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Tragedy in Charleston; Pregnant Ohio Woman Missing; Space Shuttle Atlantis Heading Home
Aired June 19, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming into the NEWSROOM on this Tuesday, June 19th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Charleston, South Carolina, a town in shock this morning. Nine firefighters are killed while trying to knock down flames at a furniture warehouse.
HARRIS: The U.S. military going after al Qaeda fighters in a new crackdown. Some 10,000 troops are taking part northeast of Baghdad.
COLLINS: Predicting a hurricane's path. A critical satellite is well past the warranty period. And Washington says a new one isn't in the budget.
What if the eye in the sky goes on the blink? You'll see, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: At the top this hour, tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine firefighters killed in a massive overnight furniture warehouse fire. Their bodies brought out of the smoldering rubble one at a time. And in a scene that breaks your heart, colleagues saluting. They and others overwhelmed by the loss.
I talked with the mayor earlier in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR JOSEPH RILEY, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: There is no comparison. Even during Hurricane Hugo, which is the worst hurricane we ever had, we lost one life. There is no comparison.
Every time a public safety officer is injured, to say nothing of killed in the line of duty, it is a grief-filled moment. But to have nine of our firefighters perish in one fire is just something hard to even begin to imagine.
And our heart goes out to them and to their families, and to all of our firefighters. Firefighters are a family unit. And they are grieving, and we really are going to be working closely with them and with the families in the hours and days ahead.
HARRIS: We are going take some time and talk to you this morning because we just want a bit of an understanding, as much as we can, of how this all unfolded.
Do you have any idea from talking to the chief and others who were working on the fire how this got so out of hand and became this deathtrap for these firefighters?
RILEY: Not yet. You know, we will know that. It's being investigated, and I think the important thing is not to make assumptions when eventually you will know the facts.
We know the call came in a few minutes after 7:00. One of our fire stations is about a half a mile from the store. So they were there immediately.
I talked with the battalion chief in charge who went around to the back of the building and saw the fire. And they began to attack it.
What caused it, how it spread so quickly, we will find that out. It's a Sofa Super Store. So it is filled with sofas...
HARRIS: Plenty of fuel.
RILEY: ... plenty of fuel.
HARRIS: Yes.
RILEY: But important was that there were two employees in the building. So our firefighters -- and they got them out. The firefighters were in there not only fighting fire, they were in there seeking to save lives, and perished in the process.
HARRIS: Let me pick up on that point.
OK, so the firefighters were in there, A, trying to fight the fire, but more importantly, trying to get people out. Were the firefighters being informed that apart from the two who they were able to get out building, that there were perhaps others inside the building as well?
RILEY: No. I don't know that.
HARRIS: OK.
RILEY: One of the employees got out quickly. The other, they had to break in the back of the building and get them out.
But any -- every time you have a fire, the firefighters go in there assuming that there are people around. You know, the stories of firefighters on their hands and knees going into buildings and finding an infant under a bed or something. So they're -- you know, they are training is to put the fire out and to make sure, double-check, triple-check, that there's no one in the building.
And that's what they are doing, and that's what their profession instructs them to do. And that's what these brave people were doing last night.
HARRIS: Mayor since 1975. I would imagine that you know some of the family members of the now deceased firefighters.
RILEY: I do. A number of them have family connections.
Firefighting is something that often gets in the blood of these dedicated people. And we haven't announced the names, but I'm looking at the list that I wrote last night in the command center with our chief. And I know them. And I know their families.
And I know one's mother. And it's -- it's just absolutely heartbreaking. And it's just -- it's just terrible.
These are wonderful people and wonderful families, and brave, heroic firefighters who now will become part of our city's history in a tragic way. But I'm looking in my hand of the names of these people, and they will -- they will be forever remembered as heroic examples of courage and bravery in the line of duty.
HARRIS: One of your responsibilities, as you know all too well, Mr. Mayor, is be this pillar of strength, this rock for that community to rely on at a time like this. And I'm wondering as you look down at that list, have you talked to some of these family members, some of the people that you know in that community? And how difficult has it been to either be in the room or on the phone as this news has been shared?
RILEY: Well, some have. We have them -- we sent our police officers out to tell the family members that their loved one was missing last night.
And even as I speak, the formal positive identification is still occurring. But I talked to some and greeted some, and we will be with all of them. They came from different parts of the community. And -- you know, the metropolitan area.
But I will. And in the community, you know, we -- as you can imagine, people love their firefighters to begin with.
