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CNN Live Saturday

Fires Endanger Heavily Populated L.A. Suburbs

Aired October 25, 2003 - 14:03   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.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a dangerous situation in southern California. High winds are fanning the flames of some big wildfires, putting hundreds of people and their properties as risk. One of the largest fires is near Rancho Cucamonga. Just look at what CNN's Miguel Marquez faced about 90 minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an absolute firestorm. This is...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Get the cameras.

MARQUEZ: There's a fire coming at us right now. Fire and flame and dust. Dave (ph), can you come around the side here? Fire and flame and dust coming around the side of us right now. And this is what happens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you move, everyone, because it's jumping (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

MARQUEZ: Firefighters are now telling -- firefighters are now telling us (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: Incredible pictures.

Well, CNN's Miguel Marquez and his crew have moved now to a safer location, fortunately, and he joins us now with an update on the situation there at Rancho Cucamonga.

So Miguel, how far away are you? It looks quite a bit calmer behind you than it looked earlier.

MARQUEZ: Yes. The location, actually, Andrea, hasn't changed. What's changed is that the amount of brush all went up in smoke as we were doing that live shot a while ago.

I want to show you sort of what the leftover effect of this is, if we just pan over this way a bit. This is the town of Rancho Cucamonga, right beyond those flames there, and this is an area that firefighters are continuing to fight, trying to take advantage of what seems to be a bit of a lull in the winds at this point. Earlier, we'll show you this video from a different angle of this sort of firestorm that erupted in front of us. It was pretty amazing. This is what happens when sort of you get that hot, dry air from the fire itself and the cool breeze from the ocean blowing at the same time. It creates sort of a fire swirl, which is basically dust and rocks and smoke and embers. And that sort of event will carry fire for many yards and light other fires which is always a concern.

We happened to get caught in the middle of it, which I can tell you is not particularly fun. I've read about these things, but actually have never been in one, and now I feel better for it.

I want to bring in now Dennis Cross, who is an information officer on the Grand Prix fire. But first, I want to ask you, the Grand Prix fire is not the only fire you guys are concerned with today. Tell me about that.

CAPT. DENNIS CROSS, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: No, it's not. Conditions here are just as extreme anywhere in southern California. We just reported in the last hour of a new start approximately 10 miles to the east of a fire that's over 250 acres. Winds are very radical in several directions, and we're short on resources. So that fire is going to continue to burn until we get some manpower up there.

MARQUEZ: And How many structures, homes are threatened there?

CROSS: In that vicinity up there, they've estimated several hundred that are tucked in the urban interface. And what we do is ask the residents to stay apprised of the news and the weather and evacuate if you think conditions are getting bad.

MARQUEZ: Are resources from this fire being used for that?

CROSS: No, they're not. They're bringing a whole different set of resources to that fire. This one, we've got a lot of resources. They're all committed here. And again, we're not out of a threat on this one yet.

MARQUEZ: On the Grand Prix fire, obviously the Santa Ana winds. You expected them to much stiffer by this point. What's going on? What's your weather saying?

CROSS: Well, our meteorologist says we're in a little lull right now. He expects 15 to 35 mile-an-hour winds out of the northeast to fuel some of these flames. Again, right now, the little breeze we're seeing is giving firefighters an extreme break. Dozers are cutting lines. Hand crews are cutting lines. And we're going to take advantage of it, because we know on a minute's notice, things could change out here.

MARQUEZ: Overnight, this thing is supposed to go a Type 1 fire situation. What does that mean? If I'm sitting at home, what does that mean?

CROSS: Yes, that means a Type 1 team. They handle the largest incidents throughout the country. When you get acreage over 1,000 acres, when you have personnel over 1,000, they become large dollar loss fires and they become very complex. And that team will be coming in, taking over this fire tomorrow. And it just means it's a very large-scale brushfire.

MARQUEZ: And are you able to fly choppers or fixed wings today?

