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Wildfire In Southern California Has Consumed 500 Acres, 2 Homes; Thousands Are Under Mandatory Evacuation Orders

Aired March 11, 2007 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Don't know if that is one with the fire department. But we know the fire teams are on the ground. Yes, it is there, trying to douse the flames there with some sort of retardant.
But with those Santa Ana winds, very serious. Making it very difficult there. That in combination, as I said, with the heat and the dryness. Jacqui Jeras is in the severe weather center keeping a close watch on the situation there. Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Fred. What strikes me most about looking at these pictures right now, that we've been following this fire since early this morning and conditions look so much worse than even what we saw an hour ago.

Before we were seeing maybe some patches and things and now we are seeing homes being threatened. People are being evacuated. There you can see the helicopters going and those billowing smoke clouds just moving. The winds are whipping right now. Coming out of the northeast and they're a hot, dry wind. And those winds of course fanning the flames and really making conditions worse.

We've had gusts almost up to hurricane force this morning. The winds are down a little bit at this hour compared to when we were seeing those gusts but still 30, 40, 50 miles per hour. Certainly hampering the efforts here.

The vegetation is extremely dry. Relative humidity down in the single digits for percentage which is just unbelievable and the temperature here in Anaheim Hills is 94 degrees.

If we could do a split blocks here and I want to show you kind the area. We've got a Google Earth animation that I want to show you at this hour. Here you can see. There's the Los Angeles area. Here's Anaheim itself and here's the Anaheim Hills.

There you can see, this is 241. This is the highway. And we think this is the area up here that's being threatened. I'm trying to get a little bit of lat/long to confirm that right now. But we think that is the area where the fire's beginning to spread right now and also notice the tread here. It's very, very hilly. Those winds go down those slopes. They heat things up, they dry things up, and that continues to advance that fire.

So this is certainly not a good situation here. And there you can see, all of this area here. This is where things are very populated. Over here, this is more national parky kind of area. And again this is that 241 highway. And near the windy ridge, if you know that location very well. I've got some of the wind gusts reports to show you from earlier this morning.

And a look at some of these. Laguna Peak 73 miles per hour. It's 74 miles per hour to reach hurricane strength. Forty six miles an hour there in Malibu Hills. Mill Creek 41 miles per power. Oxnard at 36. And Point Mugu at 31 miles per hour. So those gusts really pushing in, going down through the valleys, going down through those canyons and they accelerate as they do that.

Now weather conditions as a whole across the southwest, high pressure dominating the weather conditions here bringing in those northeasterly winds. It those offshore winds that are causing the problems. And this ridge is going to be staying put. So these weather conditions are going to be sticking around, we think, at least the next several days and overall, we're expecting predominantly offshore flow throughout much of the rest of the week.

The Pacific Northwest is getting all of the moisture and everybody in the Southwest here is just cut off. So Fredricka, again, we've had at least 150 acres burned. You can see conditions getting worse. I think we're going to see those numbers continue to jump right now. At least 200 people on the ground trying to fight this thing. At least two helicopters right now. Look at that neighborhood. That looks like very expensive homes. Just not very far away. Those flames coming down those hills right now.

WHITFIELD: And very frightening situation, too Jacqui, for the firefighters on the ground. Those battling the flames on the ground and from the air with these winds. These unpredictable winds that could certainly shift, right?

JERAS: Yeah, absolutely. The fire itself, Fredricka, kind of creates it's own atmosphere, too. We can get things like heat vortexes. And the differences in temperature from what's happening on your surface compared to the fire itself, that can help change the wind direction as well. So they're fighting that.

Not to mention 94 degrees. Look at the gear that these guys are wearing and the terrain they're having to walking through to fight that. So these are very dangerous conditions for these guys and girls to be out in.

WHITFIELD: And that, the area here is under a red flag alert. Simply meaning, because there's a higher propensity for flames like this, for brushfires like, because it's been so dry, is that what it means?

JERAS: Yeah, we call a red flag warning. It does cover a good portion of Los Angeles County, Orange County, into Ventura County, extending almost into the San Diego area. The coastal areas not as dry. They get a little bit of that influence of the ocean. But you get inland just a little bit and that's where we have all the warnings that are posted right now and that has to do with how strong the winds are and how warm the temperatures are and as well as with what humidity is and we consider critical levels when you are down 30 percent, Fredricka.

So when we're looking at five percent humidity right now, I can't imagine what would that feel like to your body to be outside.

WHITFIELD: And that's pretty unusual for this time of year there?

JERAS: Well, not really. We get the Santa Ana winds all the time. January/February and stretching into March at times. But you know the humidity this low really impressive.

WHITFIELD: Wow. That is incredible. We're continuing to monitor these pictures here, these live pictures of this, what seems to be a very fast-moving fire.

We're hearing everywhere from 150 to 300 acres that these flames have consumed. Oh so close to the residences. When this shot pulls out, you'll be able to see just below this hillside. It looks like a pretty significant community of homes. They've evacuated about 200 homes.

But now we understand police are also going door-to-door, perhaps to extend that evacuation area to try to get people to get a move out. I wonder how dangerous it is, too, when you end up putting so many people on the roadways to try to get out when these winds are so unpredictable.

