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Southern California Wildfires Threaten Homes; Abducted Texas Baby Recovered in New Mexico
Aired March 11, 2007 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez, and here's what's happening right now. Hundreds of homes are threatened this hour by a wildfire in southern California. Evacuations are under way in parts of Anaheim Hills. This is where sections of the fire have crept into people's backyards. High fire danger throughout the region. And obviously, we're going to be emphasizing on this story and bringing you all the latest developments, including conversations with some of the fire officials there, some of the residents in the area. We'll bring it all to you.
Meanwhile, also this: Kidnapped infant Mychael Dewandoo (ph) is back safe and sound in Lubbock, Texas, with her mother this hour. Tips led police to a home in New Mexico -- that's about 100 miles away -- where the child was found this morning in good condition one day after a woman allegedly took it from a hospital. Authorities have this woman in custody, by the way. We'll be briefing you on that story and its developments.
And now, in Colombia, President Bush said that the extra troops he's sending to Iraq are slated for support roles only. That's that 4,000 other troops that we told you about yesterday when he made the announcement. Last week, the administration president said it was considering sending 4,400 additional troops to Iraq. That's beyond the 21,500 that we had told you about several weeks ago. Mr. Bush is scheduled to fly to Guatemala later this evening.
Well, coverage now of all those stories and more coming up right here in the NEWSROOM. But let's get you right to the big story that we're following, and of course, that's the fire out west in California. We begin right there in southern California, where a parched hillside, strong winds and a raging brushfire have residents on the run. Really, hundreds of them have been forced to flee their homes as the flames inch even closer.
Thelma Gutierrez is standing by -- she's in Orange County -- with some of the efforts to try and keep the fire from affecting the homes in the area. And as we look at these pictures, we really get a sense of what these firefighters are up against. Thelma, what have you got for us?
All right, let's do this. We'll try and get in touch with Thelma Gutierrez in just a little bit. Let's go to Captain Julie Hutchinson, who's also joining us now to bring us up to date on what's going on there. Captain, are you on the line?
CAPT. JULIE HUTCHINSON, CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF FORESTRY: Yes, I am. Good afternoon.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, Captain. Give us the latest on what the situation is there now.
HUTCHINSON: The fire in Lake Matthews (ph) or the Corona area is now 25 acres with zero containment. We do have quite a few firefighters are on scene, about 85. And they are getting erratic winds, just like we're seeing on the Orange County fire.
SANCHEZ: Is the wind condition the toughest thing you've got to battle, at this point?
HUTCHINSON: Well, the wind and the temperatures. You know, we're getting temperatures in the 88 to 92-degree range in Riverside County right now. Our humidity is down to about 5, 6 percent. So that coupled with the winds is just a recipe for disaster.
SANCHEZ: For the benefit of those viewers watching us, we're following this situation which seems to be intensifying out west. These are the fires in an area called Anaheim Hills. It's just southeast of Los Angeles. It's really what most would consider the suburban part of Los Angeles. And the fire, it seemed at one point today, like it might lessen somewhat, but it didn't. In fact, if anything else, it's grown. And we're talking to Julie Hutchinson now, who's bringing us up to date. She's a captain out there of one of the fire crews.
Are you going to need more fire crews to be able to deal with this thing?
HUTCHINSON: Well, actually, we're doing OK. We have been assisting in the Orange County fire. Cal Fire, California Department of Forestry, was very proactive and knew this weather pattern was going to be setting in, and we enacted some staffing patterns. We covered extra equipment, air tankers, air attacks (ph), bulldozers, (INAUDIBLE) fire crews and engines. And because of that, when this fire broke out in Orange County, we were able to send them quite a few resources. In fact, a lot of them you're showing on air are all Cal Fire resources. So that cooperative fire protection we do is really working out, and I think a lot of the fire agencies were proactive and prepared early.
SANCHEZ: I'll bet you a big part of this is the communication. I mean, those guys on the ground there need to be able to tell that helicopter pilot exactly where to drop that water to create that buffer, right?
HUTCHINSON: You bet. They all work very well together, and the people in those helicopters and in the air tankers are very well trained to not only be watching where they're headed but looking around them to see if there's engine crews or personnel on the ground that are having trouble. It's a really finely tuned cooperative effort.
SANCHEZ: How confident are you, at this point, Captain, that you're going to be able to keep this thing from moving into the area where the homes are?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I'm not on the Orange County fire, but I do know the resources there are doing the best they can. Cal Fire is also right now prepping and getting ready to send in an incident command team to take over the management of the fire.
Any time in California we have large fires, we have incident command teams that are made up of Cal Fire and other agencies. And we go in there to help manage because what's happening right now is the resources in Orange County -- and their -- their regular calls are still continuing. We're overtaxing that agency, and we want to get in there and give them as much assistance as possible.
SANCHEZ: You know, give our viewers a sense of how big this fire is and what it's actually affecting because we know we were talking a little while ago with Captain Stephen Miller (ph) with Orange County, and it seems from our conversation with you now that there might be another part of this fire that you're dealing with, as well. Is there?
