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CNN Live At Daybreak

Break in Weather in Southern California

Aired October 29, 2003 - 05:01   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is finally a break in the weather for those fire ravaged areas of southern California. The fires have now killed 16 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes. Slower wind speeds are helping in some areas, but the change means three major fires pose new threats to mountain communities. The historic gold mining town of Julian in San Diego County is threatened by Cedar Fire, which -- some of the buildings there already have been burned.
The Stevenson Ranch community in L.A. County's Simi Valley was threatened by flames until firefighters beat it back, at least for now. And in San Bernardino County, firefighters intentionally set fires. They were trying to provide a buffer from the main fire, which has already consumed 90,000 acres.

Our Martin Savidge was in Simi Valley's Stevenson Ranch community when firefighters drew a line in the dirt, changing their approach from defending against the flames to attacking them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the end of the day Tuesday, there was a new and dangerous twist in the Simi Valley fire, as the flames took a new turn. No longer driven by Santa Ana winds, the blaze began moving in the opposite direction. Stevenson Ranch in L.A. County had been relatively safe. Now the community was in the fire's new path.

Firefighters rushed in, residents rushed out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they gave us like 15 minutes.

SAVIDGE: The day had started with hope and promise. For the first time since the Simi Valley fire began Saturday, fire teams went on the offensive. Six large bulldozers worked to draw a line in the dirt around the massive perimeter, quickly doing what would have taken hundreds of firefighters hours of backbreaking labor. From the air, helicopters and airplanes kept up a near non-stop barrage of water and flame retardant, hoping to push the fire back on its heels.

Just off Highway 118 by the Toys R Us and Best Buys, an instant heliport was born. Just up the road in a park, another landing zone. From here, firefighting choppers can reload, drop and repeat in minutes. Million dollar birds protecting million dollar homes. \

Veteran L.A. County Black Hawk pilot Vance Calbig says they can do 100 runs before the sun goes down, saying they don't fight fires, they buy time.

VANCE CALBIG, L.A. COUNTY: We try to keep it away from people's homes, away from valuable things. Life, property are central.

SAVIDGE: Just as our interview ended, his pager goes off.

CALBIG: ... from the houses. OK. Thanks.

SAVIDGE: His rest is over.

CALBIG: There's, it sounds like a new fire start. So we're on our way. See you.

SAVIDGE: Vance Calbig is off to make another down payment on a new and desperate need for time.

Martin Savidge, CNN, at the Simi Valley fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the San Diego County community of Scripps Ranch has suffered the biggest losses. Eleven deaths, at least 350 homes destroyed and some 1,500 people from the community gathered at Saint Gregory's Church. They included many of those who lost their homes. Some were looking for help, others offering it. This morning, the Scripps Ranch Community Center will host Federal Emergency Management officials and insurance agents, as well as city and county officials, to talk to devastated families about what help is available.

Many California residents barely escaped with their lives.

Reporter Carol LeBeau CNN's San Diego affiliate KGTV spoke with some fire victims about their ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LEBEAU, KGTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 3:00 a.m. Sunday, Wildcat Canyon. Joe Alvarez was there.

JOE ALVAREZ, BURN PATIENT: We were just running down Wildcat and there was flames on both sides of the street coming at us, and the embers. And the roar, I swear the winds were strong enough to blow you over.

LEBEAU: 10:00 a.m. Sunday in Alpine. Joan Coffey was inside her home with her husband Clarence.

JOAN COFFEY, BURN PATIENT: We were just blasted right out. It came up, you know, up the hill so quick.

LEBEAU: They are among 14 burn victims being treated at UCSD's Regional Burn Center.

DR. DANIEL LOZANO, UCSD REGIONAL BURN CENTER: Only a couple of our patients were actually trapped inside structures. The majority of them we've received were in vehicles attempting to flee the fire. ALVAREZ: You couldn't imagine anything worse. It was a huge roar. Fire and smoke, my hair and everything was singing as we were running. And I didn't realize that, you know, for about an hour and a half, that the burns were so bad.

LEBEAU: Under these bandages, Joe's legs are badly burned. But he feels lucky.

ALVAREZ: I can't believe we lived through that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

LEBEAU: Joan Coffey's lungs are scorched from the heat of the fire. She opened her front door not realizing what was on the other side.