Ours is -- we have the number one fire rating. It's only 36 fire departments in the country have the rating we do. It is a highly revered professional unit, and that our community absolutely loves.
HARRIS: Yes.
Are you aware of whether or not the building had working -- had a work sprinkler system?
RILEY: We don't know that. We don't know -- we don't have that information yet. And, you know, I think I have the information, but until we have all of the facts -- you know, in a situation like this, it is best rather than to speculate to get all the information before we make a categorical statement.
HARRIS: Mayor Riley, thanks for your time this morning.
RILEY: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: This is the greatest loss of American firefighters in the line of duty since 9/11. That is according to the Web site firehouse.com.
COLLINS: The nine firefighters are being remembered as heroes, as you would imagine.
Joining us now to talk about the South Carolina tragedy and the impact on the firefighting community is Atlanta Fire Chief Harold Miller.
Chief Miller, thanks for being with us this morning.
CHIEF HAROLD MILLER, ATLANTA FIRE DEPT.: Thank you.
COLLINS: I know that as a firefighter yourself, you feel this loss as well.
MILLER: Oh yes. When I woke up this morning and heard the news, it was -- my heart sank. I -- you know, here we go again.
It's sad to lose one firefighter, but to lose so many at one time is just devastating to the community. My heart really goes out to the firefighters, their families and the community itself.
COLLINS: You know, some people might not understand, just because they're not part of the firefighting community, what that community is all about. I mean, you have men and women living in a firehouse, they're cooking meals together.
It's like a family, right?
MILLER: Right. Firefighting is a family. We live and eat together.
And I've traveled all over the world, and no matter where I've been, I've been -- I can walk into a fire station and be welcomed as a brother firefighter.
COLLINS: It's like a fraternity.
MILLER: Definitely.
COLLINS: Talk a little bit, if you would -- we heard Mayor Joe Riley just moments ago -- certainly not asking you to speculate at all, but boy, when I look at some of the reports that came in this morning about how quickly that structure collapsed, they're saying it was on fire, and the firefighters got there, and it wasn't even 30 minutes until the entire thing came down. MILLER: Yes. I think we need to look at the -- actually the construction of the building. If it was a steel truss building, being a furniture store, one thing that we do know is that furniture stores have a tremendous amount of fire load. And the rubber products and other materials that you make furniture out of burn very, very rapidly.
COLLINS: So because of the contents inside the building, not just the structure around it.
MILLER: Right. The contents -- typically in furniture warehouses, the furniture will be stacked several, several feet high. So you my have three or four shelves worth of furniture 20 to 30 feet high. And when that bulk of material catches on fire, it puts out a tremendous amount of heat and a tremendous amount of volume of smoke.
With a steel truss roof -- and I'm not -- I don't know that that one had a steel truss roof, but it appeared that it possibly could have -- then early collapse is a very distinct possibility.
COLLINS: And then when you think about -- I know there are different scenarios. When you have especially a warehouse situation, where sometimes firefighters are told, you know what, we're just going to let this one burn, that was not a possibility in this case. They were still trying to clear that building and make sure no one was inside.
MILLER: Right. And in the firefighting community, that's the time that you do make entry, is when you suspect or know that there are persons inside. You know, you risk a lot to save a life. And if they were going in after human life, then I can surely understand why they were there.
COLLINS: We now have nine firefighters lost for this particular fire department. What type of training do firefighters and their families, I imagine, go through for coping with loss like this?
MILLER: Well, you never really get -- you never really get properly trained to cope with this kind of loss. You know, we're somewhat like the military. We know that every call could be a serious call. But you really don't get trained to answer this kind of call or to be a family member or a city official and have to deal with what they're facing now.
COLLINS: I had the opportunity to do quite a bit of reporting from Colorado Springs, where the national -- the Fallen Firefighters Memorial is held.
MILLER: Right.
COLLINS: And it's a beautiful place. Had an opportunity to talk with family members who have lost firefighter loved ones. And you're right, they have so much to say about the community and the family.
But you used a word in the break, that this particular fire department right now may feel just absolutely paralyzed. MILLER: Well, initially when you have a firefighter go down, it paralyzes the company, because they're searching for that lost firefighter. When you have a firefighter die in a fire, it does paralyze the fire department. And this number of firefighters, yes, they're -- they're in shock right now.
COLLINS: Yes. And we've seen some of the video of the other firefighters just breaking down. Of course you can only imagine what they're thinking.
MILLER: Yes, they are family.