HUTCHINSON: No, no. That's a separate fire that's about 20 miles away from there that we have going in Riverside County.
SANCHEZ: What are the highways affected by it?
HUTCHINSON: No highways are affected, and there's no structures threatened currently. We do have potential for several thousand acres in this area where the fire is burning. So we're real close in line with the other fire, and again, all of us are working together to get adequate resources into both of these incidents.
SANCHEZ: Well, I guess so. It becomes really a manpower issue then, right? You've got to have some folks on one side and some folks on the other side.
HUTCHINSON: Exactly. It's the staffing, and we work together to make sure that we're both getting everything we need and also being prepared for the calls that happen every day and the future -- the potential for another fire to break out.
SANCHEZ: By the way, Riverside had a fire just a couple of weeks ago, didn't it?
HUTCHINSON: Yes. Well, we had one last Sunday that shut down part of a highway. And the key thing for people to remember, if you live in southern California, fire season is a year-round event. There is no calendar that you can watch that says it stops or it starts. It's year-round, and we really want to stress to residents to be prepared every day. That's why we're pushing that 100-foot clearance of defensible space around your property. You need to get on that and you need to maintain it year-round. That's very, very important. Southern California, it doesn't end.
SANCHEZ: We're now making it official. We had a conversation a little while ago with Congressman Ed Royce, who, as you probably know, Captain, is the congressman from that area. I asked him on the air what he would be doing in terms of maybe asking for some help for you guys from the federal level, and we understand now that it's official, that he has put out an order asking for federal assistance to help battle these flames in this area. So it sounds like you guys might be getting a little help from the cavalry.
What does that entail usually? Does that mean they might be able to free up some hotshots?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I'll tell you what. The forest service that we work with in southern California, they're great and they're with us side by side all the time. So I don't know the resources they have on this fire, but I would venture to guess that there are already some forest service resources there already en route. So it's that partnership. It's that integrated fire protection, where we all work together to make sure we get what we need. And in California -- nobody does it better than California. We do it every year all the time, and we're very well trained at this and we all work very well together.
SANCHEZ: By the way, I kept using that term "hotshots." For the benefit of viewers who may not know what that means, this is very cohesive teams that train all year long just to be able to go in, be thrown into a situation like this, where they assist local firefighters in creating fire lines and putting out fires like the ones that we're looking at right here. Is that correct, Captain? Did I get it right?
HUTCHINSON: That's correct, and the same thing as the CDF fire crews or the hand crews that other agencies have. Those are the people that are really doing the down and dirty work. They're the people on the ground with hand tools, hiking the hills and putting in those containment lines that are vital for us on any fire, and they are really the unsung heroes. Whether they work as hotshots or fire crews, they are the ones who do the hardest work out there.
SANCHEZ: I spent some time with those fellows. Let me tell you something. That is tough. They're certainly as tough (INAUDIBLE)
HUTCHINSON: That's right.
SANCHEZ: Julie Hutchinson -- Captain Julie Hutchinson, I should say, thanks for taking time to brief us on the situation and giving us your perspective on this, as well.
Let's go back now. I understand we have an opportunity to go to Thelma Gutierrez, who we tried to reach just a little while ago. We had some problems communicating with you, Thelma, a little while ago.
Uh-oh. I hear a busy signal there. Does that mean we lost Thelma again? We'll keep trying to get Thelma. I'm sure you understand, watching our coverage, that we're trying to get you as many angles and perspectives on this as possible. We've tried to get to Thelma a couple of times now. We'll keep trying until we're able to nail that down because she's probably as close to the area as any of our correspondents, as we follow this story. Back to Jacqui Jeras now, as we look at some of the pictures to see what firefighters are doing. And it sounds like they're now working two fires, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, which is not surprising, really, Rick. The conditions are so ripe, any little spark is going to get things going here today, and that's why you have to be so careful. If you do happen to be driving around the area today, you're a smoker, this is not the day to throw your cigarette butt out the window. You want to be very cautious. Any little spark, you know, from maybe railroad tracks, a train right along the trailer tracks, that can spark fire.
So it doesn't take much when the relative humidity is down in the single digits for a percentage, which is just so hard to put in perspective, Rick, because we consider critical levels below, like, 35 percent. So compare 35 percent. You consider that critical, and we're talking 5 to 10 percent, at best today, really very extreme weather.
Record highs is another thing that they're dealing with, which is not only a problem for the fire itself, continue to aid that in helping it to provide that vertical growth, as we call it with the fire, but it also makes it difficult for the firefighters when you're talking about temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s and they're wearing all that garb and they get all the heat from the fire, too, it is dangerous conditions for them. And they have to keep themselves very well hydrated.
And these red flag warnings that were issued for today -- you know, we knew conditions were going to be ripe today for fires to occur, so this is not an isolated incident. We've got another one over there in Corona that we just heard about, and we may hear about more over the next couple of days. Those red flag alerts continue until 7:00 o'clock Pacific time tomorrow, and it could go on beyond that because high pressure's just going to dominate this region throughout much of the rest of the week.
