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California Wildfires
Aired October 27, 2003 - 15:01 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with southern California in a state of emergency. Huge wildfires still are tearing across the region, bearing down on more homes and threatening more lives. At least 13 people now have died in the path of flame and smoke.
We have two reports, beginning with CNN's Miguel Marquez. He is in San Bernardino County. Miguel, what is the latest?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest here at the -- Devore, California, at the nexus where the Grand Prix fire and the old fire come together, a firefighter has been injured. You can't tell it, but there is a mountain behind us and a town. And the winds, those Santa Anas, have been pushing down this mountain all day long, bringing those winds back down to the town and bringing the fire back on to the town.
But this isn't the only place burning in the area. Also, I'll tell you about Simi Valley northwest of here and northwest of Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles, a fire is burning there. It has crossed a major fire line, the 118 Freeway, also known as the Ronald Reagan Freeway, and is burning south of that now. And the fire information officers telling us the area that the of Porter Ranch, which happens to be in Los Angeles, in the city of Los Angeles, has now been put on alert for possible evacuation.
If the fire does go into Los Angeles, it would be the first time it has made its foray into the city of Los Angeles. It's about a half-mile to a mile away from Los Angeles now in Ventura County, and could cross over if the winds switch directions later this afternoon. Although it looks like they may be catching a break from mother nature on that score.
Thousands of people coming out of their homes though in Simi Valley. And an individual who is very familiar with evacuations tells us just how quickly your neighborhood can go from a peaceful place to live to absolute chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES WRIGHT, CALIFORNIA FIRE PROTECTION DIRECTOR: You get visibility being hampered, you get just choking smoke. And all of that, with hampered visibility, difficulties in breathing in folks, it just lends to different levels of anxiety and concern and fear. And it drives those actions of folks to start panicking.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUEZ: So far, there are no widespread reports of panic in this. Most people have been able to get out. But there are some reports of those individuals getting killed, trying to move out too late from their homes and getting caught in the fire as they try to get out. And that's why officials are saying, when they give the word, you should probably heed it and get on out.
The Simi Valley fire, there's no cause on that one yet. The Grand Prix fire, they suspect arson. And the old fire behind me, they also suspect arson -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Miguel, thanks very much. And also for that explanation on how people are actually dying, because I think for many people it's hard to imagine how that could happen. But I guess it's moving so fast, that explains it.
Miguel, thank you very much.
Well, now we turn to the southern edge of this fire near San Diego. CNN's Jeff Flock is there -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: I'm just on the edge of Escondido this morning. Valley Center is off beyond us. And I don't know if you're able to come around -- can you come around a little bit more, just a little maybe -- or just a little bit more. You can see some of the flames.
This is one of the spot fires. Its part of what they call the paradise fire. It's about 15,000 acres out here. Fifty-seven homes destroyed by this fire alone. Two dead from this fire.
We just got these latest numbers from the command post. And 500 firefighters battling it.
One interesting thing I want to show you. You know, if you look at this, someone's already been through here. Take a look.
Are you able to get in tight to see what this little tape says? It says "killer tree" on it. You might wonder why they've done this. And I guess this is probably not the smartest place to stand. But what has happened is this tree has burned from the roots on up through the trunk.
It sort of turned into a chimney. And, of course, this has compromised the stability of the tree, and this could fall pretty much at any time. It's going to fall the other way away from where we're standing, actually.
So they mark it with one of these pieces of tape called "killer tree." So steer clear is essentially what it says.
I want to show you other pictures in terms of the structures destroyed. We said by this fire alone, 57 homes. But throughout San Diego County, the number that the San Diego sheriff's police is now giving us in terms of structures lost, 450. And that was fairly early this morning. So 450 structures. They think at least 200 of those are homes. Both homes and businesses in the structures.
And in terms of where it goes from here, this fire, the paradise fire, started just yesterday and was whipped yesterday by the Santa Ana wins later in the day. Well, right now, as perhaps you can tell from the picture that we've got out here, pretty much of a dead calm. The smoke just kind of wafting up a little bit. So we're not getting big wind right now.
But when we do, these little embers and the little flames that you see on the ground bring the fire back to life. As one firefighter told me today, the fire's only sleeping now. It's going to be back to life when it starts to get the light of day and the wind. We will of course watch it.
WOODRUFF: All right. That was Jeff Flock reporting from the San Diego area.
Meantime, California's governor-elect, Arnold Schwarzenegger, we're told getting regular briefings on the wildfires. A Schwarzenegger spokesman says that the outgoing governor, Gray Davis, has been sharing information since the fires began. The spokesman says that Schwarzenegger, as of a few hours ago, had no plans to tour any of the charred areas since Davis is still the governor.
