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CNN Live At Daybreak

Oregon State Police Lieutenant Discusses Oregon Wildfires

Aired August 14, 2001 - 08:39   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been following these wildfires out in the state of Oregon and out West, where it's been very, very dry, and so far there's a 5,000-acre wildfire burning in the state of Oregon. The National Guard has been called out, a state of emergency has been declared by the governor.

And joining us on the telephone with the latest on that situation is Lieutenant Dale Rutledge. He is with the Oregon State Police Department, coming to us this morning from Portland.

Good morning, Lieutenant.

LT. DALE RUTLEDGE, OREGON STATE POLICE: Good morning.

LIN: All right, what is the status there? It sounds pretty serious.

RUTLEDGE: Well, of course with the drought that we have going the conditions out in the forest are very dry and kind of explosive as far as fires go. And we've got this fire burning in Metford- Ashland area that's threatening some home.

LIN: That's right, we had some homes in danger at last report. Any destroyed? Any injuries?

RUTLEDGE: The last I knew we had two homes that were destroyed. We've got seven that are in the path of the fire that they've evacuated. And to my knowledge, nobodies been injured.

LIN: So what are firefighters doing to try and get a handle on this thing?

RUTLEDGE: Well, we just try to surround the fire, do some retardant drops and slow it down a little bit, and then we get it extinguished.

LIN: Gives an idea, what is that area like? Is it very wooded, or is it actually quite suburban?

RUTLEDGE: No, it's kind of a mixture; it's got a lot of forest in it and it's sparsely populated with homes, people that live outside the town that want a little bit more acreage.

LIN: A little bit more acreage, right, and getting too close to nature these day.

RUTLEDGE: Yes.

LIN: When I was covering wildfires out west a couple of years ago, the biggest problem is many of the people, frankly, they just don't want to leave their homes and end up jeopardizing themselves as well as firefighter and police. Are you finding that to be the situation?

RUTLEDGE: Well, I haven't heard any information to that regard right now. Everything that I've heard is that people have been cooperating as far as the evacuation goes, but I certainly understand that they want to stay there and try to protect their belongings.

LIN: So what are your officers doing? Are you mobilizing, getting ready to evacuate people if necessary?

RUTLEDGE: Well, we've sent a few officers down there to assess with the firefighting effort. Basically, what our role is is to help protect the property and coordinate our efforts with the firefighters.

LIN: All right, thank you very much. Lieutenant Dale Rutledge of the Oregon State Police Department, more than 5,000 acres on fire and preparing to evacuate homes if necessary. We'll see what happens and track that.

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