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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fire Forces Evacuation in Northern California

Aired September 07, 2001 - 07:02   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: A wildfire has forced the evacuation of nearly 400 homes in northern California. More than 1,800 acres have burned around Hathaway Pines. That's west of Yosemite National Park. Even though firefighters have increased containment of the wildfire, they still don't know when they'll have it under control.

Mike TeSelle of CNN affiliate KCRA has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE TESELLE, KCRA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Making matters worse, entire ridge tops outside of town were engulfed in fire. The flames are still so dangerously intense that tornadoes of fire or fire whirls could be seen from a distance.

CAPT. CHRIS REILLY, SACRAMENTO METRO FIRE DEPARTMENT: That's bad. That just means that the fire intensity is critical and that it's going to, I mean it's extreme.

TESELLE: Even worse, this fire is burning in such a deep, steep canyon that the only weapon firefighters have is constant bomber runs and helicopter drops. It's a fire that's causing major headaches and evacuations. Roughly 150 residents living inside four different subdivisions have been forced to flee.

MIKE MCRAY, EVACUEE: It's really scary to think that we may come home to just blackened woods.

TESELLE: The good news is that winds are blowing this fire away from those homes. The bad news is that firefighters expect the winds will shift back towards town.

REILLY: You can't put people down there. So if you can't put people down there, you can't fight it. So the only thing you can do is fight it from the air. And even this, you couldn't even put aircraft in there because they couldn't see.

TESELLE: So hot, so dry, so dangerous is this fire, firefighters don't expect to stop it any time soon.

REILLY: Well, if the weather's like this and it holds, a week.

TESELLE: On the fire's front lines, I'm Mike TeSelle in Calaveras County. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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