason, they're going to be digging in fire lines, trying to establish fire breaks to prevent any more northward movement.

There is a little town called Oracle, which is located north of that area and they're trying as best they can to stop this fire before it gets any closer to that community. Also, what we were being told this morning here at fire command post is that nearly 20,000 acres have now been consumed. That's about 30 square miles of woodland, heavy pine woodland in the upper forest here up at the 8,000- to 9,000-foot elevation at the top of Mount Lemon. This fire about 15 percent contained now. Full containment not expected for two to three weeks.

As for the cost, it's costing upwards of $3 million to $4 million to fight this fire. And that is just in its beginning stages. We're expecting a lot more firefighting activity over the next couple of weeks.

But again, the winds could play a key factor today. They have played a factor over the last few days, the high winds in the afternoon preventing aerial tankers from attacking this fire at the most critical point. So they're hoping today that those winds will at least come down a little bit, allow that aerial attack to take place through the day, and possibly help prevent the advance of those flames -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Mike, as we talk about the force of the firefighters, are more expected to come to the rescue in this area?

LEVITT: No question. At this point, there are more teams being brought in every day. But a lot of them, remember, are relief crews, as some of these crews have been working straight through now nearly a week. And they need to be relieved by new, fresh firefighters coming in. Close to 1,000 people. That's a lot on a fire like this.

WHITFIELD: No kidding. All right, Mike Levitt of our affiliate KPHO. Thanks very much for that report.

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