Our Jet Stream is way up to the north in the Pacific Northwest, driving the storms out of this region, keeping things dry. And we have not seen rain here in weeks. It's very, very dry, the rainfall deficit between seven and ten inches since January 1. We should have had seven inches soaking up in the ground, unfortunately. And as we look at some of these pictures, you can kind of see things are looking pretty brown. There's not a lot of green out there, and these bushes and the chaparral and all the grasses, they just ignite very, very quickly. And with the winds adding insult to injury between 30 to 40 miles per hour, that will just allow them to accelerate very, very rapidly.
So overall, you know, weather conditions, and due to the ongoing dry conditions, the drought in this region, all those factors coming together just to spell really terrible conditions for these guys, not just today, not just tomorrow.
A couple hours to go here, 4:00 o'clock Pacific time. You know, sun goes down what, 6:30, 7:00 o'clock now? I guess we set our clocks ahead one hour, so it's a little bit longer than that now. We'll watch the sun go down, and when the sun goes down, the winds will die down. The relative humidity creeps up just a little bit. But the wind will be the critical factor tonight where maybe we can make up a little bit of ground.
The thing I just heard Captain Hutchinson -- what did she say, zero percent contained there, not a number that you want to hear, with no containment and those winds staying as strong as they are.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know, we might -- Jacqui, we might be able to get some new pictures pretty quick here because I'm told now that one of our affiliates out there is getting its helicopter back into the air, so we'll be able to bring new -- as a matter of fact, these are live pictures now. We haven't been showing any live pictures because the helicopter had to make a landing. Now it's back up in the air, so let's stay with these pictures for a little bit, if we can, so we can give you now a bird's-eye view in real time of what this fire is actually doing.
Look at this area, as we look at it right here. It's actually so hazy, so smoky, that we're not even able to make out what's down there, other than the flames itself. It's hard to tell what the position is from this to the actual area where the homes are.
Let's see if we can go in a little tighter here. Looks like a hillside. Hard for me to tell. Can you guys tell there in the booth if those are any homes in that area? Doesn't look like it, does it.
I mean, we were looking at that area right there on this side, you know, this area heading here, if that's the area where the homes were. But we weren't able to make that determination as we looked at it. I thought we got a glimpse of it when he was first starting to fly over.
There you see the ridge of the hill. You see that little cut where the canyon comes through, and that's usually where the fire burns more. And then there's another part of the fire itself, again, coming off one of those ridges and one of those canyons.
And that's significant, isn't it, Jacqui. I mean, those canyons really pick up the wind speed and make it almost impossible for someone to try and stop the fire from moving along a line.
JERAS: Yes. The wind accelerates as it goes through the canyons and into the passes, as -- you know, as it narrows down and has to go through that small area, it just accelerates and certainly adds problems. That's when you start to get your wind gusts, you know, 40, 50, 60 miles per hour, as it starts moving through the canyons and passes. You'll always hear us say that. We'll give you a general range for the wind speeds, and then we'll up it for the canyons and the passes. It's just kind of the same sort of phenomenon that happens in, say -- we talk about Chicago, the "Windy City," as the winds tunnel through and move through all the different buildings that have to move through narrow ways, the winds pick up in speed. SANCHEZ: You know, I'm reminded as I look at this that we've got that telephone number up. And I know in emergencies -- you know, those of us in this business who've covered emergencies like this in the past know how important it is to get the right information to the right people, which is one of the reasons that we're staying on the air for all of you tonight.
But you see that number there, that 714-288-3760? That's the number we were given. That's the update. If you're in the area and you need to know whether you live in an area that needs to be evacuated or you need to thinking about it, that's the number that you need to call, 714-288-3760.
Now, after saying that, let me give you a caveat. If you don't live in the area, please do not call that number. The last thing we want to do is tie that up in any way, shape or form because that number is specifically for the residents in that area, so they can know whether they need to evacuate or not.
A lot of new information coming to us on this fire. We're covering it, bringing you the latest, new live pictures that we'll be sharing with you. We'll be breaking them down with the experts. Jacqui Jeras is standing by, as well. And we also got Congressman Ed Royce, who's got the official announcement now of what he's getting from the feds in Washington as to what they'll be able to do help officials there -- local officials -- deal with this fire.
I'm Rick Sanchez. You're watching CNN. You're in the NEWSROOM. And we're going to be right back.
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SANCHEZ: All right. Here's the eats story. And we're getting some new pictures now. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We were amping up our coverage on this when we started to see that residents could be affected by it. In fact, they have been affected by it. As many as 300, at last count, could be evacuated at last check. Again, that's -- Taneesha (ph), give me that one more time?
All right. New number, new number that we can hit you with at this point, and that is the following. Let me make sure we get a confirmation. We do. One thousand acres have now burned in this area. Remember, we went up to 500 when last we checked, then 600, according to Congressman Ed Royce, and now we're being told that a thousand acres have now burned in this area around Anaheim Hills.
Those are some of the pictures that you see of the firefighters dealing with this thing. And the key here, really -- here's what the story's really about. The story is about a fire that's developed over the course of the last 24 hours, that seem to be under control or nearing a possibility of being under control, that suddenly sparked up even more and is now affecting homes where people are living. So firefighters have gone into that area and literally told the people, You have to evacuate.