JERAS: Yeah, look at that, too, Fredricka. Notice the linear structure there of that fire line. That looks like that might be a fire line right there that they try to back build so that the fire will try to protect these homes.

And then you can see that one area in advance of the line, where the chopper just put down the flame retardant. That can be how a fire can jump. So if they can get that part out there and that fire line back built, they might be having some success there.

WHITFIELD: Great, all right, Jacqui, stay put. We're going to talk to Captain Stephen Miller with Orange County Fire Authority right now. And so, captain, how are you able to look at this fire and know exactly how to attack it?

CAPT. STEPHEN MILLER, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY: Well, you know, anytime we're up against wild land interface areas, always area of concern and of course we have all these breached non (ph) combustible roofs. For the most part, that's the situation we're looking at. Most of these homes are newer homes and have that. We've had two homes that are damaged.

I haven't got the exact damage figures on those. I don't believe if they were completely lost. I think, ironically, both have wood shake roofs. The only ones on the street in those areas and received some embers fall out from the fire.

You know, a while back, things were look good for us and with these erratic winds, we're experiencing winds from 29 to 41 miles per hour right now. Real low relative humidity, high heat, and those are all factors to contribute to this fire. So it makes it difficult. Face difficult terrain. We're utilizing aircraft tremendously, as you can see from our footage there. And we're just -- our number one goal is to prevent any homes from being lost. And hopefully the people are cooperating out there. I know that's always difficult when you are asked to evacuate your home.

WHITFIELD: And when you said a while back, things are were looking good, meaning a few hours, or few days ago when this fire started?

Describe how long has this been raging?

MILLER: Well the fire started just before 8:00 this morning. So it's been a few hours. But there was a little low in the weather -- in the winds, I should say. Where the fire was actually kind of back burning on itself. And we were trying to take advantage of that.

Unfortunately the winds kicked up again and anytime you have a wind-driven fire like this in difficult terrain, and the dry vegetation we have out here. We have about a nine percent humidity rate right now. So that's very dry. It just makes it very difficult.

For homeowners that are downwind, in the smoke I know we're getting a lot phone calls. People asking if they should evacuate or not? My number one answer is if you feel uncomfortable or you're downwind, don't wait for that order to evacuate. Get out of area. Go somewhere else. Just rest assure that we have a tremendous amount units coming out from all over the state right now and they're all out there, doing their due diligence to protect the homes.

WHITFIELD: You're talking about the challenges on a wind-driven fire like this. We're seeing in the live pictures, a couple of choppers dropping retardants, and you also mentioned the terrain, which makes it very difficult, I imagine, for these firefighters to fight on the ground. So what will be your priority, to fight it from above? Or to try to get on the ground to create more fire lines?

MILLER: Well, it's an orchestrated effort, if you will. Obviously, our number one priority is the homes. And with that, that's the homes where we're trying to protect them is usually at the head of the fire. So we get the aircraft in there at head of the fire, to knock the fire down. The ground crews can kind of come up and mop those up.

We also have crews on ground with protection lines surroundings homes where they're threatened by the fires. And they would be able to make a defensive stand. So it's kind of a combined effort. But the aircraft definitely assists us with getting to the head of the fire, which is the most dangerous area.

But something to keep in mind with these roofs, if you have a wood shake roof, you can be far downwind from fire, and not even near the fire whatsoever and those embers can float in that heat column for quite a distance and that's what you've got to keep an eye out for. And my understanding is that so far, from what I understand, the only two homes involved and again I think they contained to roof fires were wood shake roofs. All of the others are doing well with their noncombustible roofs.

WHITFIELD: Captain, any idea how this fire got started?

MILLER: Well, we have a vehicle at the site of the toll way at 241 at point of origin. It looks like the vehicle was there, possibly stolen vehicle. And not sure if the vehicle was stolen on fire or if the catalytic vehicle started the fire but that's what we're focusing on now, that vehicle.

WHITFIELD: All right. Captain Stephen Miller, thanks so much, with the Orange County Fire Department. Thanks for your time. I know that you have to get back to work and try to attack this fire, now raging somewhere between 150 to 300 acres burning there in Orange County.

You're looking at perhaps one of the two homes that the captain was describing. That has been damaged, if not destroyed from the fire. They have evacuated about 200 homes and now they're going door- to-door as well to try to get more homes evacuated. The problem here, this is a wind-driven fire. Humidity very low.

Our Jacqui Jeras mentioned about five percent humidity. The captain mentioning about nine percent humidity. Very low. It's very dry. The winds are kicking up close to hurricane-force strength. Seventy three miles per hour in some parts. On the low end about 30 miles per hour. Making it very difficult for the firefighting efforts there. But you see right to in live pictures, they're in the air, dropping retardant, and they're also on the ground as well.

Anaheim Hills city spokesperson John Nicoletti is with us now. What are your greatest concerns, Mr. Nicoletti?

JOHN NICOLETTI, ANAHEIM CITY SPOKESMAN (on phone): Well, at this point obviously our greatest concerns are trying to stop this fire. Obviously the difficult part is because the winds, it's been extremely difficult to try to gauge where this fire is headed.

