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CNN Live Saturday

Wildfire in Wyoming Threatens 150 Homes

Aired July 28, 2001 - 16:00   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We start with the situation out West with a fierce wildfire in Wyoming. At this hour, some residents are on standby after being told that they could be forced to evacuate their homes. Hot, dry and windy conditions are making it very tough for firefighters trying to contain the creeping wildfire. It's now threatening homes in the Teton National Forest near Jackson.

It's a massive effort on the ground, hundreds of firefighters armed with axes and hoses, and from the air, planes and helicopters continue to drop tons of water and fire retardant. We want to get the very latest now on those efforts. Fire Information Officer Joe Colwell joins us by phone from Jackson.

Joe, what can you tell us right now? What is the situation with the fire?

JOE COLWELL, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: Well, right now, as we speak, the winds have been starting to pick up, and this is what we had predicted, and we're getting reports that the fire is starting to get pretty hot and active again. We're getting some spots here and there, the smoke is starting to pick up. And so, this is what we've been waiting for, kind of dreading all day.

The fire is very close to some of the subdivisions that has not burned any homes yet. There has not been anymore evacuations, but things could be changing actually minute to minute, as we speak. So, we're just kind of waiting to see what the winds are going to do.

KELLEY: How many acres on fire right now?

COLWELL: OK. The latest acreage figure we have is just short of 3,800 acres.

KELLEY: And how many firefighters do you have on the scene there?

COLWELL: OK. We have almost 1,100 total people, and the big thing that's helping us out right now is the air power that we have. We have 12 helicopters and nine air tankers that are available to us. And I imagine the air show is going to be picking up any minute now.

KELLEY: How many homes are threatened? Was it about 200 that I saw earlier? COLWELL: Anywhere from 150 to 200. We don't know the exact count. It's about three or four subdivisions in this one general area south of a little town of Wilson, which is southwest of Jackson.

KELLEY: And you said no evacuations right now?

COLWELL: No further evacuations.

KELLEY: Yeah, OK. How many people have been evacuated right now then?

COLWELL: Well, we don't know the exact number. It's a few hundred. Most of those 150 or so homes are the ones that actually have been evacuated over the last few days. And a lot of these homes are summer homes, second homes, and so that's why we have a hard time getting a count, but I know that there have been several hundred people that have been very attentive at some of our public meetings, and I think those are most of the evacuees.

KELLEY: Now, 1,100 sounds like a lot of firefighters, but how are they doing on the schedules? How are you rotating them through, and can you bring in more if you need them?

COLWELL: Well, we've been lucky so far that we've been able to get the people we need. We are having a case of some of the crews are starting to bump up against a time limit. We don't work them more than so many days, we make sure they get a day or two off after about 14 days. And so, we're having to rotate some of the crews in.

But we have been able to get what we need. It's just that at this point, more people on the ground probably wouldn't be able to help.

KELLEY: Yeah, and that's very, very hard work. I know. Tell us if you think that you have an idea, depending on what the winds do, if you think you have an idea of when you might have any sort of containment?

COLWELL: Well, they have put down an estimate, I think the date they put was August 7, but when you have a situation like that, basically you're just kind of guessing and maybe wishful thinking. The way it's going -- if it just keeps up like we had the weather, it's hard to say, because we're just not able to get the folks on the ground when it's so hot and dangerous. We are not able to get them on there to build lines.

KELLEY: Yeah, and depending on what the winds do and how they turn that fire, how close to some of those homes is this fire getting right now?

COLWELL: Actually, it's bumping up right against them. We have had a few little spot fires that have jumped ahead of the main fire in and around some of the houses that were there. We had one house yesterday that actually -- it was threatened, there were flames right up, almost to it. So, we're right there at the doorstep. KELLEY: Yeah, well, we're wishing you the best to try to get it under control, and we'll talk to you again if something big happens as you progress with this. Joe Colwell, who is a fire information officer, on the phone with us from Jackson.

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