So as many as -- last check -- let me just check our numbers. As many as 300 homes have been affected by this, in terms of people being told, who live in them, by the police, You have to evacuate now.
So we've got on the line now Ed Royce. He's the congressman for that area in Orange County. And when last we checked with him, he had told us. in fact, he was asking for federal assistance on this, and I think we were able to confirm that, in fact, that had happened.
Let me know, Taneesha, if we've got the congressman on the line and we're able to go to him.
Tell you what, before we do that, let's do this. If we can keep the congressman on the line, because there's another story that we've been following for you that's been developing, as well, and that's the baby that was taken from a hospital out in Lubbock, Texas. And now we've got an opportunity to talk to a reporter who's following this, and that's Keith Oppenheim. Keith Oppenheim is in New Mexico.
Keith, as I understand it, you're about 100 miles away from where the hospital was where the baby was taken because that's where police have a person of interest that they believe may be responsible for taking the baby, correct?
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right about the second part, but I'm actually in Lubbock, Texas...
SANCHEZ: OK.
OPPENHEIM: ... at the Covenant Medical Center, where the baby was taken from a little bit more than a day ago. And this is a happy place because this afternoon, Rick, there's been a great reunion between this 4-day-old infant baby, Mychael Dewandoo, just 4 days old, and she is back with her mom and dad.
In the meantime, as you were indicating, we're getting some new information about the identity of the suspect. Police have not released the name of the suspect, but when CNN contacted the Curry (ph) County detention center in New Mexico and asked about inmates there who have been recently booked, we were told that 21-year-old Rayshaun Parson is being held as a fugitive of justice for a kidnapping from Lubbock County. So that was the information we got there.
Last night, detectives from Lubbock got a tip call which indicated that a woman who matched the description of the woman who you see in surveillance video leaving the hospital -- that she was spotted in Clovis, New Mexico, and the baby, as well. Sure enough, police in Clovis, New Mexico, found the suspect, as well as the baby at two different locations.
The baby was flown back to her family today, brought back to Lubbock. We're told that the suspect will likely be extradited from New Mexico to Texas probably in a couple of days.
And last, Rick, in this room here at the medical center -- it's a conference room, and tomorrow, there's going to be a news conference behind me, and that will include the mom, the dad and baby Mychael. So we're really looking forward to seeing some of that reunion ourselves.
SANCHEZ: So that's great news, really. We were really keying in on this story last night. The good news is the baby seems to be OK. Baby's going to be reunited with the mother. Real serious questions about some of the security there at the hospital, as to how this woman was able to get in. But I think the key question tonight, Keith, is, Who is this woman? Why did she do this? What do we know about her?
OPPENHEIM: Well, I don't know exactly who she is, other than that we have a name that we indicated from the detention center, Rayshaun Parson. What we're hearing from the hospital is that the family has not indicated that they know who she is. They don't think that she was a current employee or a former employee...
SANCHEZ: But was acting like an employee, though, right?
OPPENHEIM: Yes, exactly, posing as...
SANCHEZ: But she was acting like an employee.
OPPENHEIM: Right, posing as an employee, and doing so effectively, wearing hospital scrubs and seeming to have some inside knowledge of this hospital system and where to go. As you probably know from your reporting last night, there was a security bracelet that had been removed from the infant as the infant was being taken out of the hospital, so that, at the very least, shows some sophistication about the security procedures here.
SANCHEZ: And just to take care of some legal housekeeping on our end, she's not officially a suspect because she hasn't been charged as such, but she's a person of interest. And she's being kept on -- on what? On what grounds?
OPPENHEIM: Well, she's being held right now because she matched the description. Whether she is going to be charged sometime today, I'm not quite sure yet. But it is likely that she will be charged very soon. from what police told us this afternoon.
SANCHEZ: Good, thorough reporting, as usual. Keith Oppenheim, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on that story that's really generated so much interest just from the e-mails and the calls that we've been getting here from across the country.
Let's do this. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to check back in on what's going on with the fire. We, I think, are going to be able to make contact with Thelma Gutierrez, who's as close to the fire as any of our correspondents. We also are going to try and hook up with Congressman Ed Royce, who's got some news for us regarding the fire out of Washington, as well. And we have one of the officials out there who's fighting the fire to break down the strategy that they're going to be using to try and get this thing under control. All that and a whole lot more.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez, and we're going to be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. We've got that chopper shot once again that we can show you. These are live pictures now. And I know sometimes it gets a little confusing because from time to time, we'll bring you the live pictures, and we're also sharing with you some of the pictures that we've began getting over the last hour or so, either from residents in the area, from some of our own crews or from some of our affiliates that are covering this story, as well. And whenever we can, we're going to try and bring you the live pictures, so you can see what's actually going on at this point.
Now, this is a real bird's-eye view. And here's the big part. There you see the residences, right? Everything over here are houses, and that's the buffer right there that firefighters are trying to create, on the screen. Now, the fire in some cases has come real close to the homes. In other cases, it's kept a distance. So the key for firefighters is to try and do just that, keep the fire itself away from that area.
