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American Morning
California Wildfires: State of Destruction
Aired October 28, 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 turn to our top story, the fires this morning. The supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest says of the fires in southern California -- quote -- "You can dream up horror movies, and they would not be this bad." Already more than 450,000 acres have burned, more than 1,100 homes have been destroyed, and 15 people have been killed.
Overall, 10 major fires are burning in the region. An army of firefighters has been called in, more than 8,000 of them in total. And they're trying to put out those fires that extend for more than 100 miles.
We've got two live reports for you this morning. Miguel Marquez is in Rim Forest in the San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles. Brian Cabell for us in Simi Valley, which is north of Los Angeles.
Miguel -- let's begin with you. Good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.
Well, some of the latest news here is that this fire, the Old Fire that's burning below me, was apparently arson-caused, and there are two individuals who were seen throwing something from a gray van, a 2000 or 2001 Chevy or Dodge van, a few days ago in the Waterman Canyon (ph) area here in the San Bernardino National Forest. And the sheriff's department now has a sketch of one of them, and that individual is being sought, along with somebody else who may be charged not only with arson, but also with murder, because the two people -- at least two residents, elderly residents, have died from stress-related causes from this fire.
The other thing I want to show you that's going on here, where we are -- the Old Fire. The community down below us has been burning all day, and there are sort of fires all along the ridges here. The road to our south that we came up on this morning is now apparently no longer passable. There are concerns that the fire that you are looking at right now may come up this direction, even though the winds are blowing the fire and the smoke downhill. You can see that smoke plume moving downhill at this point.
Firefighters expect later this afternoon that the wind will actually change direction, and that it will start to burn faster uphill as well. Typically, fire burns faster uphill than downhill. In any event, conditions in this forest, though, are particularly bad because of extremely dry conditions, because of a Bark Beetle infestation, which has killed hundreds of thousands of acres of trees up here -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: All right, Miguel Marquez updating us from the San Bernardino National Forest. Thanks, Miguel. We'll check back in with you a little bit later.
Let's go now to Brian Cabell, who is with us from Simi Valley.
We saw some remarkable pictures yesterday, Brian. But you've said things have improved a little bit. Tell me a little bit about what you mean.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you take a look over my shoulder right now, you can see that the flames have died down. They've died down and then flared up over the last hour and a half since we've been here. Right now, the winds don't seem to be all that serious.
We're right at the spot where the fire approached it's very southern-most spot yesterday. Take a look right here. This is a bush of sorts that burned yesterday. But then, take a look at about 10 feet away there is a green bush over there. This is the fire line. Firefighters moved in here yesterday, set a back fire and basically pushed the fire off an apartment complex that we're standing next to. This is ash that's been left behind here. There are embers as well that we have seen from time to time -- a little of what they call "cat eyes."
Now, if you take a look over in this valley over here, let's show you some video that's occurring over there right now. This is video that we just got in, in the last half-hour or so. Firefighters are monitoring that fire right now as we speak. They are standing on an asphalt road. They are not fighting it. It is burning grassland, basically nothing terribly serious. There are no homes over there. But, again, that fire is still active right now.
We've seen it moving to the east for the last two hours or so. But, as I say, right now, Soledad, the winds have died down. Firefighters say they just have to wait and see which way the winds will be blowing today later on this afternoon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Brian, we'll continue to check in with you. Thanks, Brian, for that update.
Let's go now to San Diego County, where Tim Turner of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention joins us live.
Mr. Turner, good morning. Thanks for your time this morning.
TIM TURNER, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY: Thanks for having me, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about progress. Do you have any improvement or progress to report?
Well, the weather is in our favor, finally. The offshore winds die down today. Actually, we're expecting a day of calm winds. That's good. And then, they'll turn into normal onshore tomorrow. So, that's good news for firefighters. It's good news for homeowners here. And it should give us a chance to make some progress on what is a lot of fire line to put in.
O'BRIEN: So, with the winds dying down, that means that you can finally get some of these air tankers to come in and drop water from above, is that right?
TURNER: That's correct. Actually, Soledad, the air tankers have been flying since yesterday afternoon. We expect orders on all of our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning for aircraft, and we expect to fill them all, and we'll be flying as the incident commanders ask us.
O'BRIEN: Some of these figures, I have to say, are just boggling -- 100 miles long this fire now, 1,100 homes lost. Give me a sense of how many acres overall have been absolutely devastated by this fire?