COFFEY: It's just like you was in a furnace. You know, you opened it up and how it flares? That's how it was.

LEBEAU: She found her husband Clarence unconscious in the garage.

COFFEY: When I -- I had to pick him up and went in to call 911 and tell them to get here right away, that I needed help.

LEBEAU: He's among five victims still on life support in the burn unit, battling to overcome burns to their flesh and lungs.

LOZANO: We're just very lucky that as few people were burned as we have seen. I had anticipated many more patients than we have received.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Sad news.

We want to find out more about the weather there, because the winds have calmed now, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit.

COSTELLO: And will that help?

MYERS: It will. They're going to shift around, Carol. And, in fact, this is the latest picture we have from last night before the sun went down. Yesterday all day the winds were coming in from the north and from the northeast. Now you see a little bit of a plume coming in in from the east here. There's the Simi Fire right there near Santa Barbara and Oxnard.

Also here, across Los Angeles, the old fire and all this in there, that's all blowing now from east to west. Even San Diego, a big plume right here blowing from east to west. That means the winds have begun to shift, and I'll show you why. The high pressure is beginning to move off to the east and so we're getting the other side of the high. We're getting now the south side or, in fact, even the southwest side of the high pressure center here.

The San Bernardino Mountains the smoke right over Los Angeles, completely covering that up yesterday. And then Santa Barbara, you're seeing just the wind coming in from the east.

Here's the wind from yesterday, a little bit out of the northeast. Now we're shifting this. As the high moves east, the winds are coming in from the east. That's right now.

Then we have a cold front coming in from the northwest and we're going to shift it all around again and by tomorrow we have a complete onshore flow. And, Carol, the problem with this onshore flow is that at times we are going to see wind gusts tomorrow at maybe 15 to 20, 25 miles per hour, just from a different direction. And a wind is a wind, whether it's a dry wind or a wet wind. Firefighters don't want that period.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding.

All right, Chad.

MYERS: They want this, all this rain on the East Coast. I'll get to that in a few.

COSTELLO: Yes. If only we could just move it out west.

MYERS: I know.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: You can track the latest on the California wildfires from any computer by going to our Web site. There you will find exclusive video of the fires and helpful interactive features. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

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 29, 2003 - 05:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There is finally a break in the weather for those fire ravaged areas of southern California. The fires have now killed 16 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes. Slower wind speeds are helping in some areas, but the change means three major fires pose new threats to mountain communities. The historic gold mining town of Julian in San Diego County is threatened by Cedar Fire, which -- some of the buildings there already have been burned.
The Stevenson Ranch community in L.A. County's Simi Valley was threatened by flames until firefighters beat it back, at least for now. And in San Bernardino County, firefighters intentionally set fires. They were trying to provide a buffer from the main fire, which has already consumed 90,000 acres.

Our Martin Savidge was in Simi Valley's Stevenson Ranch community when firefighters drew a line in the dirt, changing their approach from defending against the flames to attacking them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the end of the day Tuesday, there was a new and dangerous twist in the Simi Valley fire, as the flames took a new turn. No longer driven by Santa Ana winds, the blaze began moving in the opposite direction. Stevenson Ranch in L.A. County had been relatively safe. Now the community was in the fire's new path.

Firefighters rushed in, residents rushed out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they gave us like 15 minutes.

SAVIDGE: The day had started with hope and promise. For the first time since the Simi Valley fire began Saturday, fire teams went on the offensive. Six large bulldozers worked to draw a line in the dirt around the massive perimeter, quickly doing what would have taken hundreds of firefighters hours of backbreaking labor. From the air, helicopters and airplanes kept up a near non-stop barrage of water and flame retardant, hoping to push the fire back on its heels.

Just off Highway 118 by the Toys R Us and Best Buys, an instant heliport was born. Just up the road in a park, another landing zone. From here, firefighting choppers can reload, drop and repeat in minutes. Million dollar birds protecting million dollar homes. \

Veteran L.A. County Black Hawk pilot Vance Calbig says they can do 100 runs before the sun goes down, saying they don't fight fires, they buy time.

VANCE CALBIG, L.A. COUNTY: We try to keep it away from people's homes, away from valuable things. Life, property are central.

SAVIDGE: Just as our interview ended, his pager goes off.

CALBIG: ... from the houses. OK. Thanks.