And in other shots -- we're looking at this particular shot now. It may not be representative of what we've seen before from the ground, but there's other areas where the fire has actually really backed up against some of the homes here in Anaheim Hills. The specific area, by the way, is the home owners living east of Sarano (ph), between Oak and Santiago canyon. Those are the people who so far have been asked to leave, and the number, we understand, is about 300, although that could grow, by the way. And we're going to have a city official on the line with us in just a bit. We're going to be talking to the spokesperson for the city of Anaheim.
But before we do that, let's go out now to our own Thelma Gutierrez, who's been monitoring the situation. She's probably as close as any of our correspondents to the scene, so let's take advantage of the opportunity.
Thelma, we tried to reach out to you a couple of times, and our communication broke down. Hope we got you now, do we?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm right here, Rick. (INAUDIBLE) tell you that where we are standing, we can see that firefighters are making a very aggressive stance against this fire. Now, we are in an area up here in the Anaheim Hills, which is in the Sutter (ph) Hill and the Stone Gate (ph) communities, neighborhoods, very large neighborhoods throughout the Anaheim Hills.
Conveniently located down where we are standing is this reservoir, and we have seen since we've been here in the last 15 minutes or so -- we have seen one helicopter after another swoop down, siphon up some of that water, immediately take off, drop it on the hot spots, and then come back. And this has been happening constantly, one aircraft after another.
We can tell you that when we first drove up, Rick, we saw this big dark ominous cloud over Orange County. It looked just absolutely terrible. As we started driving in, we were chasing one of those dark plumes of smoke up into the hills. By the time we arrived, these people were working so quickly that that plume was out. It was just smoldering. We saw firefighters mopping up that area. The roads that were closed when we first got there were now open to residents. They were allowed to go back into the area.
The roads that were closed when we first got there were now opened to residents. They were allowed to go back into the area. The good news I can report Rick, is that the winds have died down. It is incredibly hot though. It's very dry out here to see why firefighters are having such a difficult time.
SANCHEZ: What about the people? Have you had a chance to talk to any of the residents there? I mean, are they shook up about this? Are they kind of used to it because they have had to deal with it in the past?
GUTIERREZ: Well I think anybody who lives in the hillsides up here in southern California they are pretty much aware that this kind of thing can happen. What is unusual this time around, they have said, is that it is happening so early in the season. This is March. Typically around this time of the year, Rick, we experience rain, and this is absolutely dry. We're talking about a ridiculously hot day today. It's about 95 degrees out here. There are folks out here, you know, in halter tops and sundresses. This is not the kind of weather that we're used to out here so in that respect they are surprised, but again they know that they live up in the hills and this is the kind of thing that can happen in southern California.
SANCHEZ: Thelma, stand by, if you would. In fact, if you would, we're going to be talking to Congressman Ed Royce now. We've been talking about the possibility of getting him back on the line. We talked to him earlier. If anything comes to your mind, Thelma, and you want to help me out in this conversation, please feel free. You know the area better than most of us do. Besides, you're there right now. Congressman, sir, thanks so much for joining us once again.
REP. ED ROYCE: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: You had mentioned before when we had a conversation about how you'd be asking for some kind of federal assistance, I understand that you've made some progress on that. Have you?
ROYCE: Oh yes, I went through the White House, and I've contacted also the command post over at interior, and through them forestry, and also FEMA. So at this point their emergency management people are engaged. We've got an expedited situation here and, of course, at the same time the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is already on the scene with their engines, with their air tanker doing everything they can. I think the focus right now has to be to put enough assets out there that with 94-degree temperatures and temperatures going up tomorrow and the winds not abating, but continuing to blow to the west, that we wring this thing with every engine and every asset we can deploy.
SANCHEZ: And forestry was positive in your request as far as you can tell. They're going to be able to send some more crews out there? ROYCE: That's my understanding.
SANCHEZ: What about FEMA's role? I mean, the obvious part is the people affected by this, some 300 homes where people have been evacuated. Someone is going to need to help those people if they're not going to be able to get back in their homes tonight, where are they going to stay, what kind of shelters are being set up? What are you learning about this sir?
ROYCE: The (INAUDIBLE) well-situated to handle a lot of the traffic, a lot of (INAUDIBLE) going to leave that area. My recommendation is now that it's burned a thousand acres (INAUDIBLE) hazardous fire.
SANCHEZ: Sorry about that congressman. You know, the problem is we still -- let me interrupt you for just a minute. I think we still have Thelma Gutierrez's microphone open. Let's see if we can just from a housekeeping standpoint, get that thing shut down. Did we lose the congressman? We did. We've got Thelma on the line still. Just to button up what the congressman was telling us and I think it's important. He says that he's made a call to the White House. He told us that FEMA has been contacted. FEMA may be able to assist some of these 300 -- the people who live in these 300 homes that have been evacuated. He did seem to suggest that there are shelters in the area or that's part of the conversation where it broke up. He also told us that he has directly spoken with officials in forestry, and that he's trying to see if they can send more crews into the area, and when I asked him if he had gotten a positive response, he said that he had. So there's a good possibility there might be some more crews going into this area and when last we checked there were some 300 firefighters but most of them were either state or local. If we're able to get some of the hot shots or some of the other flyers into the area, they may be able to assist or relieve some of the firefighters who are in that area right now. Thelma, that's the information that we've gotten from Washington as well. Is there anything that you can add to this?