TURNER: You know, I didn't hear all of what you said there. If you're asking me how many homes in San Diego County, what you see behind me is repeated between 300 and 500 times. Acreage, as we're going now, the Cedar Fire is up to 206,000 acres. The Paradise Fire is over 60,000 acres.
We do have good news. A fire in Otie (ph), which was 40,000 acres, was contained last night. So, we are making some progress.
O'BRIEN: That is some good news there. It's been really shocking to look at some of these pictures, where you see in the residential areas that border on some of the forest land just how the flames are either plowing right over the homes or just hop-scotching from the homes. Is that unusual? Or are you seeing something that's just completely unusual? Or is this sort of standard operating procedure in a fire of this type?
TURNER: Well, the fire of this type is not usual. This is an epic fire for San Diego County. The last fire of this proportion was in 1970 called the Laguna Fire. This really clips that.
Soledad, this fire covered 80,000 acres in 10 hours when it first started. And that is certainly a record for us. If you do the math, that's almost an acre a second, or more than that. Because the winds are driving it, the wind may go around a corner of a canyon and go one way and not go the other. So, you see this spotting destruction, where you have a house burned behind me and the trees unharmed, and you may have a house down the block that's OK. This has been phenomenal.
O'BRIEN: I want to ask you a quick question about budget cuts, because, of course, we all know about the financial problems that the state of California has had. Have you found that because of the financial problems you're reaping that now that you're being compromised in your ability to fight these fires because of what's happened in the past?
TURNER: Well, again, you broke out on part of your question. I think you're asking about budget cuts. For the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and for most of the fire services in California, the budget cuts so far haven't hit. The governor protected us this summer because of this very drought and bug kill -- the same thing last summer.
As a matter of fact, in southern California, CDF has augmented staffing. We had extra aircraft and extra hand crews on. What comes in the future, we'll have to see what happens with the new administration.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Tim Turner, thanks for joining us, and thanks for dealing with a little bit of the audio problems that we're obviously having over there this morning. We appreciate your time, and thanks to all of your folks out there, who are really doing their best to bring this thing under control. We appreciate it.
TURNER: You're welcome.
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 28, 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 turn to our top story, the fires this morning. The supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest says of the fires in southern California -- quote -- "You can dream up horror movies, and they would not be this bad." Already more than 450,000 acres have burned, more than 1,100 homes have been destroyed, and 15 people have been killed.
Overall, 10 major fires are burning in the region. An army of firefighters has been called in, more than 8,000 of them in total. And they're trying to put out those fires that extend for more than 100 miles.
We've got two live reports for you this morning. Miguel Marquez is in Rim Forest in the San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles. Brian Cabell for us in Simi Valley, which is north of Los Angeles.
Miguel -- let's begin with you. Good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.
Well, some of the latest news here is that this fire, the Old Fire that's burning below me, was apparently arson-caused, and there are two individuals who were seen throwing something from a gray van, a 2000 or 2001 Chevy or Dodge van, a few days ago in the Waterman Canyon (ph) area here in the San Bernardino National Forest. And the sheriff's department now has a sketch of one of them, and that individual is being sought, along with somebody else who may be charged not only with arson, but also with murder, because the two people -- at least two residents, elderly residents, have died from stress-related causes from this fire.
The other thing I want to show you that's going on here, where we are -- the Old Fire. The community down below us has been burning all day, and there are sort of fires all along the ridges here. The road to our south that we came up on this morning is now apparently no longer passable. There are concerns that the fire that you are looking at right now may come up this direction, even though the winds are blowing the fire and the smoke downhill. You can see that smoke plume moving downhill at this point.
Firefighters expect later this afternoon that the wind will actually change direction, and that it will start to burn faster uphill as well. Typically, fire burns faster uphill than downhill. In any event, conditions in this forest, though, are particularly bad because of extremely dry conditions, because of a Bark Beetle infestation, which has killed hundreds of thousands of acres of trees up here -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: All right, Miguel Marquez updating us from the San Bernardino National Forest. Thanks, Miguel. We'll check back in with you a little bit later.
Let's go now to Brian Cabell, who is with us from Simi Valley.