As you mentioned in the lead, it's very dry conditions. California, Southern California is in a very, very low rainfall state for this time of year. So we have a lot of dry brush that's being consumed at this point.

WHITFIELD: All right, how do you get the word out to so many folks there? So often you hear folks who say, I am going to try to protect my home on my own. I've got the sprinklers on, etc. How do you make sure that everyone who needs to evacuate, does?

NICOLETTI: Yeah, the easiest way for us in this situation especially given the fact that this is a Sunday morning here in Southern California, is going door-to-door with our Anaheim Police Department. You've got jurisdictions from throughout Southern California that are giving us aid which we greatly appreciate. But really it comes down to a lot of different ways. Up on the city Web site and as many different ways as we can put people in touch with the information that they need, so they get the best information as quickly as possible.

This is a fast-moving fire. And it changes every minute. So it really, really is important that people stay in touch and get in touch -- get the best information as quickly as possible.

WHITFIELD: Mr. Nicoletti, without giving us your street address is your home anywhere near the flames?

NICOLETTI: Well, I certainly do appreciate your concern. It's wonderful of you to ask, but no at this point, my home is not threatened. And I do appreciate it. But I'm standing next to a lot of homeowners here at a command post very close to the flames. And they're watching with great concern. So I appreciate your good thoughts that I will pass along to them.

WHITFIELD: We certainly hope for the best, for you and all those firefighting efforts there. John Nicoletti, thanks so much.

CNN's Peter Viles is in Anaheim at Disneyland, where I understand, Peter, you can see the flames from where you are?

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, can't see the flames from where we are, but a big portion of the sky is just real smoky and kind of a brownish/gray that seems to be getting darker by the minute. As I say, can't see the flames, but a big portion of the sky. And I think it is too to my east but I'm a little turned around as I might imagine after a day at Disneyland with the kids but the sky is darkening as we speak.

And the park's operating normally. It's very crowded. It's a beautiful day here, other than the fact that, say, a third of the sky in one direction is a grayish/brown and getting darker.

WHITFIELD: Wow, I would imagine, Peter, that a lot of other folks who live maybe in Anaheim Hills, not far from Disneyland, who may be at park there with you and enjoying and seeing those plumes of smoke, might get a little correspond and wonder if they need to be heading toward their homes. Where fire officials are saying actually stay away from your homes if you live anywhere near there.

VILES: I would think in you live in that direction from the park, this is the kind of thing that would get your attention right away. And you might even if you head home. And if you are in the park today, would not know what that advice is. Of course most the folks coming to the park is probably coming from greater distances than that. And as I say, it's very crowded here.

As you probably know we are having a bit of a heat wave in Southern California. So the park is crowded and in most places it's sunny but these clouds are obscuring the sunny sky in at least one direction.

WHITFIELD: Peter Viles at nearby Disneyland in Anaheim. Thanks for taking the time now to dial in. We appreciate it.

Jacqui Jeras again in the severe weather center. And what's remarkable here, Jacqui, when you talk about these dry conditions, the heat, these winds that are near hurricane force winds, clearly it doesn't take much to spark a fire and now we're hearing from a fire official that possibly it may be from stolen vehicle, that may have either somehow ignited because of some mechanical problems or set on fire. And they believe that is what caused all of this.

JERAS: Sure and you get those winds blowing through those flames and that's probably what made it catch into the grassy area because the vegetation area there, Fredricka, is so dried out. Just the chaparral, the grasses and the bushes and trees have very little moisture in them. So it doesn't take much for that fire to spread very, very rapidly. Now the hurricane-force winds or near hurricane- force winds that we had were, those were earlier this morning. So that probably helped it start as this started about 8:00 in the morning.

Now the winds have subsided since that time. They're strong right now, but not as bad as they were, say six hours ago. So the winds in the area now are gusting between about 30 and 45 miles per hour. Which of course still terrible, but not quite as strong up into the 70s right now. But you get it through some of those canyons and passes and that's when those winds really, really begin accelerate.

The winds predominantly coming in from the northeast. Kind of a classic Santa Ana situation that's are set up and with the atmospheric conditions the way that they are today. The temperatures here are in the 90s. So this is near record heat. In fact, we'll probably see a lot of records set across parts of Southern California for today. So you've got the high temperatures, you've got the low relative humidity and those strong northeasterly winds and we're really not anticipating them not to lighten up at all throughout the afternoon for today.

In fact they will probably strengthen a little bit again until the sun goes down. Once the sun goes back down, temperatures start to cool. We call it the mixing, it will kind of wind down a little bit. So we'll watch for those begin to lighten up.

But they are likely to pick up again for tomorrow. So hopefully, firefighters can get a handle on this thing today. Because it they don't, they're going to have additional problems when those winds kick back up once again for tomorrow and we actually think the weather pattern throughout much of the week this week is going to be favorable for more of these fires to burn.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

JERAS: We talked about it a little bit yesterday, a word to our producers, I said hey guys, we're probably going to see some fires tomorrow. Critical fire danger area. We see this kind of pattern very often here. So the warnings were out. The red flag warnings were issued. Of course -- oh, look at all of those homes. Those are very impressive homes all in this one corner along the 241. They're very near there. You can see a little bit of the smoky area. It looks like some maybe spot fires even in there right now.