GUTIERREZ: Well I've got to tell you. I talked to a family of four just a few seconds ago. They are in their Mercedes parked right beside us taking a look at the area that is burning near their home. They say that police knocked on their door and told them they had 15 minutes to get out. They loaded the car with whatever they could, managed to take out, grabbed their baby, and then headed down the hill. They are very relieved, they were telling me, that they can see that the flames have been knocked down. They are watching the helicopters that are coming up to this reservoir right nearby, Rick, picking up water and then going back out to those flames and dropping that water. So many people here on the ground in the Anaheim Hills very relieved to be watching this very aggressive attack.
SANCHEZ: But, you know, it's important, and I guess they understand this. They need to get out of that area according to all the fire officials that we've been talking to. They want those people out and as soon as they possibly can get out.
GUTIERREZ: Well that's right. That's what some of the families here said. It was not convenient to be told you have 15 minutes to gather up all your precious belongings and head out. But that was the warnings that they took very seriously and that's exactly what they did. Most of the people who are here have just made their way back up to the hills to watch. As I have mentioned some of the roads that were previously closed earlier are now open and so some of the traffic is making its way back up.
SANCHEZ: We just saw a little shot a little while ago. Boy I wish -- we don't have control of the shot, by the way. It's coming in out of L.A. But we just saw a shot a little while ago of some people on the crest of a hill who were standing by essentially looking for some kind of direction or something or maybe for some kind of transportation to be able to get out of the area. So we're going to be monitoring that as well. Thelma Gutierrez, yeoman's work. Thanks so much for bringing us a perspective from there. You were there on the scene we're not so we'll depend on you to bring us the latest developments as these residents have to deal with this fire that's really encroaching right up against their homes. We're going to take a quick break right now and when we come back we'll continue to fill you in on the latest information on this story and other stories today that are making news as well. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Rick Sanchez and we're going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Rick Sanchez. We're following a bevy of stories on this night. Obviously the big story is the situation that we're following out in California, but there's been another story certainly of high interest that we've been following as we watch the fires out of these live pictures in California, and we're going to move from California now for you all the way across to the area around Texas and New Mexico, the baby that was taken from a hospital and was found this morning. The baby was gone for a period of roughly 24 hours. Thank goodness, because it was really in dire conditions, according to hospital officials and we've got a unique opportunity now. You see that shot there, Lubbock you see it on the right, and there you see Clovis, that's in New Mexico. That's where the baby was found, and the officer who actually found the baby is Paul Crowe. He's good enough to talk to us now to tell us how he did this. Congratulations officer, boy, there are some people who are really breathing a sigh of relief as a result of your good work. How did you find the baby?
MASTER OFFICER PAUL CROWE, CLOVIS, NEW MEXICO POLICE: Thank you, thank you.
SANCHEZ: How did you find the baby?
CROWE: Well, about 9:45 last night the Lubbock Police Department called the Clovis Police Department with some information that they had received from the amber alert, and they essentially gave us a rough first name and a rough location where a suspect may have been. I responded out to that area and did a cursory search with another officer, and we didn't really find anything because of the nature of this incident and just a feeling that I had. I got up and started doing a neighborhood canvas just walking door to door, 10:00, 11:00 at night and knocking on doors and asking people for any information that they may have. And I started receiving little tidbits here and there and as I got closer to the area that Lubbock actually advised us the suspect had been seen, I got more detailed information. At that point what we did was I notified our investigative team, and I was able to positively identify the suspect and the suspect's residence. She was not there at the time.
SANCHEZ: Well, the baby was there but she wasn't there, is that what you're saying?
CROWE: No, the baby or the mother were not at the residence. Actually they had split up. They were about four miles apart and when I notified our investigative team I gave them all the information that I had and we had other officers spread out to both locations, and they were able to actually locate the mother and the baby almost simultaneously, about 1:00 in the morning last night.
SANCHEZ: Do you know what her reaction was when officers came upon her?
CROWE: Well, she was actually relatively nonchalant. She didn't have a whole lot to say. I know that since that time the FBI has been interviewing her.
SANCHEZ: So I'm confused. You got the information. You gave it to another officer. The officer that you gave the information to was then able to go over there and confront the woman with the baby. You were able to then take the baby away and the woman was actually taken into custody?
CROWE: The woman was detained and brought back to her residence. I was -- I stayed at her house. The baby was actually about three miles north of our location when other officers were able to find it based upon the information that I had gathered from my door-to-door search.
SANCHEZ: But what's interesting is Rayshaun Parson, seems like somebody knew that Rayshaun Parson was going to be heading in that direction, because they tipped off police in Lubbock who then tipped off police in Clovis and yourself that she might be going there. So somebody knew something about her then, right?
