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CNN Live Saturday
Local residents seek shelter from Colorado fire.
Aired June 15, 2002 - 17:14 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Fifteen minutes now after the hour. A massive wildfire south of Denver, Colorado is the largest in the state's history. And tonight, more elite firefighters are headed that way. CNN's Charles Molineaux is in Castle Rock, Colorado with the latest. Hi there, Charles.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX: Hi, Fredricka. We could be seeing something of a turn for the worse in terms of conditions for firefighters. It really is a mixed bag, and you have to try and balance things out. The good news is, you may be able to see, we've got some cloud cover and increasing humidity for firefighters dealing with the Hayman fire.
That's good news. That means slower fire, but the winds, as you can probably also see, have been picking up, and that is a problem. We also have alerts out about possible severe thunderstorms, which ultimately is not that great of news either. The fire has burned about 103,000 acres right now, and the southern end of the fire saw increased expansion today as it moved closer to Lake George, Colorado.
At the northern end firefighters have been trying to draw a line in the woods at a tiny creek called Kelsey Creek. That is in the area near Denver's outlying Southwestern suburbs, trouble being that some of the winds we saw today actually kept some of the slurry (ph) bombers on the ground this afternoon.
We got Joe Colwell who is with the interagency team handling this fire. It looks like you're really trying to figure out how good news, bad news balances out. What are you seeing out there in terms of conditions? Is this an improvement or is this a deterioration?
JOE COLWELL, PUBLIC INFO OFFICER, U.S. FIRE SERVICE: It's hard to say. Like you say, it's just a balance. We had expected there was a window about mid-day which we were concerned about the instability and low humidity. We got through that OK. We didn't lose anything. Now we're looking at something different. If it's not one thing, it's the other. Like you say, we've got the winds, the erratic winds, possibility of lightning that could start more fires. So we still got to get through the next several hours before we can feel like we've gotten something done.
MOLINEAUX: Now if we've got higher humidity and thunderstorms starting to build right over the areas of the forest fires, is that possibly a real blessing? COLWELL: If we got a lot of rain. I know right here yesterday we got dumped on, we got a whole bunch of rain. But I think people have to realize a little bit of rain out of a thunderstorm isn't really going to do that much good. We need days of sustained rain.
MOLINEAUX: What is the problem with a thunderstorm? The lightning, or is it the winds?
COLWELL: It's both. The winds are unpredictable. You get the down drafts which come out and go every which direction, so you can't really predict where it's going to go, so you really have to have your open and see.
MOLINEAUX: Thank you very much, Joe Colwell. And one thing that Joe says is really pretty irrelevant but very ironic, Fredricka, today, June 15, is the official start of Colorado forest fire season.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you very much, Charles Molineaux. Appreciate it.
Well, fire swept through so quickly that few families had time to pack up before leaving. Now many worry whether their homes will actually still be standing when they return. As CNN's Jason Bellini found out, it's an experience many residents have lived through before.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By day the Red Cross shelter looks like a rec hall than a haven for displaced persons.
(on camera): Are you staying here in the shelter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELLINI: You're staying here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELLINI: Sleeping here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BELLINI: How does that feel, sleeping where you play basketball?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of boring, because I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have to be at school for three months.
BELLINI (voice-over): The fire for some a serious nuisance. These girls aren't staying in the shelter. Friends are putting up their families during the evacuation, now approaching the one-week mark.
(on camera): What have you been doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This.
BELLINI (voice-over): An 80-year-old woman I meet lost her husband last year. Here is where she finds her friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had 58 years together. We had lots and lots of fun. And since he's been gone, all this has been happening. So you got to hang in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rough on us. I'm 81.
BELLINI: Ed Johnson is pretty sure his house is safe. Living in a trailer in the school parking lot for now, he's not thrilled with this indefinite living arrangement.
(on camera): You think it's going to be all right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, if I can get home, it would be all right.
BELLINI (voice-over): If the home he and his wife have lived in for more than 30 years burns down, life will never return to normal for them.
(on camera): If the house burns down, what do you do, then?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would I do?
BELLINI: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably move into an assisted living.
BELLINI (voice-oever): 7:30 p.m., hundreds of evacuees begin to arrive in the hall for the nightly fire briefing.
Most are either staying in hotels or living for now with friends. Ed decides to stick to his spot in the back of the gym.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sit back here because I don't like all this bull.
BELLINI (voice-over): Ed just wants to know when he can go home.
(on camera): Now you'll forgive me for saying this, but you're being a cranky old man about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
BELLINI: You're being a cranky old man about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn right I am. It's the best way to be.
BELLINI (on camera): It's 9:30 p.m. and at the end of the day, only a couple of people are actually sleeping here in the shelter, but authorities say the fire is far from being over. And many people I spoke with say they're running out of money for staying in hotels.
(voice-over): And that could mean more people will end up sleeping here, a shelter for those who have nowhere else to wait out the fire. Jason Bellini, CNN, Woodland Park, Colorado.
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