WHITFIELD: One thing interesting that we heard from the captain with the fire department is that most of these homes are new homes which means they were built under newer restrictions. And most of them are probably tiled roofs as opposed to the wooden roofs of the two homes that have reportedly already been damaged because of their wooden roofs.

So that is encouraging, but you can see right now the barricades being set up for folks who might want to go back to their homes are probably being turned around. Because you could see on one side, they have closed off access and perhaps, I don't know if they will stop that gentleman right there in that pick-up truck.

This red flag alert, Jacqui, has it been up for some time? And people had a pretty good idea about the likelihood of any kind of fire dangers?

JERAS: Yeah. People are paying attention to the weathers condition, certainly. And if you've got a NOAA weather radio. We've been talking a lot about your NOAA weather radio and the tornadoes as of late.

But that's another resource that people can have when a fire alert is issued. You will get that information issued on your NOAA weather radio. So that will alert you and it will also let you know, I believe if you need to be evacuated as well. So that's another resource that you could know.

If you're watching the weather at all this weekend, as a lot of people do in Southern California and especially when temperatures are going to be this beautiful and you want to go outside in these kind of conditions, I think that people probably knew the threat was out there. Of course there is no way to predict that this would be happening obviously in your backyard.

WHITFIELD: Well, well these pictures are heartbreaking and frightening especially if you do have a home there in Southern California because the plumes of smoke are dense and it really does look like a very widespread area. Officials are saying up to 300 acres burning there in Southern California and Orange County. Let's hope that they can contain it to that. Jacqui, thanks so much.

While we continue to watch these disturbing images coming out of Orange County, California, when we come back in the NEWSROOM, we'll have some good news coming out of Texas. Finally, a baby that had been missing, snatched from the hospital just three days old. Now today, four days old and now back with mama and dada. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Thirty plus mile per hour wind gusts are fueling this wildfire in southern California. Hundreds of homes are threatened and evacuated. At least two have burned. We'll bring you developments as they happen. Meantime, new developments now in that case of that brazen baby snatching. Which has finally come to a happy ending. The infant has been found and is safe and found.

Here is how it all happened. Lubbock police get a call yesterday morning. A three-day-old baby was taken from her mother by a woman impersonating a hospital employee.

An Amber alert is issued and tips come in that the baby and suspect may be in Clovis, New Mexico. About 100 miles away. Sure enough that's where police find the baby and the suspect.

The baby I said to be in good shape. Her alleged abductor 21- year-old Rayshaun Parson is now in police custody. She faces possible federal kidnapping charges.

And just a short time ago, a very emotional reunion for the mom and dad and baby, who doctors say is in pretty good shape, despite her ordeal. CNN's Keith Oppenheim is live in Lubbock with the very latest. Keith?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, somewhere in this hospital at the Covenant Medical Center, there has been a happy reunion going on this afternoon between the baby whose name is Mychael Dawodu, she's just four days old now.

And the new information now is police, while they have not released the name the suspect, we, CNN, contacted the Curry County detention center in New Mexico. And asked about inmates who have been recently booked and we were told from the detention center that 21- year-old Rayshaun Parson is being held as a fugitive of justice from Lubbock County for kidnapping.

It was last night, as you indicated, that Lubbock police got a tip that the woman who was seen on the hospital surveillance video was with the baby in Clovis. We're going to hear now from Lieutenant Scott Hudgens from the Lubbock police about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. SCOTT HUDGENS, LUBBOCK, TEXAS POLICE: The nature of the tip was basically that a suspect had been seen in the Clovis area that matched the description of the person that we were look for.

And the caller also gave a general area of where this person had been seen. The Clovis Police Department did an outstanding job in following up on that tip and locating the residents where this person was staying and that's how they found baby Mychael and this adult female.

And through their investigations and conversations with this female they were able to locate the suspect and take her into custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: That was Lieutenant Scott Hudgens. Sorry I garbled his name before. But police are also telling us that you they believe the suspect will be extradited from New Mexico to Lubbock possibly in a couple of days.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Keith Oppenheim, thanks so much.

Of course, we all look forward to see the mother and father and possibly even the baby tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. for that press conference. Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: Well, the big question in this case -- how was the alleged kidnapper able to pull this off? The hospital says it has a state-of-the-art security system in place. Its surveillance tape did give authorities the suspect's description which helped lead to her arrest and the baby's recovery. But hospital officials will be reviewing their security initiatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWEN STAFFORD, SR. V.P., COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER: This individual was pretty sophisticated, or at least knowledgeable of what happens in health care institutions. We're not going to risk until we take it up a notch, another level.

I don't know if we could ever have anything perfect. But the system functioned. The baby was separated from that -- and we're in the process with that with the police department. We've just got to do better. Not only this hospital but in all hospitals in this world today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The good news is that the baby is back with her new mother and father.

The bad news right here in Southern California. And Orange County, you're looking at a raging wildfire. And officials believe it may have been sparked by some sort of car fire in that area. Right now they're dealing with Santa Ana winds kicking up.

