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American Morning

Deadly Wildfires in California

Aired October 27, 2003 - 08:03   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get the latest on the deadly wildfires now in California. At least 10 blazes raging in the southern part of the state.
Jeff Flock is live for us in Escondido (ph), north of San Diego this morning -- Jeff, good morning again.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad, good morning to you.

It's difficult to get a number on those blazes because they're just popping up everywhere. Maybe you can see, this is Escondido, as you said, to the north of San Diego. Maybe you can see the ridge on up. This ridge, as far as you can see, is covered with flame. And we went up, this is Valley Center Road that we're standing on here in Escondido, just the western edge of it. And we took a ride up the road since we talked to you last. There are little spot fires that have broken out all along Valley Center Road, both sides of the road.

What they're trying to do here is hope that these flames that you see up along the ridge don't make their way down. But you know you're going to get the Santa Ana winds later this morning when sun rises. It'll be in the next, within the next hour, and, you know, when the winds start to whip this, it could run it on down the mountain and really cause some problems, because there are homes up in here. There is one that's in the dark now. You can't see. But, you know, it's not a good situation here.

As you point out, several deaths already associated with this. People that were trying to escape the fire burned up in it. And I think we reported earlier that the Monday night football game that was scheduled for San Diego has now been moved out. It was to be played in Qualcomm Stadium. We are now told by San Diego sheriff's police, San Diego County sheriff's police, that there are 6,000 people that are holed up at Qualcomm Stadium. It is an evacuation center.

And, Soledad, next hour we're going to try to take you farther down on Valley Center Road. The flames are right up alongside of us, right along the road side. We perhaps can show you, you know, kicking dirt on it. It's that close and not a good situation because the winds are coming later today -- back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, Jeff, please be careful.

And we'll check back in with you later.

Thanks. Earlier this morning, I spoke with Dallas Jones.

He's the director of the California governor's Office of Emergency Services.

And I asked him about where the fire is right behind him in San Bernardino County.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DALLAS JONES, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY SERVICES: The fire you see burning behind me is the Grand Prix Fire here in San Bernardino County. It's in excess of -- burned over in excess of 52,000 acres and less than 20 percent containment. It's a very dangerous fire, because as most of the fires are currently here in southern California, they're wind driven, which makes them very dangerous.

O'BRIEN: Yes, no question it's hampering the efforts of firefighters out there.

So give me a sense of the damage overall, how big of an area we're talking about and the status of the fires. Anything contained so far?

JONES: Soledad, overall, we've lost over 300,000 acres due to these 10 fires, which are burning in five different counties here in southern California. None of these fires have over 30 percent containment. Most are less than 20. Because of the wind driven conditions we're having, this is a very difficult firefight.

O'BRIEN: And the weather, we've read from reports, doesn't look like it's going to be helping you out at all until maybe Tuesday at the earliest. Is that consistent with what you're hearing at this hour, as well?

JONES: Yes. Our fire weather is reporting a containment of the hot, dry, windy conditions until late Tuesday.

O'BRIEN: We, of course, Mr. Jones, have heard terrible reports of people who were trying to evacuate then getting stuck on those windy canyon roads, not being able to get out.

Give me some of the information that you are advising to the folks who potentially are being told to evacuate and maybe aren't taking that advice to heart at this point.

JONES: Well, Soledad, most of the communities here in southern California have great evacuation plans if the citizens will cooperate. What we need them to do is pack up their most precious belongings and go ahead and evacuate these areas if they're directed by local officials.

O'BRIEN: For those who are not evacuating, are you finding that they're getting in the way of the firefighters who are trying to make some headway in this fire, in these fires? JONES: That's always a possibility. If people remain behind, both their cars and their persons become a greater risk because we may have to send firefighters in to get them out. And so we really do ask the people to cooperate if they're given evacuation orders.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, Mr. Jones, these pictures that we're looking at as we talk to you are just so unbelievable. Give me a sense of the scope of the number of firefighters who are out there and how many resources you have mobilized at this time trying to contain these blazes.

JONES: Soledad, combined on these 10 fires, we have over 8,000 very courageous young men and women from all over the state and, indeed, parts of the nation through the U.S. Forest Service program. They're all battling these blazes in very, very difficult conditions -- high temperature and long hours. And so it's a very difficult situation here in southern California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: You're looking at a live picture now from Simi Valley, which is north of Los Angeles. And as we heard from the Office of Emergency Services, some 300,000 acres have been lost in 10 fires across five counties.

Well, in Simi Valley they are trying desperately to save the Ronald Reagan Library. Flames reported within just 400 meters of that library at last report. So we will, of course, keep you up to date on exactly what's happening there, as well.

These pictures, again, live for us from KT-TV in Simi Valley is what you're looking at this morning.

