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American Morning
People Seeing What's Left of Their Homes
Aired November 03, 2003 - 07:38 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: Weary firefighters in California are getting a helping hand from the weather as they try to get the upper hand in the battle against wildfires. But for residents who were forced out by the flames, the time has now come to see just what's left of their homes.
Brian Cabell is live for us in San Bernardino, which is east of Los Angeles -- Brian, good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Let me set the scene here, first of all. We're outside a hangar at the San Bernardino Airport, which, for the last week or so, has served as home to more than 1,000 people. It's more than just a home. It's essentially a village. What you have inside is a dining room. You have a childcare center. You have a kennel. You have a place to vote, even, if you wanted to. So anything you needed here for the last week, you could basically find.
But as you say, people are finally returning home. Mandatory evacuations lifted for some mountain communities yesterday, but a lot of people going home, of course, to burnt out homes. Travel is very difficult. We have mud slides now, amazingly, over the last couple of days. We've had rain, even some snow, so some of the roads have been blocked by mud slides.
Also, another problem when they're going home, no utilities. No electricity. Twenty-four thousand people in this particular fire still without electricity. No gas in some cases, no water. So as one authority said, these people who are going home, they are essentially camping. Whether they'll be here camping for a week or weeks, we simply do not know.
But once again, at this particular shelter, which has been a huge one -- it's the size, really, of a football field and larger -- there are still about 900 plus people inside here and also out in the parking lot. Rather primitive conditions here, but probably, Soledad, much more primitive conditions up on the mountain, which is just about 10 miles behind us -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: And, yes, what's left of their homes, no question about that.
Brian, thanks for that update.
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 November 3, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Weary firefighters in California are getting a helping hand from the weather as they try to get the upper hand in the battle against wildfires. But for residents who were forced out by the flames, the time has now come to see just what's left of their homes.
Brian Cabell is live for us in San Bernardino, which is east of Los Angeles -- Brian, good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Let me set the scene here, first of all. We're outside a hangar at the San Bernardino Airport, which, for the last week or so, has served as home to more than 1,000 people. It's more than just a home. It's essentially a village. What you have inside is a dining room. You have a childcare center. You have a kennel. You have a place to vote, even, if you wanted to. So anything you needed here for the last week, you could basically find.
But as you say, people are finally returning home. Mandatory evacuations lifted for some mountain communities yesterday, but a lot of people going home, of course, to burnt out homes. Travel is very difficult. We have mud slides now, amazingly, over the last couple of days. We've had rain, even some snow, so some of the roads have been blocked by mud slides.
Also, another problem when they're going home, no utilities. No electricity. Twenty-four thousand people in this particular fire still without electricity. No gas in some cases, no water. So as one authority said, these people who are going home, they are essentially camping. Whether they'll be here camping for a week or weeks, we simply do not know.
But once again, at this particular shelter, which has been a huge one -- it's the size, really, of a football field and larger -- there are still about 900 plus people inside here and also out in the parking lot. Rather primitive conditions here, but probably, Soledad, much more primitive conditions up on the mountain, which is just about 10 miles behind us -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: And, yes, what's left of their homes, no question about that.
Brian, thanks for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