SAVIDGE: His rest is over.

CALBIG: There's, it sounds like a new fire start. So we're on our way. See you.

SAVIDGE: Vance Calbig is off to make another down payment on a new and desperate need for time.

Martin Savidge, CNN, at the Simi Valley fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the San Diego County community of Scripps Ranch has suffered the biggest losses. Eleven deaths, at least 350 homes destroyed and some 1,500 people from the community gathered at Saint Gregory's Church. They included many of those who lost their homes. Some were looking for help, others offering it. This morning, the Scripps Ranch Community Center will host Federal Emergency Management officials and insurance agents, as well as city and county officials, to talk to devastated families about what help is available.

Many California residents barely escaped with their lives.

Reporter Carol LeBeau CNN's San Diego affiliate KGTV spoke with some fire victims about their ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LEBEAU, KGTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 3:00 a.m. Sunday, Wildcat Canyon. Joe Alvarez was there.

JOE ALVAREZ, BURN PATIENT: We were just running down Wildcat and there was flames on both sides of the street coming at us, and the embers. And the roar, I swear the winds were strong enough to blow you over.

LEBEAU: 10:00 a.m. Sunday in Alpine. Joan Coffey was inside her home with her husband Clarence.

JOAN COFFEY, BURN PATIENT: We were just blasted right out. It came up, you know, up the hill so quick.

LEBEAU: They are among 14 burn victims being treated at UCSD's Regional Burn Center.

DR. DANIEL LOZANO, UCSD REGIONAL BURN CENTER: Only a couple of our patients were actually trapped inside structures. The majority of them we've received were in vehicles attempting to flee the fire. ALVAREZ: You couldn't imagine anything worse. It was a huge roar. Fire and smoke, my hair and everything was singing as we were running. And I didn't realize that, you know, for about an hour and a half, that the burns were so bad.

LEBEAU: Under these bandages, Joe's legs are badly burned. But he feels lucky.

ALVAREZ: I can't believe we lived through that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

LEBEAU: Joan Coffey's lungs are scorched from the heat of the fire. She opened her front door not realizing what was on the other side.

COFFEY: It's just like you was in a furnace. You know, you opened it up and how it flares? That's how it was.

LEBEAU: She found her husband Clarence unconscious in the garage.

COFFEY: When I -- I had to pick him up and went in to call 911 and tell them to get here right away, that I needed help.

LEBEAU: He's among five victims still on life support in the burn unit, battling to overcome burns to their flesh and lungs.

LOZANO: We're just very lucky that as few people were burned as we have seen. I had anticipated many more patients than we have received.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Sad news.

We want to find out more about the weather there, because the winds have calmed now, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit.

COSTELLO: And will that help?

MYERS: It will. They're going to shift around, Carol. And, in fact, this is the latest picture we have from last night before the sun went down. Yesterday all day the winds were coming in from the north and from the northeast. Now you see a little bit of a plume coming in in from the east here. There's the Simi Fire right there near Santa Barbara and Oxnard.

Also here, across Los Angeles, the old fire and all this in there, that's all blowing now from east to west. Even San Diego, a big plume right here blowing from east to west. That means the winds have begun to shift, and I'll show you why. The high pressure is beginning to move off to the east and so we're getting the other side of the high. We're getting now the south side or, in fact, even the southwest side of the high pressure center here.

The San Bernardino Mountains the smoke right over Los Angeles, completely covering that up yesterday. And then Santa Barbara, you're seeing just the wind coming in from the east.

Here's the wind from yesterday, a little bit out of the northeast. Now we're shifting this. As the high moves east, the winds are coming in from the east. That's right now.

Then we have a cold front coming in from the northwest and we're going to shift it all around again and by tomorrow we have a complete onshore flow. And, Carol, the problem with this onshore flow is that at times we are going to see wind gusts tomorrow at maybe 15 to 20, 25 miles per hour, just from a different direction. And a wind is a wind, whether it's a dry wind or a wet wind. Firefighters don't want that period.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding.

All right, Chad.

MYERS: They want this, all this rain on the East Coast. I'll get to that in a few.

COSTELLO: Yes. If only we could just move it out west.

MYERS: I know.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: You can track the latest on the California wildfires from any computer by going to our Web site. There you will find exclusive video of the fires and helpful interactive features. The address, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

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