COLLINS: We appreciate your insights today.
MILLER: Thank you, ma'am.
COLLINS: Chief Harold Miller her from the Atlanta Fire Department.
Thanks so much.
MILLER: Thank you.
HARRIS: Unfolding this hour in Iraq, dozens killed in a massive blast.
In Baghdad, a truck bomb exploded in a crowded city square. An Iraqi official says at least 75 people were killed, more than 200 others injured.
The crowds were gathered near a Shiite mosque. It was damaged in the blast.
Also in Iraq, the U.S. military launching a new offensive. Thousands of American troops moving in to Baquba, just north of Baghdad. The military says at least 22 insurgents were killed in the first rounds of fighting.
This latest offensive in Baquba is part of a larger operation for U.S. troops. They're targeting Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias and al Qaeda operatives in areas outside of Baghdad.
COLLINS: Nine months pregnant and missing. It's been almost a week now since anyone has heard from an Ohio mother.
CNN's Jim Acosta has the late developments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In her first frantic call alerting police that her daughter had vanished, Patty Porter makes it clear her grandson Blake was home alone.
DISPATCHER: And how is the child that was left alone?
PATTY PORTER, JESSIE DAVIS' MOTHER: She didn't leave him alone. My God, something's wrong.
ACOSTA: That makes this 2-year-old boy the only known witness in the disappearance of his 26-year-old mother, Jessie Davis, who is just a few weeks from delivering her second child. Blake did see something. He has been talking about it ever since.
PORTER: "Mommy is in the rug," he keeps saying.
ACOSTA: What Blake is referring to, his grandmother says, is the comforter that's now missing from Jessie's home.
PORTER: He wouldn't know the word "comforter". That wouldn't -- that's not a familiar word for a 2-and-a-half year old.
ACOSTA: Porter believes a stranger wrapped up Jessie in that comforter and carried her out of the house.
PORTER: That's the only way I can deal with this at this moment, is that I have to believe that this is someone that we don't know.
ACOSTA: But police are trying to learn more about people Jessie does know, including Bobby Cutts, the Canton police officer and father of Jessie's son and possibly her unborn child. Investigators searched Cutts' home, but there is no word on what, if anything, was found.
Seen here in these photos breaking down after learning of Jessie's disappearance, Cutts is married to another woman. But authorities stress Cutts and his current wife, who are reportedly estranged, are not suspects.
CHIEF DEPUTY RICK A. PEREZ, STARK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: At this time we have no persons of interest, we have no suspects.
ACOSTA (on camera): Canton police took Officer Cutts off his shift as an overnight patrolman and placed him on administrative leave, because, his supervisors say, he's been traumatized by the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
BERNIE HUNT, CANTON PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR: He has indicated that he is having a difficult time coping with the circumstances.
ACOSTA (voice over): But Canton's public safety director did say he wants to see the case solved before putting Cutts back to work.
HUNT: We would like for the investigation to take its course. At this point in time the investigation is complete, we are hopeful that that will make Officer Cutts' situation clearer.
ACOSTA: With few clues about how a pregnant woman could vanish without a trace, clarity is something this case sorely needs.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Canton, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: In an instant a flashflood wrecks lives and takes lives. Texas looking for the missing today.
Live updates coming your way in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: The shuttle crew saying goodbye to the space station this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On television, Fyodor Yurchikhin as he works with Commander Rick Sturckow to close the hatch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Coming undone, heading home, in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Give a kid one of these and they can eyeball all kinds of mischief. What is a parent to do?
The latest attitudes on TV, sex and violence -- in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Atlantis heading home. The shuttle separated from the space station a short time ago, ending an extended stay.
CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien joining us now live from New York.
So, what's happening right now? We know they had two extra days.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, I've got to tell you, we've got a pretty picture to show you, first of all.
COLLINS: Oh, good. Let's look.
O'BRIEN: Take a look at this live shot coming to us from space.
COLLINS: It's still just you, Miles. Oh, there you go.
O'BRIEN: Oh, shucks.
I was thinking about space hardware, actually. But I do appreciate it.
You know, this is the way a space station should look. For the first time it all began, it's symmetrical.
You've got solar arrays there, solar arrays there. And this is a little more -- although it's not the Arthur C. Clarke wheel, a lot of us who like space would like the wheel deal, you know, from "2001".
COLLINS: "A Space Odyssey".
O'BRIEN: But suffice it to say, this is looking a little more like a space station now. They put those additional solar arrays on. And they are gleaming there in the sun. The shuttle now about 495 feet away. And this is the big moment for the pilot.
