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CNN Saturday Morning News

Wildfires Force Around 2,000 People to Flee Homes

Aired October 25, 2003 - 08:01   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: East of Los Angeles, though, wildfires have forced about 2,000 people to flee their homes. This blaze one of five in southern California, is in the San Bernardino National Forest near Rancho Cucamonga.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a fire fed by wind threatening thousands of brand new suburban homes east of Los Angeles.

GREG TOMM: There was so much smoke in the house, you know, burning our eyes and stuff, we left.

MARQUEZ: The fast moving fire burned right up to Greg Tomm's backyard.

TOMM: For hours I was trying to think of what I was going to take. But then when the time actually came, well, like I say, most of the fire was burned out. I just asked the kids what they wanted and my 5-year-old grabbed a pumpkin that she got at the pumpkin patch yesterday and that was it.

MARQUEZ: What to take as the fire approached normally tranquil suburbia, it was a question asked and answered by thousands of residents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took all my clothes, CDs and my laptop. Nothing's left.

MARQUEZ: For evacuees, it was a harrowing 24 hours of waiting, waiting to find out if anything was left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, when you've got everything you've worked for all your life and you're looking back at it it's like is it going to be here or not when you come back.

MARQUEZ: Officials say thousands of residents were forced from their homes, but by nightfall, some of them began to sneak back in. Fueled by winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour, the fire grew from 4,000 acres to 12,000, from early Friday morning till evening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire just came so fast, we were just lucky enough to have a hose in there and turned it on the fire as it was coming. And the houses just got lucky. MARQUEZ: At least 1,400 firefighters have been working this wildfire and firefighters were feeling the heat. A chopper set down for mechanical problems, but the flames got to it before the mechanics could.

(on camera): Fire officials say that three homes have been destroyed and there have been eight injuries, most of them to firefighters and most of them not serious. What the firefighters are most concerned with are the winds. The Santa Ana winds that are expected to blow for the next few days making that fire on the top of the mountain race for the city.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Rancho Cucamonga, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And as Miguel reported, the Santa Ana winds are a nightmare for firefighters.

So we asked our weather guy, Rob Marciano, to tell us a little bit more about what causes these winds. And, boy, that's probably putting it mildly, trying to fight these things.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It definitely makes it tough. And we're getting to the season now, Heidi, where Santa Ana winds become more prevalent, and especially in through December, more persistent. But we're getting a lull this morning. That's not going to last through this afternoon. A big area of high pressure is building in the Great Basin. That's through most of Nevada and Utah. When that happens, the clockwise flow around the high brings winds in from the east.

And if you know anything about the topography down here, there are mountains to the east of Los Angeles. That forces the air down the mountains. And when that happens, we get a compressional heating at about five degrees for every thousand feet. So not only is it windy, with winds possibly tomorrow morning at 30 to 60 miles an hour, but it's a warm wind, with temperatures up near 90. And also, as you can imagine, very dry air here. It becomes even drier as it heats, as it heads down those mountains. So it's like a triple whammy here with this type of setup.

We do expect the winds to increase tonight through tomorrow, maybe decreasing a little bit on Monday and Tuesday. But generally speaking, this high is going to stay here for a good couple of days. And, Heidi, with now that we're in October, this is when it starts. It peaks out in December, this season, and it goes right on through February. But typically the first two months are the worst. Why? Because we're usually dry from like July or this last spring right up until now. If we get Santa Anas in January and February, at least the soil is a little bit more moist. But right now it's dry. Obviously not a good combination for fighting those fires.

COLLINS: Yes, and those people living there seem to get used to it. But I don't know if you ever get used to the fires that seem to come along, too. MARCIANO: Yes, right. You just sort of deal with it, I guess.

COLLINS: All right, Rob Marciano, thanks so very much.

MARCIANO: OK.

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 25, 2003 - 08:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: East of Los Angeles, though, wildfires have forced about 2,000 people to flee their homes. This blaze one of five in southern California, is in the San Bernardino National Forest near Rancho Cucamonga.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a fire fed by wind threatening thousands of brand new suburban homes east of Los Angeles.

GREG TOMM: There was so much smoke in the house, you know, burning our eyes and stuff, we left.

MARQUEZ: The fast moving fire burned right up to Greg Tomm's backyard.

TOMM: For hours I was trying to think of what I was going to take. But then when the time actually came, well, like I say, most of the fire was burned out. I just asked the kids what they wanted and my 5-year-old grabbed a pumpkin that she got at the pumpkin patch yesterday and that was it.

MARQUEZ: What to take as the fire approached normally tranquil suburbia, it was a question asked and answered by thousands of residents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took all my clothes, CDs and my laptop. Nothing's left.

MARQUEZ: For evacuees, it was a harrowing 24 hours of waiting, waiting to find out if anything was left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, when you've got everything you've worked for all your life and you're looking back at it it's like is it going to be here or not when you come back.

MARQUEZ: Officials say thousands of residents were forced from their homes, but by nightfall, some of them began to sneak back in. Fueled by winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour, the fire grew from 4,000 acres to 12,000, from early Friday morning till evening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire just came so fast, we were just lucky enough to have a hose in there and turned it on the fire as it was coming. And the houses just got lucky. MARQUEZ: At least 1,400 firefighters have been working this wildfire and firefighters were feeling the heat. A chopper set down for mechanical problems, but the flames got to it before the mechanics could.

(on camera): Fire officials say that three homes have been destroyed and there have been eight injuries, most of them to firefighters and most of them not serious. What the firefighters are most concerned with are the winds. The Santa Ana winds that are expected to blow for the next few days making that fire on the top of the mountain race for the city.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Rancho Cucamonga, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And as Miguel reported, the Santa Ana winds are a nightmare for firefighters.

So we asked our weather guy, Rob Marciano, to tell us a little bit more about what causes these winds. And, boy, that's probably putting it mildly, trying to fight these things.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It definitely makes it tough. And we're getting to the season now, Heidi, where Santa Ana winds become more prevalent, and especially in through December, more persistent. But we're getting a lull this morning. That's not going to last through this afternoon. A big area of high pressure is building in the Great Basin. That's through most of Nevada and Utah. When that happens, the clockwise flow around the high brings winds in from the east.

And if you know anything about the topography down here, there are mountains to the east of Los Angeles. That forces the air down the mountains. And when that happens, we get a compressional heating at about five degrees for every thousand feet. So not only is it windy, with winds possibly tomorrow morning at 30 to 60 miles an hour, but it's a warm wind, with temperatures up near 90. And also, as you can imagine, very dry air here. It becomes even drier as it heats, as it heads down those mountains. So it's like a triple whammy here with this type of setup.

We do expect the winds to increase tonight through tomorrow, maybe decreasing a little bit on Monday and Tuesday. But generally speaking, this high is going to stay here for a good couple of days. And, Heidi, with now that we're in October, this is when it starts. It peaks out in December, this season, and it goes right on through February. But typically the first two months are the worst. Why? Because we're usually dry from like July or this last spring right up until now. If we get Santa Anas in January and February, at least the soil is a little bit more moist. But right now it's dry. Obviously not a good combination for fighting those fires.

COLLINS: Yes, and those people living there seem to get used to it. But I don't know if you ever get used to the fires that seem to come along, too. MARCIANO: Yes, right. You just sort of deal with it, I guess.

COLLINS: All right, Rob Marciano, thanks so very much.

MARCIANO: OK.

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