CROSS: Right now we're not able to. I was told that the air show has been grounded due to low visibility, high winds. And any time we get winds between 20 and 30 miles an hour, usually aircraft become ineffective.

MARQUEZ: OK. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. We'll be talking to you quite a bit more today.

Andrea, the other thing that we are checking on today is that there are some very big power lines behind us. And we saw them sparking when we drove up here earlier. We're trying to get a hold of Southern California Edison to find out exactly what the status of those are, whether or not electricity to about 25 percent of Los Angeles County is going to have to be cut because of this fire.

Injuries from this fire, I can tell you, so far, fairly light. Ten injuries, mostly firefighters, most of them very minor. So there's a fortunate in that respect so far -- Andrea.

KOPPEL: Obviously, some serious ramifications of that fire. But any sense, Miguel as to what caused it? How did it start in the beginning?

MARQUEZ: Firefighters do suspect arson, but that's simply because they couldn't figure out any other obvious fire-starting mechanisms for this thing. It smoldered for about two or three days before the Santa Anas came in and picked it up and pushed it to the town. So they tried to get on top of it, but couldn't. But at this point they're calling it arson.

KOPPEL: Well, I'll tell you, just seeing those pictures -- and when you an your crew were standing in the middle of it, it really gave many of us for the first time a bird's eye view what it must be like to be some of those -- you know, more than 1,000 firefighters who are trying to battle this blaze.

MARQUEZ: Yes, and that was a backfire. I mean, we watched yesterday as -- what they call a chimney effect occurred, where a valley on the mountain side kind of caught fire and the fire started rolling up. As the wind pushes it up, it looked literally as though the entire side the San Gabriel Mountains was on fire. It was some very impressive fire behavior going on here today that we're able to see from a distance. And today got up right close to.

KOPPEL: Well, we're glad they and your crew are safe. And, boy, you were very brave out there, Miguel. A lot more difficult than covering the political races in California.

Miguel Marquez, joining us from Rancho Cucamonga. Thank you.

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







Aired October 25, 2003 - 14:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a dangerous situation in southern California. High winds are fanning the flames of some big wildfires, putting hundreds of people and their properties as risk. One of the largest fires is near Rancho Cucamonga. Just look at what CNN's Miguel Marquez faced about 90 minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an absolute firestorm. This is...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Get the cameras.

MARQUEZ: There's a fire coming at us right now. Fire and flame and dust. Dave (ph), can you come around the side here? Fire and flame and dust coming around the side of us right now. And this is what happens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you move, everyone, because it's jumping (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

MARQUEZ: Firefighters are now telling -- firefighters are now telling us (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: Incredible pictures.

Well, CNN's Miguel Marquez and his crew have moved now to a safer location, fortunately, and he joins us now with an update on the situation there at Rancho Cucamonga.

So Miguel, how far away are you? It looks quite a bit calmer behind you than it looked earlier.

MARQUEZ: Yes. The location, actually, Andrea, hasn't changed. What's changed is that the amount of brush all went up in smoke as we were doing that live shot a while ago.

I want to show you sort of what the leftover effect of this is, if we just pan over this way a bit. This is the town of Rancho Cucamonga, right beyond those flames there, and this is an area that firefighters are continuing to fight, trying to take advantage of what seems to be a bit of a lull in the winds at this point. Earlier, we'll show you this video from a different angle of this sort of firestorm that erupted in front of us. It was pretty amazing. This is what happens when sort of you get that hot, dry air from the fire itself and the cool breeze from the ocean blowing at the same time. It creates sort of a fire swirl, which is basically dust and rocks and smoke and embers. And that sort of event will carry fire for many yards and light other fires which is always a concern.

We happened to get caught in the middle of it, which I can tell you is not particularly fun. I've read about these things, but actually have never been in one, and now I feel better for it.