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 27, 2003 - 08:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get the latest on the deadly wildfires now in California. At least 10 blazes raging in the southern part of the state.
Jeff Flock is live for us in Escondido (ph), north of San Diego this morning -- Jeff, good morning again.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad, good morning to you.

It's difficult to get a number on those blazes because they're just popping up everywhere. Maybe you can see, this is Escondido, as you said, to the north of San Diego. Maybe you can see the ridge on up. This ridge, as far as you can see, is covered with flame. And we went up, this is Valley Center Road that we're standing on here in Escondido, just the western edge of it. And we took a ride up the road since we talked to you last. There are little spot fires that have broken out all along Valley Center Road, both sides of the road.

What they're trying to do here is hope that these flames that you see up along the ridge don't make their way down. But you know you're going to get the Santa Ana winds later this morning when sun rises. It'll be in the next, within the next hour, and, you know, when the winds start to whip this, it could run it on down the mountain and really cause some problems, because there are homes up in here. There is one that's in the dark now. You can't see. But, you know, it's not a good situation here.

As you point out, several deaths already associated with this. People that were trying to escape the fire burned up in it. And I think we reported earlier that the Monday night football game that was scheduled for San Diego has now been moved out. It was to be played in Qualcomm Stadium. We are now told by San Diego sheriff's police, San Diego County sheriff's police, that there are 6,000 people that are holed up at Qualcomm Stadium. It is an evacuation center.

And, Soledad, next hour we're going to try to take you farther down on Valley Center Road. The flames are right up alongside of us, right along the road side. We perhaps can show you, you know, kicking dirt on it. It's that close and not a good situation because the winds are coming later today -- back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, Jeff, please be careful.

And we'll check back in with you later.

Thanks. Earlier this morning, I spoke with Dallas Jones.

He's the director of the California governor's Office of Emergency Services.

And I asked him about where the fire is right behind him in San Bernardino County.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DALLAS JONES, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY SERVICES: The fire you see burning behind me is the Grand Prix Fire here in San Bernardino County. It's in excess of -- burned over in excess of 52,000 acres and less than 20 percent containment. It's a very dangerous fire, because as most of the fires are currently here in southern California, they're wind driven, which makes them very dangerous.

O'BRIEN: Yes, no question it's hampering the efforts of firefighters out there.

So give me a sense of the damage overall, how big of an area we're talking about and the status of the fires. Anything contained so far?

JONES: Soledad, overall, we've lost over 300,000 acres due to these 10 fires, which are burning in five different counties here in southern California. None of these fires have over 30 percent containment. Most are less than 20. Because of the wind driven conditions we're having, this is a very difficult firefight.

O'BRIEN: And the weather, we've read from reports, doesn't look like it's going to be helping you out at all until maybe Tuesday at the earliest. Is that consistent with what you're hearing at this hour, as well?

JONES: Yes. Our fire weather is reporting a containment of the hot, dry, windy conditions until late Tuesday.

O'BRIEN: We, of course, Mr. Jones, have heard terrible reports of people who were trying to evacuate then getting stuck on those windy canyon roads, not being able to get out.

Give me some of the information that you are advising to the folks who potentially are being told to evacuate and maybe aren't taking that advice to heart at this point.

JONES: Well, Soledad, most of the communities here in southern California have great evacuation plans if the citizens will cooperate. What we need them to do is pack up their most precious belongings and go ahead and evacuate these areas if they're directed by local officials.

O'BRIEN: For those who are not evacuating, are you finding that they're getting in the way of the firefighters who are trying to make some headway in this fire, in these fires? JONES: That's always a possibility. If people remain behind, both their cars and their persons become a greater risk because we may have to send firefighters in to get them out. And so we really do ask the people to cooperate if they're given evacuation orders.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, Mr. Jones, these pictures that we're looking at as we talk to you are just so unbelievable. Give me a sense of the scope of the number of firefighters who are out there and how many resources you have mobilized at this time trying to contain these blazes.

JONES: Soledad, combined on these 10 fires, we have over 8,000 very courageous young men and women from all over the state and, indeed, parts of the nation through the U.S. Forest Service program. They're all battling these blazes in very, very difficult conditions -- high temperature and long hours. And so it's a very difficult situation here in southern California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: You're looking at a live picture now from Simi Valley, which is north of Los Angeles. And as we heard from the Office of Emergency Services, some 300,000 acres have been lost in 10 fires across five counties.

Well, in Simi Valley they are trying desperately to save the Ronald Reagan Library. Flames reported within just 400 meters of that library at last report. So we will, of course, keep you up to date on exactly what's happening there, as well.

These pictures, again, live for us from KT-TV in Simi Valley is what you're looking at this morning.

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