You know, as you well know, Heidi, the pilot doesn't really do much flying. As a matter of fact, he doesn't do hardly any flying, except for this, the fly-around around the space station.
The commander does the landing. And actually has the stick time.
So this is an opportunity for the pilot, who is rookie Lee Archambault -- the call him "Bru". Hopefully no brew is involved today as he flies one and a half revolutions around the space station, they get a good picture of it.
The undocking happened about a half an hour ago. Let's see -- I think we have some pictures of it as it happened.
There's the hatch, a close-up shot. This is kind of the aiming camera.
They use actually -- it's interesting. They use this little deal to help, and they try to line it up with that little deal. The camera is a little off center compared to the way the commander sees it. But that's how they actually line up for docking. You know, all the technology in the world, and it's like two gun sites is what it boils down to there.
COLLINS: Wow.
O'BRIEN: It's kind of like, you know, if you think about it, all the technology in the world and the space shuttle's thermal blank is held together by staples.
COLLINS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Which is another thing they're going to be focused on today as we go back to the live picture here as they continue this fly-over.
Take a look. Those are the radiators all along there. Oh, those are solar arrays. These are radiators there.
As they continue this and kind of get a survey, get some good pictures of the space station in its current state, they will move to a location about 46 miles away from the space station. And they're going to do one more check of the heat shield of Atlantis.
And the reason they picked this distance is it's a safe distance away, but it's also close enough that if in that late inspection they find that they got dinged by a micrometeoroid or something which pierces the heat shield, and they've got trouble, they can get back to the space station and stay there for a while if need be and wait for a rescue mission.
Hopefully that won't happen. As it stands right now the heat shield is good to go, but they want this one last inspection before they come back for landing.
COLLINS: OK.
O'BRIEN: The landing is set for Thursday afternoon, right in the middle of some Florida thunderstorms. So we'll see if that happens.
COLLINS: Oh, yes.
O'BRIEN: I don't know if that's going to happen.
By the way, that's South America appearing underneath there.
COLLINS: It's so cool, isn't it?
O'BRIEN: A little bit of the Amazon. It is.
COLLINS: It's just gorgeous.
Hey, quickly, before we let you go, Miles, update us on the situation with the computer. I mean, we have heard so much about that.
O'BRIEN: Ah, yes. The computer. It's always bring the jump ski cables when you go to orbit. The Russians brought the jump cables.
COLLINS: That and the Duct tape.
O'BRIEN: And we've got staples and jumper cables holding the whole thing together.
They jumped -- they basically bypassed a suspect circuit. All six computers came to life. They are all operating as per specifications.
COLLINS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Basically, the bottom line is, they think because the station is so much bigger as it goes through the wisps of the atmosphere up there, it creates a little more electromagnetic interference. That's my -- that's the international symbol for interference there. And that might have tripped those very sensitive circuit boards.
They bypassed them. All is well.
COLLINS: That was weird. It was very weird.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it is weird.
COLLINS: All right.
Miles O'Brien, our space correspondent, thanks so much. I bet we'll see you Thursday afternoon for the landing.
O'BRIEN: Indeed, you will.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks.
HARRIS: Still to come this morning, firefighters battle an inferno inside a furniture warehouse. Then the roof collapses.
A city mourns nine heroes in the NEWSROOM.
Sex, violence foul language -- are you keeping track of what your kids see and hear on television?
We'll tell you what some parents are saying, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: CNN's T.J. Holmes is in the newsroom now following reports of an incident aboard a cruise ship.
Perhaps T.J., a passenger overboard?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's a possibility again. We seem like we have one of those stories every so often, Tony, about a passenger who is missing aboard.
This one is the Freedom of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship. A passenger went missing somewhere around the Bahamas, where this ship was sailing. This is a 24-year-old male passenger missing, was last seen at 1:45 in the morning on Monday, and then reported missing at 8:30 a.m. yesterday as well.
There it is, Freedom of the Seas. But this 24-year-old male guest was last seen on the balcony of his state room. Now, we don't have any other I.D. or information about the circumstances, what he might have been doing, who he might have been with or anything going on. But just resting on the balcony of his state room.
Right now, the Coast Guard certainty involved in this process, have a couple of aircraft up in the air searching around that area. The ship itself has retraced its steps a couple of times from the area it was around 1:45 when that passenger was last seen. Again, this is around the area of the Bahamas.
