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CNN Live At Daybreak
Favorable Weather Makes Officials in California Optimistic
Aired October 31, 2003 - 06:02 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: It is getting better, but many fires are still burning in Ventura County, L.A. County, and San Bernardino and Riverside Counties to the east of Los Angeles, and also to the south in San Diego County. But there is moisture in the air. Is rain falling?
Live to the community of Running Springs and our Keith Oppenheim.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
I'm in Running Springs, and the town still stands, if you can see what is behind me, despite the fact that there is fire all around us. It's quite cold out here, and that is good for the firefighters to possibly gain some edge today. But still, the crews are very much aware of the death of a firefighter this week.
So, here in San Bernardino County, while they are still trying to save homes, they have to watch out for their own lives as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have a high danger of these trees falling. And as you can hear, some of them have already dropped real quick. And so, we're trying to keep our crews somewhat mobile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: In fact, crews are trying to catch the fire. That means using bulldozers and heavy equipment to push the fire in a direction so it can ultimately be surrounded.
Now, while cooler weather is helping out a lot, the winds are still pushing the fire, and evacuations have continued in a resort area called Big Bear.
In San Diego County, the Cedar Fire has burned more than 270,000 acres. In the threatened city of Julian, some residents refuse to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can save this house pretty easily, hopefully with help. If not, I'm going to do it with my own hands, because this is my home and it's all I've got.
(END VIDEO CLIP) OPPENHEIM: Investigators are still looking for at least one suspect for arson, the person who may have caused this fire, the Old Fire in San Bernardino County. They have received hundreds of tip calls. They have a $110,000 reward, Carol. But so far, nobody is in custody.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Yes. I want to talk a little bit about the weather, because we've been mentioning there is moisture in the air all morning long. Tell us about the weather there now.
OPPENHEIM: We just ran into some firefighters to ask them how things are going. It's very foggy out here, which makes moving around difficult. So, the bad side of that is that it's tough for the firefighters to even be able to see where they're going. It's treacherous.
On the other hand, the moisture is good in terms of stopping the fire. So, you have the same sort of combination that we talked about yesterday. It's difficult to get around, but the moisture in the air is definitely going to help in the ultimate conquering of this fire.
COSTELLO: Yes, we can only hope for a downpour now. Keith Oppenheim reporting live for us 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.
Optimistic>
Aired October 31, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is getting better, but many fires are still burning in Ventura County, L.A. County, and San Bernardino and Riverside Counties to the east of Los Angeles, and also to the south in San Diego County. But there is moisture in the air. Is rain falling?
Live to the community of Running Springs and our Keith Oppenheim.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
I'm in Running Springs, and the town still stands, if you can see what is behind me, despite the fact that there is fire all around us. It's quite cold out here, and that is good for the firefighters to possibly gain some edge today. But still, the crews are very much aware of the death of a firefighter this week.
So, here in San Bernardino County, while they are still trying to save homes, they have to watch out for their own lives as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have a high danger of these trees falling. And as you can hear, some of them have already dropped real quick. And so, we're trying to keep our crews somewhat mobile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: In fact, crews are trying to catch the fire. That means using bulldozers and heavy equipment to push the fire in a direction so it can ultimately be surrounded.
Now, while cooler weather is helping out a lot, the winds are still pushing the fire, and evacuations have continued in a resort area called Big Bear.
In San Diego County, the Cedar Fire has burned more than 270,000 acres. In the threatened city of Julian, some residents refuse to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can save this house pretty easily, hopefully with help. If not, I'm going to do it with my own hands, because this is my home and it's all I've got.
(END VIDEO CLIP) OPPENHEIM: Investigators are still looking for at least one suspect for arson, the person who may have caused this fire, the Old Fire in San Bernardino County. They have received hundreds of tip calls. They have a $110,000 reward, Carol. But so far, nobody is in custody.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Yes. I want to talk a little bit about the weather, because we've been mentioning there is moisture in the air all morning long. Tell us about the weather there now.
OPPENHEIM: We just ran into some firefighters to ask them how things are going. It's very foggy out here, which makes moving around difficult. So, the bad side of that is that it's tough for the firefighters to even be able to see where they're going. It's treacherous.
On the other hand, the moisture is good in terms of stopping the fire. So, you have the same sort of combination that we talked about yesterday. It's difficult to get around, but the moisture in the air is definitely going to help in the ultimate conquering of this fire.
COSTELLO: Yes, we can only hope for a downpour now. Keith Oppenheim reporting live for us 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.
Optimistic>