Over 30 mile an hour wind gusts. And it's very dry, single-digit humidity and it's very hot and you're looking at how so many homes are so close to that fire. At least two homes have been damaged. And evacuations are under way now of hundreds of homes. Right near this fire which they believe to be consuming about 300 acres there in Anaheim Hills there in Orange County. We're going to continue to monitor the developments there.

Pretty frightening pictures. Firefighters are trying to attack this blaze on the ground by setting up fire lines. And they're also in the air, dropping retardants as well as dipping their buckets into a nearby pond and trying to drop water. But you can see in these live pictures, the fire is raging. And the winds don't help.

Earlier today when the fires started at 8:00 California time, they believe the gusts were near hurricane strength winds with 73 mile per hour wind gusts. And now back down to 30 mile per hour plus wind gusts but certainly not helping at all.

Jacqui Jeras can give us a better picture of exactly what the firefighters are up against.

JERAS: Yeah, just terrible conditions. You mentioned those winds and the 30 to 40 mile per hour range.

The humidity so very low and the vegetation just dried out. And so all those factors coming together and making conditions just critical for these guys. Making it very difficult to put this out.

In fact, we have some new information, Fredricka. That we just learned. That this fire has now doubled in size. It started at about 150 acres this morning. Now we're hearing and now hearing about 300 acres have been burned. In this neighborhood, where we've seen all these new houses and at least one home being reported burned now.

This is the Hidden Canyon neighborhood. So if you know that area. It is near the 241. The Hidden Canyon neighborhood. We think those winds are going to continue to be strong throughout the afternoon. Of course no moisture's going to be moving in. It is offshore flow. So those hot desert winds come in from the west and move over those mountains as those winds move down the hills, they accelerate even more and dry out even more. That's continuing to aggravate the situation and those red flag warnings have been issued across Orange County, Ventura County. We also have some I-Report. One of our I-Reporters, Tiffany Gil (ph) took a couple of pictures about a mile and a half from her home. She took two of them. This is about a mile away from her home, she said.

The sirens woke her up about 8:00 this morning. And have been kind of going on throughout the day. She also says the fire trucks are parked out on her street. So she's been a little bit on the nervous side. Those pictures she took about noon Pacific Time. So almost three hours ago, these pictures were. And you can just see the vertical depths of those smoke plumes and there you can see another helicopter flying through that area, rather.

And you can see kind of the terrain there. You can kind of see how hilly it is. It makes things very difficult. You're talking 90 degree heat. You're in your fire suit. You have got the helmet and the face mask on and you're completely covered up.

And so when you're talk about hot, dry conditions like this, not to mention the heat from the fire, this is a really difficult day.

WHITFIELD: You talk about the hot, dry conditions. While it may seem like a welcome thing that moisture would be on the way. Often one of the fears is that moisture may bring lightning, which could only spark more fires.

JERAS: Right. We don't have any of that in the forecast, though. Right now we think things will continue to stay dry. Well, yeah, moisture would be -- moisture would be good, lightening would be bad. Exactly.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, and the winds, you mentioned earlier that possibly, as night approaches, winds could kick up a bit more?

JERAS: Well, no, we think as we continue to see those temperatures heat throughout the day, Fredricka, we're getting close to the peak day time heat, between 3 and 4 o'clock. And as those temperatures continue to get warmer. You get a little more mixing in the atmosphere. The warm air rises, and then cools a little bit.

So as long as that continues to happen, those wind gusts could continue to push on up but we think one the sun sets, the winds will calm down as temperatures begin to drop as well. But we think come tomorrow morning, that sun comes up and things start to heating up, those winds will begin to push up as well.

WHITFIELD: Talk about how dry it has been for quite some time, there, now?

JERAS: Yeah, I was looking at some statistics this morning. Because I was worried about in area for the fire threat and found some information. Specifically for downtown Los Angeles, but it's pretty representative of what's going on across the area.

Since July 1st, they've only had 2.4 plus inches of rainfall. That's it. And so their deficit is about nine inches below normal. Since January 1, the deficit is about seven inches below normal. January and February are typically the rainy season here, where you tend to get the onshore flow.

You get that moisture coming in from the Pacific but way the jet stream is aligned right now, it's driving everything up into the Pacific Northwest. So people in the Washington State, in the Olympic Peninsula area, they're dealing with flooding here today with some snow melt and heavy rain, while the southwest is just parched and just not getting anything.

WHITFIELD: Look at these pictures here, Jacqui. We're getting an interesting view of how they're trying to create that fire line, and also coming pretty close to that retardant that's dropped there. But that's part of the strategy to try to contain this fire. Because they know, because of the winds, it is going to grow. It is going to travel.

They try get ahead of it to try to create these fire lines to at least to try to know where it's going and keep it from going any further, too, as we see in this larger purview, to those houses, for example.

JERAS: Right, we try and make it burnout, basically. What you do is you come well ahead of the fire, in the direction the fire is advancing. And you'll set a new fire and try to get that to burn back into where the current fire location is, so that it can't advance any farther. So the whole area has been charred out. Once it reaches the main part of the fire. So it can't go anywhere anymore. We saw some pictures -- I don't know maybe about 20 minutes or so, of some of that linier structure. Some of those fire lines that they are creating and trying to back build this thing and keep this away from the houses, which seems to be their best strategy right now.