But right now, no idea where he might be, if he actually did go overboard. Also, no word of any foul play or anything like that right now. So, right now, just the search is on trying to find this young man, 24 years old.
We'll keep an eye on this. Hopefully we'll get a good resolution to it.
We did have one not too long ago, Tony, you may remember. Had a good resolution. A man and woman went overboard, they were found in the water and were OK. But hopefully we get a good resolution to this one as well.
HARRIS: Yes. OK, T.J. Appreciate it.
HOLMES: All right, Tony.
HARRIS: Sex, violence, adult language -- children can see and hear it all on television, the Internet, video games, even at the movies. A new survey released just this morning finds two-thirds of parents are very concerned about such media exposure and would support some new federal limits.
There is also this. The study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found two in three parents say they're doing a pretty good job of keeping track of their kids' TV viewing, gaming and Web surfing. Only one in five parents conceded they should do a better job.
To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. There you will find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness.
The address, cnn.com/health.
COLLINS: What makes someone a hero? All this year CNN is answering that question by introducing you to some incredible people who are making a difference.
Today we want you to meet a man from Rwanda who is fighting to protect mountain gorillas from extinction.
Eugene Rutagarama, today's "CNN Hero".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can start off anywhere.
EUGENE RUTAGARAMA, CNN HERO: When you approach a group of gorillas, the first feeling that you are approaching a relative, a human being...
In this vision we have been able to bring conservationists from the three governments together to sign an agreement to protect these mountain gorillas. Having rangers to cover the park with their patrol means that we keep the poaching at the very lowest level. But the poaching is still there.
My name is Eugene Rutagarama. My work is to protect mountain gorillas in their habitat.
When I came back from Burundi, when Rwanda was devastated by the genocide, you would see the bodies of dead people. Thousands of people. The whole country had to resume from the scratch.
My attention went to the national parks. If these parks were not protected, it means that we have lost the mountain gorillas, which is a hobby for many tourists. It brings foreign currency to this country which helps to conserve this park.
Gorillas can't really do much if a human being has decided to decimate or to kill the gorillas. They need to be defended, they need to be protected by human beings. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: There is much more about Eugene Rutagarama and his efforts on our Web site.
You can also nominate your hero for special recognition later this year. All the details are at cnn.com/heroes.
HARRIS: Nine firefighters put their lives on the line. All lost this morning. Grieving in Charleston, South Carolina.
Our live coverage continues ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And grim search. At least five people still missing from flashfloods.
A Texas update in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Quickly want to get to our TJ Holmes standing by in the NEWSROOM right now with some information regarding the judge, TJ in the Anna Nicole Smith case?
TJ HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Heidi, check your local listings. You might have Judge Larry coming to a television set near you. This is the deal now. He has resigned. Of course, there was a lot of speculation during all that trial and everything going on with Anna Nicole, because of his antics in the courtroom, there was speculation and some reports out there that he was auditioning for his own show.
Now, in his statement he released today about his resignation he mentions nothing about doing a television show. There's nothing official out there about him doing a show. I want to quote here, he says in his statement, my daily life to my own young family and pursue the many opportunities that have been offered to me outside the judicial system and I have disregarded until now. He says that's why he's resigning. Also he says the opportunities are varied and they all share a common further commitment to helping my fellow citizens through roles in the educational system, the media and nonprofit organizations. You can take that to mean whatever you want it to mean. He's going to be on the bench to July 31st at least, Heidi.
COLLINS: I think he sounds like he could be a darn good tease writer.
HOLMES: A tease writer. He does have a good line or two in here but of course we all remember his antics. He cried. He was berating attorneys and there was a lot of criticism, a lot of talking about him being unprofessional and nobody could figure why in the world he was acting like this. One of our anchors at the time said he's either brilliant or crazy and the jury's still out on that.
COLLINS: A lot of people are both.
HOLMES: A lot of people are both, but 29 years on the bench. He's stepping down and we shall see what happens to Judge Larry.
COLLINS: Waiting with baited breath. TJ Holmes, thank you.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And now the deadly floods in Texas. In their mother's arms one moment, swept away the next. The search under way right now for a two-year-old girl, one of at least five people missing from deadly flooding. Her five-year-old sister and grandmother among those who lost their lives. CNN's Rob Marciano is in hard-hit Gainesville, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The raging waters across north Texas have receded almost as quickly as they rose early Monday morning engulfing this town of Gainesville, Texas. This stream, probably running usually at 50 to 100 cubic feet per second was likely up around 30,000, 40,000 cubic feet per second. The water, 10, 20 feet over my head. The bridge that we're shooting from, the water came over top of that. You can see all sorts of debris in the form of logs, trees and branches even a garage door of some sort with sheet metal, twisted over top of that railing.