CROWE: Absolutely. Because of the amber alert and the public input here, the citizens of Clovis, Lubbock, every where around who called in, this is the reason we were able to come to such a successful resolution of this incident so quickly.
SANCHEZ: That's great stuff. Master Officer Paul Crowe, we thank you sir, for taking time to talk to us and bring us up to date on this development. A job well done. Good day's work. I mean, this was done in less than 24 hours. You can't beat that and the baby is in safe hands and we understand tomorrow some time around 11:00 a.m. CNN's going to cover it live. We're going to have the happy reunion between the mom and the child.
CROWE: We can't wait for that. SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir, we appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break here and when we come back, we'll be telling you about what's going on as far as that fire out west, and we're also going to be breaking down another story for you, one you saw play out right here on CNN. Drew Griffin, one of our investigative reporters, has put together a "special assignment" piece you'll be seeing tonight and he's going to share some of that with us in just a little bit. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: You see that big bucket there? We were just watching as that helicopter lowered itself just enough so that the bucket could go underwater from one of the reservoirs that they're using there. Our own Thelma Gutierrez is going to be joining us in a little bit to describe what's going on there. She's monitoring this as it develops. Then the helicopter goes back in the air and now goes back to the line that we've been talking about that firefighters are using to try and keep that fire at bay from affecting those people who live in that area there around Anaheim Hills. Really remarkable to see it. I almost wish we'd come out of the commercial a little earlier so we could have shown you exactly how it went in there and did that. But we'll do some more of it. In fact, we're going to be monitoring these pictures and bringing you more on the fire in just a little bit. Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Rick Sanchez. CNN special investigations unit has been looking into this month's fatal bus crash on I-75 here in Atlanta. Seven people, including five members of Ohio's Bluffton University baseball team died suddenly. Who is at fault and could this deadly accident have been somehow prevented? Here's CNN's Drew Griffin with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is not until you actually approach this split in the road that you're directed to exit left or stay straight on southbound 75. For reasons we will never know, Jerry Niemeyer steered his bus left, onto this exit ramp. He apparently didn't realize it.
(On camera): It's at this moment, Kyle King, seated four rows behind the driver in this seat is listening to music half asleep and hears the only warning.
KYLE KING, BUS CRASH SURVIVOR: And I woke up to the bus -- the driver's wife screaming.
GRIFFIN: Jean Niemeyer was sitting in the front with her husband.
KING: She said something like this isn't the exit or the onramp or something. And then I remember hearing the bus driver saying something then I actually heard the tires squeal of him trying to get it back on control.
GRIFFIN: Despite being on a clearly marked exit ramp, stop signs ahead and a stop ahead warning painted on the pavement. Atlanta Police say bus driver Jerry Niemeyer hit the intersection without breaking, his bus blew through the stop sign, across four lanes of traffic and headed straight for a retaining wall.
MAJ. C.W. MOSS, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We don't have any evidence on the roadway suggesting that the bus had attempted to stop. There were no skid marks laid down that we were able to determine. As to the reason for that, that remains under investigation. We hope we'll ultimately get an answer for that.
GRIFFIN: This skid mark of wheels turning right is the only evidence of Niemeyer's futile attempt to avoid disaster.
A.J. RAMTHUN, BUS CRASH SURVIVOR: I woke up as soon as the bus hit the overpass's wall. That's when I looked up and the bus landed on the left side, which is the side I was sitting on. I just looked out and saw the road coming up after me. That's all.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Drew Griffin joins us now. Good work putting this thing together so fast. So he's thinking I'm still on the highway. There's no reason for me to stop, turn or do anything, I'm just driving down the road, right?
GRIFFIN: Right. All the evidence points to the fact that this bus driver, Jerry Niemeyer, a good bus driver by all accounts, was not confused Rick. He thought he was on that highway and that's why he was going so fast.
SANCHEZ: So here's the obvious question, is it that confusing?
GRIFFIN: Well, the records show it hasn't been that confusing. There have been accidents there and a lot of people say it's confusing but the statistics just don't bear that out. If you're watching the signs and you're paying attention to the signs, yes, there's a warning sign that there's an exit there. But it is a left-hand exit, a lot of people aren't used to that especially if you're driving from Ohio.
SANCHEZ: Go ahead and put that shot up, let's see Drew and I will try and break that down for the viewers here. You're looking at the exit right there, right. Now that's going right there. Why does that seem to be so confusing as he continues down that ramp?
GRIFFIN: Well, for a couple of reasons. Number one, if you're unfamiliar with HOV you know you always want to stay in the HOV lane, which is always on the left.
SANCHEZ: Stop it right there Roger, stop it right there. So he's thinking there, right there, he's thinking there he's on the HOV lane which is just really another part of the highway, right?
GRIFFIN: That's right, and at parts of the HOV lane in Atlanta you do go up and you do somewhat get separated from the highway.