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 27, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with southern California in a state of emergency. Huge wildfires still are tearing across the region, bearing down on more homes and threatening more lives. At least 13 people now have died in the path of flame and smoke.
We have two reports, beginning with CNN's Miguel Marquez. He is in San Bernardino County. Miguel, what is the latest?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest here at the -- Devore, California, at the nexus where the Grand Prix fire and the old fire come together, a firefighter has been injured. You can't tell it, but there is a mountain behind us and a town. And the winds, those Santa Anas, have been pushing down this mountain all day long, bringing those winds back down to the town and bringing the fire back on to the town.
But this isn't the only place burning in the area. Also, I'll tell you about Simi Valley northwest of here and northwest of Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles, a fire is burning there. It has crossed a major fire line, the 118 Freeway, also known as the Ronald Reagan Freeway, and is burning south of that now. And the fire information officers telling us the area that the of Porter Ranch, which happens to be in Los Angeles, in the city of Los Angeles, has now been put on alert for possible evacuation.
If the fire does go into Los Angeles, it would be the first time it has made its foray into the city of Los Angeles. It's about a half-mile to a mile away from Los Angeles now in Ventura County, and could cross over if the winds switch directions later this afternoon. Although it looks like they may be catching a break from mother nature on that score.
Thousands of people coming out of their homes though in Simi Valley. And an individual who is very familiar with evacuations tells us just how quickly your neighborhood can go from a peaceful place to live to absolute chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES WRIGHT, CALIFORNIA FIRE PROTECTION DIRECTOR: You get visibility being hampered, you get just choking smoke. And all of that, with hampered visibility, difficulties in breathing in folks, it just lends to different levels of anxiety and concern and fear. And it drives those actions of folks to start panicking.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUEZ: So far, there are no widespread reports of panic in this. Most people have been able to get out. But there are some reports of those individuals getting killed, trying to move out too late from their homes and getting caught in the fire as they try to get out. And that's why officials are saying, when they give the word, you should probably heed it and get on out.
The Simi Valley fire, there's no cause on that one yet. The Grand Prix fire, they suspect arson. And the old fire behind me, they also suspect arson -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Miguel, thanks very much. And also for that explanation on how people are actually dying, because I think for many people it's hard to imagine how that could happen. But I guess it's moving so fast, that explains it.
Miguel, thank you very much.
Well, now we turn to the southern edge of this fire near San Diego. CNN's Jeff Flock is there -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: I'm just on the edge of Escondido this morning. Valley Center is off beyond us. And I don't know if you're able to come around -- can you come around a little bit more, just a little maybe -- or just a little bit more. You can see some of the flames.
This is one of the spot fires. Its part of what they call the paradise fire. It's about 15,000 acres out here. Fifty-seven homes destroyed by this fire alone. Two dead from this fire.
We just got these latest numbers from the command post. And 500 firefighters battling it.
One interesting thing I want to show you. You know, if you look at this, someone's already been through here. Take a look.
Are you able to get in tight to see what this little tape says? It says "killer tree" on it. You might wonder why they've done this. And I guess this is probably not the smartest place to stand. But what has happened is this tree has burned from the roots on up through the trunk.
It sort of turned into a chimney. And, of course, this has compromised the stability of the tree, and this could fall pretty much at any time. It's going to fall the other way away from where we're standing, actually.
So they mark it with one of these pieces of tape called "killer tree." So steer clear is essentially what it says.
I want to show you other pictures in terms of the structures destroyed. We said by this fire alone, 57 homes. But throughout San Diego County, the number that the San Diego sheriff's police is now giving us in terms of structures lost, 450. And that was fairly early this morning. So 450 structures. They think at least 200 of those are homes. Both homes and businesses in the structures.
And in terms of where it goes from here, this fire, the paradise fire, started just yesterday and was whipped yesterday by the Santa Ana wins later in the day. Well, right now, as perhaps you can tell from the picture that we've got out here, pretty much of a dead calm. The smoke just kind of wafting up a little bit. So we're not getting big wind right now.
But when we do, these little embers and the little flames that you see on the ground bring the fire back to life. As one firefighter told me today, the fire's only sleeping now. It's going to be back to life when it starts to get the light of day and the wind. We will of course watch it.
WOODRUFF: All right. That was Jeff Flock reporting from the San Diego area.
Meantime, California's governor-elect, Arnold Schwarzenegger, we're told getting regular briefings on the wildfires. A Schwarzenegger spokesman says that the outgoing governor, Gray Davis, has been sharing information since the fires began. The spokesman says that Schwarzenegger, as of a few hours ago, had no plans to tour any of the charred areas since Davis is still the governor.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