Down here on the riverbank with the waters receding, you see obviously signs of life. A telling sign there with a child's play cart. Debris obviously strewn downstream, mature trees completely uprooted and pointed in that direction. We've got signs, sheet metal signs that are laying around here. And then look at this. This is a refrigerator or freezer of some sort and a cast iron tank that floated downstream just to give you an idea of how powerful this water was. The search goes on for as many as four or five people still missing here in Gainesville, Texas. The good news, if there is any, is that the weather seems to be cooperating. Dry weather is in the forecast for the next four or five days. Rob Marciano, CNN, Gainesville, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Let's take a minute now to talk with Chad Myers, maybe (ph) a little bit more about that. Chad we just heard Rob say dry weather for the next few days in that region.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That is correct. Now, that is not the same story for Florida. We're going to watch where this weather moves. It's moving -- this is called a progressive system, it's actually moving from west to east. For the longest time, which seems like three weeks, it never moved. It rained in Oklahoma and Texas every day. Now it's moving to the east and spreading some of the rain into some much-needed areas that have been so very dry from Atlanta to Birmingham back to Jackson. We are going to see significant rainfall.
This is a 48-hour computerized forecast. You see, Dallas, a half inch. It's green. OK. They can deal with a half inch, can't deal with five inches in an hour. Look at this, look at this purple and almost white area near Jacksonville, a little bit southwest of there as well, that's purple. You run up there, that's six inches of rain in the next 48 hours. That may be too fast. We may be dealing with a similar situation down there. It's crazy how you go from a drought to a flood because Jacksonville right now is in a pretty significant drought. Lynchburg, I mean in Birmingham, all the way up into Atlanta. These areas here really do need the rain, need it slowly, very slowly if we can. Heavy rainfall coming down here, probably a new weather watch going to be issued, possibly even a tornado watch for about New Orleans points upward almost to Memphis, Tennessee. We'll see as the day goes on, the afternoon heating is just really beginning. We get that heat and humidity during the day, some storms could spin.
COLLINS: All right Chad. We'll check back. Thank you.
Our top story, tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina this morning. Nine firefighters killed in a massive overnight furniture warehouse fire. Their bodies brought out of the smoldering rubble one at a time, colleagues saluting. They and others remembering the fallen as brave and courageous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JOE RILEY, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: This will be a part of our history that will never be forgotten. And these nine men will always be revered and honored in our department. They fought the enemy, the fire and they lost their lives seeking to protect citizens of our city. They're heroes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Today's loss of nine firefighters in Charleston reminds us of some other horrible firefighting tragedies. April 16th and 17th, 1947, 27 firefighters killed in a fire and explosions of two ships in Texas City. December 22nd, 1910, 21 firefighters die in a Chicago stock yard and warehouse fire. July 9th, 1953, 14 firefighters and a forest service worker killed battling a blaze in the Mendocino national forest in California, March 10th, 1941, 13 firefighters killed when the roof collapses at the Strand theater in Brockton, Massachusetts; April 4th, 1949, 13 firefighters killed in a forest fire in Montana.
HARRIS: A major offensive under way in Iraq, U.S. troops moving up through Baquba, north of Baghdad. It is part of a larger operation by the U.S. military aiming to hunt down enemies outside the capital. We get more now from CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. Jamie.
JAMIE McINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it's no secret that as the U.S. security crackdown took place in Baghdad, it simply pushed some of the al Qaeda and insurgent fighters out of the capital into nearby areas, including Diyala province. We have an opportunity now to talk with Major General Benjamin Mixon who is the commander of multinational division north, which includes Diyala province in Baquba. He joins us now from Tikrit. And General Mixon, tell us a little bit about what exactly is going on in this offensive. How many troops do you have involved? What's their mission? What have they accomplished so far? MAJ. GEN. BENJAMIN MIXON, U.S. ARMY: Jamie, this is the result of many months of action against al Qaeda throughout Diyala. This is now focused on Baquba. It's involving 1,500 coalition force, 1500 Iraqi army, 500 or more Iraqi police. We began last night with large-scale air assaults moving by helicopter to surprise the enemy with a large ground assault before daylight. We've had initial good success. We've killed multiple members of the enemy with our attack helicopters, air force strikes and artillery. So we're off to a good start. However, there's a lot of work left to be done.