SANCHEZ: Do other cities not do that? GRIFFIN: Other cities do, do that. But what I'm saying is this guy is not an HOV driver. He's from Ohio. He drives in Ohio, right. So he may not be used to, even though he's been through Atlanta, he may not be used to being in that HOV lane and he remembers maybe from a past trip, he was last through here two years ago. There's that one point in that highway I've got to stay left. And I've got to really stay left. Maybe that's what he thought was happening.
SANCHEZ: That's what's great. You know, as I watched part of your report you almost get a feeling, what you do is it's a CSI. You give the viewer an understanding of what he was going through and what officials have to do now to break this down because that's what transportation officials are paid to do now, right, reconstruct the accident?
GRIFFIN: Try to make sure it didn't happen again and, unfortunately Rick it is a CSI. Because the only guy who knows what was going, had passed away in this accident, he and his wife, Jerry and Jean. So we will never be able to get into his head, what happened. When did she realize she wasn't on the highway? We heard from Kyle King she screamed "this isn't the highway." At what point, we don't know.
SANCHEZ: Investigative reporter Drew Griffin. Thanks so much, look forward to this. Good work.
GRIFFIN: Well this is a program that you certainly don't want to miss, it's called "Fatal Journey." It's called "The Atlanta Bus Crash, Fatal Journey" and it's coming up next right here after the NEWSROOM at 8:00 eastern. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez back in the CNN NEWSROOM. We welcome you back as we show you some of the pictures now of that helicopter and the bucket that they lower into that reservoir, that they then use to try and stop that fire from spreading any further. This is that fire that's in the area around Anaheim Hills that we've been all over for you, really amped up our coverage this evening to try and bring you up to date. Breaking news on this, and live pictures now from that KABC helicopter that we've been popping in for you from time to time. I'm told Thelma Gutierrez has gotten to the scene, and now we're able to not only hear her but see her as well. There you are, Thelma. Bring us up to date on what you've been seeing and what's going on around you.
GUTIERREZ: Well Rick, you know you've been mentioning the entire afternoon that the hills up here in Anaheim have been on fire. There have been two major plumes that we have been tracking. If you take a look right behind me you can see this grayish smoke in the distance behind that ridge. That is an area where firefighters are now concentrating their attack. They have four air tankers, four helicopters, 100 engines, 20 strike teams and about 400 firefighters out here working these fires. We were talking a little bit ago to one of the residents, Amy Jo, and Amy lives in this area. She lives up there on the ridge. She was one of hundreds of people who evacuated. She said this morning she didn't wait to be asked. She immediately left. Amy, can you tell me what it was like this morning, what were the conditions like?
AMY JO: It was really bad. What happened was we sort of hear fire engines coming, you know we didn't know what was going on. It was like 7:00 this morning. It's like we hear a lot of sirens but wasn't sure exactly what's going on and until we found out a little bit later, an hour ago.
GUTIERREZ: What did it look like? You live up on the ridge? What did the hills look like?
AMY JO: Well it was like full of black smoke and it was like you could totally see fires and it was like burning and a lot of flames and stuff like that.
GUTIERREZ: At that point you did not wait to be asked to be leave. You grabbed your belongings, you jumped in your car and left?
AMY JO: Yeah. We -- we packed a lot of documents and we packed like family pictures, you know. I was like get me knees ready. You know I was like we've got to head out. We packed some clothes, some of the laptops that's important with work-related stuff like that.
GUTIERREZ: Do you know if you're allowed to go back into your area?
AMY JO: No, we tried. We just tried it like 20 minutes ago and then we couldn't go back.
GUTIERREZ: Now what are you going to do tonight if you're not allowed to go back home?
AMY JO: Well, my sister lives down the street, also in the Anaheim Hills which is a mile down, you know, two miles down about, and we're probably going to stay there.
GUTIERREZ: And just wait it out. All right Amy, thanks a lot and good luck. Rick, that's what we've been hearing from a lot of the residents who've been up here on this ridge. They have been watching that area making sure that those flames don't come back up. You can see that they have. There's a hot spot up there and there's a helicopter that just a couple of minutes ago made a pickup of water. There you see it went up, put it out. We understand that those helicopters can carry about 200 gallons of water. We have seen a very, very aggressive attack by air. Fixed wing and helicopters coming in and making those drops of water and fire retardant on the areas. Rick, when we first drove up to this area we saw this very dark ominous cloud over Orange County. As we came in we followed one of the dark plumes up into the hills. When we got there the area was just simply smoldering at that point. We saw mop up crews doing their job and that is that shows you how aggressive they are fighting this fire. You take a look right now, that helicopter is swooping down into the Walnut Creek Reservoir right down below me. It'll make a pickup and then it'll go right back up. SANCHEZ: We're told some of those buckets Thelma get as many as 3,000 gallons but they even have bigger ones that are 10,000 gallons. But you know what's interesting, I was talking to Drew Griffin a little while ago. He was telling me it's really early in the season there for fires like this. They expect these might happen later on. So sometimes they don't have all of the gear that's necessary to put these things out. They may have some of that stuff coming in later on.
GUTIERREZ: Well, you know, that's exactly right. We've been told that we can expect about 400 firefighters on the scene and you know Rick you were talking about how early in the season this fire actually hit.
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