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CNN Live Today

Wildfires Rage in Southern California

Aired October 24, 2003 - 11:17   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go live now to Southern California. We have been tracking these wildfires as they get closer and closer to the city -- they are actually in the city of Fontana, but you can see how incredibly close they're getting to those homes there. There have been a number of evacuations.
We have with us on the line there, Karen McKinley from the U.S. Forest Service on the line.

Karen, did we get that right?

Karen? Karen McKinley, are you with us?

KAREN MCKINLEY, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Yes.

KAGAN: OK. Great. Hi, it's Daryn Kagan at CNN in Atlanta.

Can you tell us the latest on these fires, especially around the city of Fontana?

MCKINLEY: What we have got right now is the Grand Prix Fire that started back on Tuesday afternoon. Currently at 4,021 acres, it is only at 17 percent containment, and it's going to be a good week before that can be contained. We had very erratic behavior last night, spotting and torching, with extreme fire behavior, in the fire perimeter last night, which has caused evacuation of the communities of parts of Rancho Cucamonga, Edowanda (ph) and Fontana.

KAGAN: What kind of evacuations are we talking about? How many people?

MCKINLEY: You know, I don't have an estimate on the number for those communities. This just occurred about an hour ago.

KAGAN: Have any homes been lost so far?

MCKINLEY: No, we haven't lost any homes.

And I'd just you to know that this is the second evacuation related to this fire. We had one yesterday afternoon in the Laddle (ph) Creek Canyon area, which affected 1,000 residents. They're still not allowed back in their homes.

KAGAN: Sometimes our camera can be somewhat misleading, but as we look at these live pictures, I don't know if you can see what we're showing, but these flames look like they're getting incredibly close to these homes in Fontana. MCKINLEY: That's what I heard. I don't have visuals myself.

KAGAN: OK. But do you have any numbers in terms of how close?

MCKINLEY: Not in the Rancho Cucamonga area.

KAGAN: And tell us a bit about, Karen, about conditions in Southern California right now, and the Santa Anna winds.

MCKINLEY: Right now, we have temperatures in the daytime are upwards to about 100 degrees. The winds have just -- usually they're about 10 to 25 miles per hour. But with the Santa Annas coming in, that can give us guests up to 45, 50 miles up in the canyon. That's part of what happened. They came in a little bit sooner than anticipated, and by this morning, that fire came back down the ridge, toward the communities of Rancho Cucamonga, and Edowanda (ph) and Fontana.

KAGAN: And for our viewers who are these pictures right now, they are from Rancho Cucamonga.

Basically, these conditions that you described, Karen, just about the worst possible when it comes to try to fight a fire.

MCKINLEY: Oh, absolutely. You just can't put people in front of that, and you have to get people in their homes out of there. You know, we get people who get evacuated and immediately want to know when they can come back, and it's just something we can't answer. We want to get them out of there while we have time, and not wait for the last second.

KAGAN: Absolutely. We wish you well on your efforts, trying to get it under control, get a handle on that fire. Karen McKinley from the U.S. Forest Service. We will track the conditions in Southern California and those fires.

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 October 24, 2003 - 11:17   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 live now to Southern California. We have been tracking these wildfires as they get closer and closer to the city -- they are actually in the city of Fontana, but you can see how incredibly close they're getting to those homes there. There have been a number of evacuations.
We have with us on the line there, Karen McKinley from the U.S. Forest Service on the line.

Karen, did we get that right?

Karen? Karen McKinley, are you with us?

KAREN MCKINLEY, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Yes.

KAGAN: OK. Great. Hi, it's Daryn Kagan at CNN in Atlanta.

Can you tell us the latest on these fires, especially around the city of Fontana?

MCKINLEY: What we have got right now is the Grand Prix Fire that started back on Tuesday afternoon. Currently at 4,021 acres, it is only at 17 percent containment, and it's going to be a good week before that can be contained. We had very erratic behavior last night, spotting and torching, with extreme fire behavior, in the fire perimeter last night, which has caused evacuation of the communities of parts of Rancho Cucamonga, Edowanda (ph) and Fontana.

KAGAN: What kind of evacuations are we talking about? How many people?

MCKINLEY: You know, I don't have an estimate on the number for those communities. This just occurred about an hour ago.

KAGAN: Have any homes been lost so far?

MCKINLEY: No, we haven't lost any homes.

And I'd just you to know that this is the second evacuation related to this fire. We had one yesterday afternoon in the Laddle (ph) Creek Canyon area, which affected 1,000 residents. They're still not allowed back in their homes.

KAGAN: Sometimes our camera can be somewhat misleading, but as we look at these live pictures, I don't know if you can see what we're showing, but these flames look like they're getting incredibly close to these homes in Fontana. MCKINLEY: That's what I heard. I don't have visuals myself.

KAGAN: OK. But do you have any numbers in terms of how close?

MCKINLEY: Not in the Rancho Cucamonga area.

KAGAN: And tell us a bit about, Karen, about conditions in Southern California right now, and the Santa Anna winds.

MCKINLEY: Right now, we have temperatures in the daytime are upwards to about 100 degrees. The winds have just -- usually they're about 10 to 25 miles per hour. But with the Santa Annas coming in, that can give us guests up to 45, 50 miles up in the canyon. That's part of what happened. They came in a little bit sooner than anticipated, and by this morning, that fire came back down the ridge, toward the communities of Rancho Cucamonga, and Edowanda (ph) and Fontana.

KAGAN: And for our viewers who are these pictures right now, they are from Rancho Cucamonga.

Basically, these conditions that you described, Karen, just about the worst possible when it comes to try to fight a fire.

MCKINLEY: Oh, absolutely. You just can't put people in front of that, and you have to get people in their homes out of there. You know, we get people who get evacuated and immediately want to know when they can come back, and it's just something we can't answer. We want to get them out of there while we have time, and not wait for the last second.

KAGAN: Absolutely. We wish you well on your efforts, trying to get it under control, get a handle on that fire. Karen McKinley from the U.S. Forest Service. We will track the conditions in Southern California and those fires.

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