We saw some remarkable pictures yesterday, Brian. But you've said things have improved a little bit. Tell me a little bit about what you mean.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you take a look over my shoulder right now, you can see that the flames have died down. They've died down and then flared up over the last hour and a half since we've been here. Right now, the winds don't seem to be all that serious.
We're right at the spot where the fire approached it's very southern-most spot yesterday. Take a look right here. This is a bush of sorts that burned yesterday. But then, take a look at about 10 feet away there is a green bush over there. This is the fire line. Firefighters moved in here yesterday, set a back fire and basically pushed the fire off an apartment complex that we're standing next to. This is ash that's been left behind here. There are embers as well that we have seen from time to time -- a little of what they call "cat eyes."
Now, if you take a look over in this valley over here, let's show you some video that's occurring over there right now. This is video that we just got in, in the last half-hour or so. Firefighters are monitoring that fire right now as we speak. They are standing on an asphalt road. They are not fighting it. It is burning grassland, basically nothing terribly serious. There are no homes over there. But, again, that fire is still active right now.
We've seen it moving to the east for the last two hours or so. But, as I say, right now, Soledad, the winds have died down. Firefighters say they just have to wait and see which way the winds will be blowing today later on this afternoon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Brian, we'll continue to check in with you. Thanks, Brian, for that update.
Let's go now to San Diego County, where Tim Turner of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention joins us live.
Mr. Turner, good morning. Thanks for your time this morning.
TIM TURNER, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY: Thanks for having me, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about progress. Do you have any improvement or progress to report?
Well, the weather is in our favor, finally. The offshore winds die down today. Actually, we're expecting a day of calm winds. That's good. And then, they'll turn into normal onshore tomorrow. So, that's good news for firefighters. It's good news for homeowners here. And it should give us a chance to make some progress on what is a lot of fire line to put in.
O'BRIEN: So, with the winds dying down, that means that you can finally get some of these air tankers to come in and drop water from above, is that right?
TURNER: That's correct. Actually, Soledad, the air tankers have been flying since yesterday afternoon. We expect orders on all of our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning for aircraft, and we expect to fill them all, and we'll be flying as the incident commanders ask us.
O'BRIEN: Some of these figures, I have to say, are just boggling -- 100 miles long this fire now, 1,100 homes lost. Give me a sense of how many acres overall have been absolutely devastated by this fire?
TURNER: You know, I didn't hear all of what you said there. If you're asking me how many homes in San Diego County, what you see behind me is repeated between 300 and 500 times. Acreage, as we're going now, the Cedar Fire is up to 206,000 acres. The Paradise Fire is over 60,000 acres.
We do have good news. A fire in Otie (ph), which was 40,000 acres, was contained last night. So, we are making some progress.
O'BRIEN: That is some good news there. It's been really shocking to look at some of these pictures, where you see in the residential areas that border on some of the forest land just how the flames are either plowing right over the homes or just hop-scotching from the homes. Is that unusual? Or are you seeing something that's just completely unusual? Or is this sort of standard operating procedure in a fire of this type?
TURNER: Well, the fire of this type is not usual. This is an epic fire for San Diego County. The last fire of this proportion was in 1970 called the Laguna Fire. This really clips that.
Soledad, this fire covered 80,000 acres in 10 hours when it first started. And that is certainly a record for us. If you do the math, that's almost an acre a second, or more than that. Because the winds are driving it, the wind may go around a corner of a canyon and go one way and not go the other. So, you see this spotting destruction, where you have a house burned behind me and the trees unharmed, and you may have a house down the block that's OK. This has been phenomenal.
O'BRIEN: I want to ask you a quick question about budget cuts, because, of course, we all know about the financial problems that the state of California has had. Have you found that because of the financial problems you're reaping that now that you're being compromised in your ability to fight these fires because of what's happened in the past?
TURNER: Well, again, you broke out on part of your question. I think you're asking about budget cuts. For the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and for most of the fire services in California, the budget cuts so far haven't hit. The governor protected us this summer because of this very drought and bug kill -- the same thing last summer.
As a matter of fact, in southern California, CDF has augmented staffing. We had extra aircraft and extra hand crews on. What comes in the future, we'll have to see what happens with the new administration.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Tim Turner, thanks for joining us, and thanks for dealing with a little bit of the audio problems that we're obviously having over there this morning. We appreciate your time, and thanks to all of your folks out there, who are really doing their best to bring this thing under control. We appreciate it.
TURNER: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
