Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Arizona, Colorado Fight Wildfires

Aired June 22, 2002 - 17:27   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Out west, hundreds of weary firefighters are battling the odds to keep two wildfires from merging in Arizona. Using bulldozers, they've strengthened the line between the largest of the blazes and the town of Show Low. CNN's Bill Delaney joins us now from that area in Arizona with the latest -- Bill.

BILL DELANEY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thanks, Kyra. You know, to say that these fires here are zero percent contained would not seem to be good news on any level, but there is actually cautious optimism here, not that these fires are going to be contained anytime soon, but that firefighters may be able to prevent further major damage to property and communities around here in central Colorado.

Now that's because this fire did not move east at all yesterday, this big Rodeo fire that's already consumed 150,000 acres. That's very good news for the community I'm in, Show Low, Arizona. Take a look, Kyra. Take a closer look at what people here in Show Low are looking at, as we're hit by a big gust of wind, fire officials saying winds are lower today, but you'd never know it from where we're standing.

That is the Rodeo fire, with smoke as high as 30,000 feet in the air. This ferocious, uncontained fire, but it's not moving toward here. Fire officials are building a fire line, firefighters building a fire line several miles from here at a place called Hop Canyon (ph). That's the trigger point. If the fire doesn't leap across Hop Canyon (ph), they believe they will be able to prevent it from moving into this area of Show Low and Pinetop Lakeside, where 15,000 people live, all of those people still on an evacuation high alert to leave in as soon as an hour.

As far as those two big fires uniting, Kyra, fire officials still believe the two big fires here, the Rodeo fire and the Chadeski (ph) fire, which has consumed some 30,000 acres -- they still believe those two wildfires will likely merge tomorrow afternoon -- Sunday. And that would create a monster fire, some 50 to 100 miles wide, but not a fire, necessarily, that will cause major damage to communities and property -- 5,000 people nonetheless evacuated, everyone around here waiting to see what happens, and this is still a very unpredictable situation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, first perspective of that kind. Bill Delaney, thank you so much. Wow! Those gusty winds in Colorado are creating more problems for firefighters. They had made some progress against the massive Hayman blaze burning there. Now that could change. CNN's Mark Potter is in Lake George, Colorado with more on how the weather is affecting that firefight -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Kyra. After two good weather days in which firefighters contained 60 percent of the Hayman fire, they are now facing weather changes that may not be all that helpful. They are experiencing changes in the humidity. The humidity is coming down and the winds are coming up. By 11:00 a.m. this morning, they were already seeing 11 -- 40, rather, mile an hour wind gusts on the mountaintops, and that's certainly not good news.

They're also concerned about lightning strikes possibly causing other fires. And they worry that over this weekend, which they consider critical, they could lose some of the gains they made earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY KITCHENS, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: We've got a red flag warning, which to us means we've got to be on the top of our game, be ready to get out of places, regroup, and restrategize, and be aware the situation around us and take care of everybody. As I said before, we think we're much better prepared to withstand it since we've had more time to build containment lines and improve containment lines. But nevertheless, I'm getting nervous as this wind keeps on blowing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Today, forestry officials are expressing their condolences to the families of four firefighters killed yesterday. Eleven firefighters were in a van heading from Oregon to the Colorado wildfires late yesterday afternoon on highway I-70 in western Colorado. That van went out of control and flipped. Four people were killed. The rest were hospitalized. Three of them listed in serious to critical condition. The driver has been charged.

Officials describe it as the worst incident of the Colorado fires, a loss felt by all firefighters. Now as to what impact these deaths may or may not have on the case of Terry Lynn Barton, the forest service employee accused of intentionally setting the Hayman fire, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver said today that until this fire is all the way out, it would simply be premature to consider any other charges.

Her trial date has been set for August 26. She has pleaded not guilty and is still in jail, having not yet made her $600,000 bond. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Mark Potter, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com