I want to bring in now Dennis Cross, who is an information officer on the Grand Prix fire. But first, I want to ask you, the Grand Prix fire is not the only fire you guys are concerned with today. Tell me about that.

CAPT. DENNIS CROSS, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: No, it's not. Conditions here are just as extreme anywhere in southern California. We just reported in the last hour of a new start approximately 10 miles to the east of a fire that's over 250 acres. Winds are very radical in several directions, and we're short on resources. So that fire is going to continue to burn until we get some manpower up there.

MARQUEZ: And How many structures, homes are threatened there?

CROSS: In that vicinity up there, they've estimated several hundred that are tucked in the urban interface. And what we do is ask the residents to stay apprised of the news and the weather and evacuate if you think conditions are getting bad.

MARQUEZ: Are resources from this fire being used for that?

CROSS: No, they're not. They're bringing a whole different set of resources to that fire. This one, we've got a lot of resources. They're all committed here. And again, we're not out of a threat on this one yet.

MARQUEZ: On the Grand Prix fire, obviously the Santa Ana winds. You expected them to much stiffer by this point. What's going on? What's your weather saying?

CROSS: Well, our meteorologist says we're in a little lull right now. He expects 15 to 35 mile-an-hour winds out of the northeast to fuel some of these flames. Again, right now, the little breeze we're seeing is giving firefighters an extreme break. Dozers are cutting lines. Hand crews are cutting lines. And we're going to take advantage of it, because we know on a minute's notice, things could change out here.

MARQUEZ: Overnight, this thing is supposed to go a Type 1 fire situation. What does that mean? If I'm sitting at home, what does that mean?

CROSS: Yes, that means a Type 1 team. They handle the largest incidents throughout the country. When you get acreage over 1,000 acres, when you have personnel over 1,000, they become large dollar loss fires and they become very complex. And that team will be coming in, taking over this fire tomorrow. And it just means it's a very large-scale brushfire.

MARQUEZ: And are you able to fly choppers or fixed wings today?

CROSS: Right now we're not able to. I was told that the air show has been grounded due to low visibility, high winds. And any time we get winds between 20 and 30 miles an hour, usually aircraft become ineffective.

MARQUEZ: OK. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. We'll be talking to you quite a bit more today.

Andrea, the other thing that we are checking on today is that there are some very big power lines behind us. And we saw them sparking when we drove up here earlier. We're trying to get a hold of Southern California Edison to find out exactly what the status of those are, whether or not electricity to about 25 percent of Los Angeles County is going to have to be cut because of this fire.

Injuries from this fire, I can tell you, so far, fairly light. Ten injuries, mostly firefighters, most of them very minor. So there's a fortunate in that respect so far -- Andrea.

KOPPEL: Obviously, some serious ramifications of that fire. But any sense, Miguel as to what caused it? How did it start in the beginning?

MARQUEZ: Firefighters do suspect arson, but that's simply because they couldn't figure out any other obvious fire-starting mechanisms for this thing. It smoldered for about two or three days before the Santa Anas came in and picked it up and pushed it to the town. So they tried to get on top of it, but couldn't. But at this point they're calling it arson.

KOPPEL: Well, I'll tell you, just seeing those pictures -- and when you an your crew were standing in the middle of it, it really gave many of us for the first time a bird's eye view what it must be like to be some of those -- you know, more than 1,000 firefighters who are trying to battle this blaze.

MARQUEZ: Yes, and that was a backfire. I mean, we watched yesterday as -- what they call a chimney effect occurred, where a valley on the mountain side kind of caught fire and the fire started rolling up. As the wind pushes it up, it looked literally as though the entire side the San Gabriel Mountains was on fire. It was some very impressive fire behavior going on here today that we're able to see from a distance. And today got up right close to.

KOPPEL: Well, we're glad they and your crew are safe. And, boy, you were very brave out there, Miguel. A lot more difficult than covering the political races in California.

Miguel Marquez, joining us from Rancho Cucamonga. Thank you.

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