And the winds have just been shifting, too. I was just checking some weather observations across the area and winds hade changed from the southwest and then they went back to the northeast. Predominantly, a northeast wind right now but kind of erratic at times. Especially with the terrain and the hills, and you've got the canyons, the winds can go all over the place. The fire affects it, too.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui, thanks so much. We know you're on top of it and so are we. We're going to talk again with a fire official, when we come back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This breaking story, trying to contain up to 300 acres, burning there in Southern California. What firefighters are up against are some pretty serious winds, 30-plus mile per hour wind gusts that are helping to fan the flames. Battalion Chief Ed Fleming of Orange County Fire is joining us now from Irvine, California.

So as you assess this pattern of burning here, chief, what are your greatest concerns about trying to staying ahead of this fire? And be able to contain it to those 300 acres, thus far?

CHIEF ED FLEMING, ORANGE CO. FIRE AUTHORITY: Yes, thank you.

The fire has now grown to about 500 acres as of our last report. That was about 2:00 p.m., this afternoon.

WHITFIELD: OK.

FLEMING: And containment really occurs with the fire like this on two fronts. One as we try to get ground forces on the ground to contain the perimeter, while simultaneously putting firefighters and fire engines, and helicopters, ahead of the fire, between the fire front and the homes.

WHITFIELD: And since these winds really seem to be kicking up pretty good, how concerned are you about those teams on the ground, and in the air by being ahead of the fire?

FLEMING: Yes, this is a very dangerous firefight. In that the terrain is quite rugged, as you can see, and the homes are at the top of the ridges, and then the fire picks up speed as it burns up the hill. It also picks up speed as it's funneled through the canyons.

We have relative humidity today in the 5 percent range. And what we consider to be critical is 25 percent. So winds, low humidity -- all -- and rugged terrain -- have all combined to a very difficult firefight here.

WHITFIELD: Since this fire has now grown to 500 acres, you say, does this mean more homes are being evacuated? The last report the numbers we had, about 200 homes were being evacuated. And many local police were going door-to-door to try to make sure people were heeding the evacuation. Are we talking about more than 200 homes now?

FLEMING: It's possible that they will mandate more evacuations. Right now the city's police departments, in Orange and Anaheim, and an Orange County sheriff are coordinating the mandatory evacuations. But we're also recommending that those in the area, if they feel threatened, a voluntary evacuation is certainly OK.

And we're reminding them to get ready to, not put it off till the last second, to make a small kit with the Six Ps, is what we call it. Take your people and pets, your papers and phone numbers, prescriptions and pills, your pictures. Your personal computer data, and some plastic, or a credit card, cash. And get ready to move out in case that fire starts heading your way.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And what do you say to those folks who are living in these newer-built homes, who are feeling like, you know what, my house was built under more updated regulations. I don't have a wooden roof. And so my house is more likely to withstand the threat of fire, than say the older homes. What do you tell those people who want to duke out themselves, and use sprinklers to try and fend off the flames?

FLEMING: They are right. There are -- a lot of newer homes in the area. And those homes that have a noncombustible roof, noncombustible siding and defensive space between the home and wild land inner face, they here in a better position. But still, there are no guarantees. They have to be ready. The two homes that have been damaged by fire, those had a combustible roof. So that does indicate that those noncombustible roofs are very helpful.

WHITFIELD: Our last reporting indicated that there were more than 200 firefighters on the scene. Is that number about accurate? And even with that number, if that is the case, would you be asking for help from other jurisdictions?

FLEMING: We are asking for help and receiving a lot of help. We have a very good mutual aid system here in California. We have about 20 strike team fire engines coming in from all over the Southern California region. And each of those holds -- is five engines. So that's about 100 fire engines, plus.

And then we have in the air, we have four air tankers from the California Department of Forestry, as well as two helicopters from California Department of Forestry. And two additional helicopters from Orange County Fire and Los Angeles County Fire.

WHITFIELD: OK. And we're looking at pictures that are coming in. That also show a lot your air support. Everything from choppers that are dropping retardants, to the use of buckets, and picking up water at that nearby lake, or some sort of waterway we're seeing there. How helpful is that in your efforts?

FLEMING: The air tankers are very valuable. They can get out ahead of the firefighters on the ground and they can lay down some retardant. Or they can lay down some water, in the case of the helicopters. And really take the heat out of the fire. So it helps the firefighters advance their hose lines.

WHITFIELD: One more time, I live the Six Ps, that you are reminding people to have.

FLEMING: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: Once again, what are those Six Ps?

FLEMING: Yes, the Six Ps, in case people are actually mandated to evacuate, or if they're going to do a voluntary evacuation, is we recommend get their people and pets ready to go, family members. Get their papers and phone numbers ready. Get their prescriptions and their pills, eyeglasses. Get their pictures and other irreplaceable memorabilia. Get their personal computer. Put the most important information from their hard drive on a disk. And take their plastic, credit cards, and cash, and be ready to evacuate.