McINTYRE: You mentioned this is a joint U.S./Iraqi operation. Are the Iraqi troops in the lead? Are the U.S. troops in the lead? And is this the case where Iraqi troops are going to try to hold some of the gains you've secured in this offensive?
MIXON: This is being done together as partners. The principal mission that we want the Iraqi security forces to do is to do the whole face that will allow us to move outside of Baquba to do detail operations in the areas where we believe the enemy will move from once we defeat him in Baquba.
McINTYRE: I guess that's another question. We've seen it. Every time you put pressure on al Qaeda, on the Sunni insurgents, on Shia insurgents, they simply move some place else. Where would they go from here?
MIXON: The nature of this enemy, he will hide in the farmlands and palm groves. But there's a difference this time. We have support of many of the locals that live in the area, the sheiks that are in the area. He's going to have a tough time finding a place to hide following and during this particular operation.
McINTYRE: Now U.S. commanders have been very encouraged by what's happened in Anbar province, where they've gotten a lot of cooperation from the local sheiks. Is there an analogous situation in Diyala province? Tell us a little bit about that province and the make up there and what we're dealing with in trying to get that kind of local cooperation.
MIXON: This is a different situation because there are many more tribes and they're very diverse in Diyala province. So it's going to take us a little longer to pull them together as an organized group. But we are seeing a lot of anticipation by the sheiks now that we have more combat power in Diyala. They realize now that we can secure them and they are coming forward to work with us and the Iraqi government to stop this al Qaeda threat that's been harming the people of Diyala.
McINTYRE: General Nixon, you made news a short time ago when you said you didn't have enough troops in Diyala province to do what you need to do. Do you have those troops now? Can you tell us how many you have and is it enough?
MIXON: I've been given additional troops, two additional Stryker brigades to operate within my battle space, one of those that's dedicated to Diyala. I have enough at the present time to continue operations in Baquba and the surrounding area. I will make an assessment in the next couple of weeks if I need additional forces. And General Odierno and I will discuss that and we'll see what's available, if they are needed.
McINTYRE: General Nixon, we really appreciate you taking time out on this very busy day with this major offensive going on to talk to us here on CNN. And Tony, back to you.
MIXON: Thank you very much.
HARRIS: Jamie, thank you and thanks, sir. Thanks to the general as well.
COLLINS: Officers down. Police called to a domestic disturbance. Authorities say they became a teenager's target. Details on this story, coming up in the NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Heidi, 15 minutes away from "Your World Today." You know, you know, tick, tick, tick, tick, Rosemary Church here.
COLLINS: I saw her in the make-up room.
HARRIS: You did? Good bonding moments together?
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely we did, chatted about you. A lot happening on this day. We go first to the violence gripping Iraq, where a deadly bomb has claimed the lives of 75 people and wounded 200 near a Shia shrine in Baghdad. This as U.S. troops launch a massive offensive to wipe out al Qaeda insurgents northeast of the capital. We'll have a live report on that.
Also, Israel's prime minister visits the U.S. president. Both leaders offer their full backing of Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas. So we'll look at that.
And Saudi King Abdullah is in Spain. His foreign minister joins us for a live interview from Madrid. We'll weigh in on the Palestinian conflict and prospects for peace in the Middle East as well as the Iraq war and Iran's nuclear program. Those stories and a lot more on "Your World Today" coming up at the top of the hour here on CNN. So busy day. Tony and Heidi, join us.
HARRIS: We will be there.
COLLINS: Thank you, Rosemary.
A big change at the top of Yahoo!. But is this what the Internet giant really needs? We'll find out what Jennifer Lewis Hall. She's at the New York Stock Exchange now with more on this executive shake up. Hi there Jennifer.
JENNIFER LEWIS-HALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Heidi. You've got it right. Terry Semel is out as Yahoo! CEO. Now, the company says he will be replaced by one of the company's co-founders, Jerry Yang. Semel will however stay on as non-executive chairman and the company's chief financial officer will step into the president's position. Semel joined the Internet search giant back in May of 2001. He's widely credited with helping to focus the company after the high- tech bubble burst. In recent years, Yahoo! has fallen behind its rival Google in the online advertising market, which is vitally important to the company. Google also has been more aggressive on the buying front. Last year it bought the online video site youtube. Heidi?
COLLINS: Is this move really that unexpected, though, Jennifer?
