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Canada Wildfires: Evacuees Return
Aired August 08, 2003 - 15:36 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Several thousand people can return to their homes in parts of western Canada ravaged by summer forest fires.
Reporter Sarah Galashan is with CTV. She joins us now from the poetically named town of Kamloops. Did I do that right?
SARAH GALASHAN, CTV CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's Kamloops, British Columbia.
And there's a great deal of relief here in Kamloops. Two of the three major fires burning outside of the city are now mostly contained. Over the last week, we've had more than 400 firefighters, some from across the country, joined by the Canadian military here on the frontlines fighting the fire.
There's no question that we're facing a natural disaster here. We had some of the worst fire conditions that we've seen in the last 50 years. Some 70 homes have been lost. As well, the local saw-based mill economy has been wiped out.
Now, if we take a pan up here behind me -- I don't know if you can see this -- but the mountain behind me is mostly covered by smoke, as well, the entire city is mostly covered by the smoke from the fire. It's making for some very poor air quality and it's difficult to breathe and there's a lot of coughing going on down here.
But there is some good news to report. As you mentioned, about a few thousand residents are now allowed to return home. They have been evacuated for the last week. It's now only the towns of Louis Creek and Barrier, total population of about 2,000 who remain on evacuation orders. They are very keen to get home, but they won't be able to, at least until tomorrow, perhaps on Sunday. Especially those in Louis Creek want to get back because they understand, as do we, that that whole area has been obliterated by the fire.
O'BRIEN: Sarah Galashan with CTV in Kamloops, British Columbia, thank you very 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
Aired August 8, 2003 - 15:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Several thousand people can return to their homes in parts of western Canada ravaged by summer forest fires.
Reporter Sarah Galashan is with CTV. She joins us now from the poetically named town of Kamloops. Did I do that right?
SARAH GALASHAN, CTV CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's Kamloops, British Columbia.
And there's a great deal of relief here in Kamloops. Two of the three major fires burning outside of the city are now mostly contained. Over the last week, we've had more than 400 firefighters, some from across the country, joined by the Canadian military here on the frontlines fighting the fire.
There's no question that we're facing a natural disaster here. We had some of the worst fire conditions that we've seen in the last 50 years. Some 70 homes have been lost. As well, the local saw-based mill economy has been wiped out.
Now, if we take a pan up here behind me -- I don't know if you can see this -- but the mountain behind me is mostly covered by smoke, as well, the entire city is mostly covered by the smoke from the fire. It's making for some very poor air quality and it's difficult to breathe and there's a lot of coughing going on down here.
But there is some good news to report. As you mentioned, about a few thousand residents are now allowed to return home. They have been evacuated for the last week. It's now only the towns of Louis Creek and Barrier, total population of about 2,000 who remain on evacuation orders. They are very keen to get home, but they won't be able to, at least until tomorrow, perhaps on Sunday. Especially those in Louis Creek want to get back because they understand, as do we, that that whole area has been obliterated by the fire.
O'BRIEN: Sarah Galashan with CTV in Kamloops, British Columbia, thank you very 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