WHITFIELD: I know folks are somewhat used to this drill. Santa Ana winds, nothing new. People know and are very familiar with these kinds of wildfires that can whip up here in this part of California. Yet at the same time are you also dealing with a number of people who really have anxiety attacks over this, or panic. And kind of forget about all of these instructions on what to do. And really put themselves in greater danger than anything.

FLEMING: It is easy to forget. Because these events don't happen every day. And it's just like an earthquake or hurricane. Once in awhile, they occur. And so this is strong reminder. Unfortunately we have not lost any -- completely lost any homes, yet and we hope to keep it that way. And we just hope this is a reminder to everyone, to be prepared.

WHITFIELD: Talk to me about how you also try to keep your own personnel prepared. Clearly, professional, highly trained set of firefighters that you have on your team, but we can't forget what took place just over a year ago, involving firefighters who met their fate while trying to battle a huge wildfire. So any new instructions, any new kind of ring that your firefighters have gotten especially as a result of what happened tragically?

FLEMING: You're right. We all have to remind ourselves as well that this can be very dangerous business. And in California, Southern California, at least, we really never went out of fire season this year. We've been geared up with personnel and equipment and training the whole time, just anticipating this type of weather, this which is highly unusual for this time of year. And we've made sure that we've all reminded ourselves that those five gentlemen from the San Bernardino National Forest last year, they did pay the ultimate sacrifice, and it can happen again if we're not careful.

WHITFIELD: Battalion Chief Ed Fleming of Orange County Fire, thank you for joining us from Irvine, California, giving us some very important reminders. Especially for those folks who are living there in Southern California, who are being threatened by these wildfires that have now reached 500 acres.

And more than 200 firefighters are on the ground and in the air, trying to contain this blaze, trying to battle it as best they can. Meantime, at the same time, hundreds of homes are being evacuated to keep people from the face of danger.

We're continuing to follow this wildfire in Orange County, California. More in NEWSROOM, right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Big fire, big wildfire getting even bigger. Now 500 acres there in Orange County, California, burning. And hundreds of homes are being threatened and that's why a mandatory evacuation is under way right now. At least 200 homes are being forced to evacuate.

Just moments ago, we spoke with Battalion Chief Ed Fleming of Orange County Fire, who wanted to remind people living in that area, as they prepare their evacuations, to remember the all-important Six Ps. That is -- take your people and your pets. Make sure you've got your pills and prescriptions, your pictures, eyeglasses; personal computer and your phone numbers. Because this is a very serious fire. It is threatening lives and homes there.

And firefighters, about 200 at the very least, are battling this blaze from the air. Using retardants and buckets of water, as well as on the ground, setting up fire lines to try to keep this fire from growing even bigger than this. And 500 acres now burning in Southern California in Orange County.

Jacqui Jeras is in the severe weather center. And when we talked to the chief, he underscored the fact that humidity levels are so low. Something that you talked about earlier, Jacqui. At 5 percent humidity levels, making it very difficult for them to kind of see the horizon here.

JERAS: Right, absolutely. And with those strong winds, 30 to 40 miles per hour and the temperatures in the 80s and 90s here, all of those things coming together and making it very, very difficult. And now we're up to 500 acres. So that's up from 150 acres earlier this morning, when this began about 8 o'clock Pacific Time. So this fire is spreading very rapidly. Continuing to get larger and more homes are being threatened at this time.

So it needs to be taken very seriously. And you don't need to wait for that evacuation order. If it's too smoky for you, if you're a little nervous about it, we had one our I-Reporters send us some pictures and she says she's kind of nervously waiting to see what happens.

If you are worried about, it go on and get on out and don't take that risk if you don't have to because we don't expect the weather conditions to get any better at this time and this could be an ongoing event. This thing may not get out today. Sometimes it takes days to get fires like this out. WHITFIELD: Especially one that is growing fast. We're talking about 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, when this thing started, at about 150 acres at its peak, at one point, and now it's progressed to 500 acres in these few hours?

JERAS: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: Fast moving.

JERAS: And look how close those flames are to those houses, right now. Look at that. The Hidden Canyon neighborhood I know has been threatened. This is starting to spread toward the City of Orange, too. I want to show you a Google earth animation. Can we show this? I am kind of working on my own here to give you an idea.

Here's the 241 area and then Orange is way over -- here's Orange. There's the city itself. This is 241. This is the area which has been evacuated right now. You can see the lake, kind of landmark here. Everywhere beyond this yellow line where this road is right here, this is entirely populated.

So this whole area that had burned here this morning, nobody lives here. This is the hilly area here. But now that we're crossing into this area, this is of grave concern. Because this whole region here is very highly populated. And those winds are continuing to blow at this hour, Fred. At 30 to 40 miles per hour right now and so very serious situation developing here this afternoon.

WHITFIELD: That picture we just saw a moment ago, where we saw the flames going up the hill, that really underscores the point that the battalion chief was making. Which is, the fire is moving fast, uphill. And that's making it difficult, too, for -- and dangerous for the firefighters -- who are trying to get ahead of the blaze, to try to make those fire lines. Because it is being fueled by these flames, as the flames travel upward.