LEWIS-HALL: You know, not entirely. At last week's shareholder meeting, Semel faced some very tough questions about the company's strategy. Many analysts suspected a change at the top was going to be eminent. But will this change really cure the company's ills? Some analysts doubt it. They point to the fact that Semel's replacement has been with the company for its entire history and that's hardly, some say, an injection of fresh blood there. The move could also boost speculation that Yahoo! itself could be sold. Yahoo! shares, it's convinced right now, people are saying, they are heading slightly lower today on the session. Investors don't seem to be too convinced. Shares rallied yesterday on speculation the change was coming. But today, shares are losing about 1 percent.
Stocks overall, too, are trading in a narrow range. Worries about consumer spending are back in the spotlight. This is after electronic giant Best Buy posted a disappointing profit. And checking the numbers now on Wall Street, the Dow industrials, the Nasdaq and the S&P all slightly lower on the session. Tony and Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Jennifer, thank you.
LEWIS-HALL: You got it.
HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, nine firefighters put their lives on the line, all lost this morning. Grieving in Charleston, South Carolina, continuing coverage ahead in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: Police say it started with a teenager and his mom arguing. When it was over, the boy and a sheriff's deputy were dead and a second officer seriously wounded. The deputies were called to an Indiana home to investigate a disturbance involving the 15-year-old and his mother. Authorities say the teen shot the deputies as they arrived. According to police, the boy was later found dead in the house. No word on exactly how the boy died. The case is under investigation.
HARRIS: A story we've been following all morning, nine firefighters killed in Charleston, South Carolina. They died battling a massive fire at a warehouse and are being remembered as heroes. CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us from Charleston with the latest. Brianna, I know you haven't been there very long, but give us a sense of the scene around you there in Charleston. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here we can see the traffic is slowing behind me, people are slowing down. This is a pretty major thoroughfare heading out to Savannah but people are slowing to see the scene. There's also a makeshift memorial here with nine white crosses, some people coming by with flowers. Also, Tony, we just learned that all nine of the firefighters who died here when this roof collapsed on this furniture warehouse, all nine of them were from the Charleston city fire department. There were other firefighters who responded from outlying fire departments in Charleston County but all of them were from Charleston city.
Of course, the mayor here, Joe Riley saying that this is really difficult to fathom or quantify and that's in part because this is a city that hasn't seen any casualties among its fire fighters in at least 10 years, that according to officials. And at this point, fire investigators are still on-scene. You can see from here, there's the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms mobile unit. So investigators still here and we're awaiting, Tony, a 2:00 p.m. press conference where we're going to hear from the Charleston county coroner. We're expecting for those firefighters to be identified.
HARRIS: OK. CNN's Brianna Keilar for us. Brianna, thank you.
COLLINS: A high honor for the home run king. Hank Aaron now has his own plane and you can ride in it, too. Tell you all about it, coming up in the NEWSROOM.
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Who do you think matters most in the world today? From CEOs to celebrities, cnnmoney along with business 2.0 wants you to decide here. The list of 101 candidates includes some of the most well-known business gurus like Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckorburg (ph), creator of the popular social networking site facebook. Rock star and activist Bono, he makes the list. Besides his accomplishments as a musician and humanitarian, he also runs an Irish clothing company in case you didn't know.
RICHARD LUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Others on the list include Justin Kahn. His 24-hour online video show has advertisers lining up around the block to get face time on Justin TV. Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group empire is also on this list. The billionaire has promised to donate all profits from his transportation industry over the next 10 years to aid in the fight against global warming. Check out other notable figures and vote for those you think matter most. It's all online at cnnmoney.com. From the dot com desk, I'm Richard Lui
HARRIS: Seeing Richard there, taking the opportunity to remind everyone, we're about to get started on the podcast here in just a couple of minutes. You can download that late in the day, 24/7 any time you want. It is the CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7 right there on your iPod.
COLLINS: How about this for a lofty tribute for baseball's home run king. Delta Airlines unveiling this, the honor for Hank Aaron, a larger than life portrait as you see on the side of the airplane. It's called the Hank Aaron 755, named after his record number of home runs of course. Aaron may not be the home-run king much longer, though, if you've been following this. Barry Bonds, of course, just seven short of that record.
HARRIS: CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now with continuing coverage of that tragic story in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine firefighters killed while battling a blaze at a furniture store.
COLLINS: I'll be on with Don Lemon to cover more of that. But in the meantime "Your World Today" is next with news happening across the globe and right here at home. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
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