JERAS: Right. They've got two choppers right now also. At least two that I know of. Which are also trying to continuing the efforts. And there we see that, it looks like that fire line itself that they're trying to possibly do some of that back burning, to try to save some of those homes, which are being threatened right now. Trying to create new fires to put out the hold ones sort of speak.

WHITFIELD: And while folks in this area are relatively used to the threat of wildfires and the Santa Ana winds, everyone knows that. It's part of their daily vocabulary there. What makes this so difficult, and different perhaps, is that you've got this combination of dryness, low humidity, heat, and winds, all converging --

JERAS: We should be seeing rain this time of year.

WHITFIELD: -- in the month of March.

JERAS: Yeah, we should be seeing rain. This is typically the last couple of months, is the rainy season as we're calling it. And there really has been no rainy season unfortunately; 2, 2 1/2 inches of rain across this area since July. That's just incredible. So the rainfall deficit, you're down like seven to nine inches.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And let me interrupt you for a second, Jacqui. Because we're looking at new video that's coming in from a stringer right now, and perhaps this is one of the two homes that firefighters are aware of, which was damaged by the flames.

These two homes happen to have kind of wood roofs, and while fire chief was mentioning that most of the other homes in the area, are newly constructed. And have more, like tile roofs, or roofs that are less likely to be compromised for these kind of flames, they did remark that there are two homes that they do know of being damaged. It looks like this might be one of them; a very aggressive fire.

JERAS: Yes, and you worry about more, too. When I see the video like this, as the fire starts to engulf the home and starts to move into the trees and things, you can see how the vertical development of it. Did you see hot flames were all of a sudden, shot up really far?

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

JERAS: Well, what happens sometimes when you see the vertical development like that, and then the winds blow through it, that can spark new fires. New spot fires, so you'll get a piece of timber or some ash or just a hot spark that will be carried by the wind and new fires can start as a result of that. So other homes, of course, adjacent to these being threatened this is time also.

WHITFIELD: Wow, this house is a goner. This being one of those homes where the combustible roof, sad picture especially for the homeowners. But fortunately we're hoping that they got out OK. They heeded the warnings of the evacuations that are under way. Mandatory, now, evacuations that are impacting at least 200 homes. And last we checked, we understood that police were going door-to-door, Jacqui, to make sure people were getting out, coming up with the safe evacuation plan, and taking this fire very seriously. It's a raging blaze, isn't it?

JERAS: It's a large area. All of the neighborhoods along Serrano Boulevard, from Canyon to Knoll Ranch Road to the Orange/Anaheim City limits. All of the homes from Canyon, east to the city limits, north and south of Serrano. This includes Serrano heights, Mayberry Ranch. Also the Park Ridge areas and also all neighborhoods between Villa Park Dam and Winds Drive, south of Santiago Creek.

A lot of streets, also, in the evacuation area like Hidden Oaks, Lolita Hunter's Way, Sandberg Winds, Grovewood Colony, Louis Diane, High Point and Kimbark, as well. So larger area obviously being evacuated than just a few homes earlier this morning. In is continuing to spread, just really took care of the hill areas this morning and now it's moving into the populated areas.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui. And among those not being evacuated, but still close enough to actually see these flames, apparently from just a quarter mile away, Justin Dignam is on the telephone with us. Justin, you're about a quarter mile away, did I get that right? What you are seeing?

JUSTIN DIGNAM, ANAHEIM HILLS RESIDENT: You did.

The fire, it just keeps jumping from hillside to hillside. And on the hillside, they have some swarms of firefighters walking the line with shovels and stuff. Maybe a couple groups of 40, 50 each. And they're just kind of trying to keep it from jumping the fire breaks they have established.

WHITFIELD: Justin, given the rapid growth of this fire, and you're just a quarter mile away, why wouldn't you be part of the mandatory evacuation zones?

DIGNAM: Well, surprisingly, we're kind of parallel to the way the wind is blowing. The wind is blowing from our left to our right.

WHITFIELD: OK.

DIGNAM: And there's one side of the street that's fully engulfed in smoke, and they've evacuated. Literally the other side of the street are spectators like myself just watching this, quite a show go by.

WHITFIELD: You are scared?

DIGNAM: I'm not scared.

WHITFIELD: How come?

DIGNAM: Well, the firefighters will protect us. If we were in danger I suspect the sirens would come on, and they'd say we have to leave. So I trust who we have out there.

WHITFIELD: Do you have your evacuation plan at the ready, just in case it is time for you go?

DIGNAM: We do. The car is ready. The dog is close by, if we have to go, we can go in a second.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, be safe. Justin Dignam, don't go too far away. We'll continue to check in with you.

Meantime, we continue to watch the developments there taking place in Orange County, California.

The new headline: 500 acres burning there. Firefighters, at least 200 of them, are doing their best to try to contain this blaze. But it's difficult because you're dealing with Santa Ana winds that are 30 plus miles per hour. It's very dry. Humidity is just 5 percent. And it's very hot.

And so Rick Sanchez is here. He's going to continue with the NEWSROOM here and continue on top this story. Justin Dignam, again, will be joining us about he's in Anaheim Hills, California. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And I hope you stay tuned to watch these continuing developments there out of Orange County, California. More of the NEWSROOM coming up.

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