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CNN Live Today

Massive Wildfire South of Denver On Move

Aired June 19, 2002 - 11:10   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the massive wildfire south of Denver is on the move this morning chasing even more people away from their homes. And investigators are now taking another look at the woman who is accused of setting this blaze.

Our Rusty Dornin has been watching this situation today from Lake George, Colorado. She checks in live -- Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, federal investigators are saying that they believe that Terry Barton deliberately set that fire. That she -- you know she had claimed it was accidental. That she was burning a letter from her estranged husband and had thrown it in the campfire ring.

Well apparently investigators are claiming that the fire didn't start inside that campfire ring; that it actually started in the underbrush. And even in the affidavit they are claiming that she still deliberately set it. That she is a forest service employee who knows what she's doing. Her purpose there was to stop any illegal campfires. So they will be arguing that tomorrow, when she does appear in court in Denver for a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing.

Meantime, the Hayman Fire has jumped to 120,000 acres. This is the fire that Barton has admitted starting. And it jumped 7,000 acres overnight. It is creating its own weather. When you get winds like that, it's tornado-like conditions when it's pushing a fire like that.

Now we're here at the southern end of the fire at Lake George, where folks are coming for information. And I'm here with some folks who have been evacuated for a while, and are also on standby and poised to evacuate.

We've got Bruce Haugh here -- and Bruce, you had to evacuate, what, a week and a half ago?

BRUCE HAUGH, EVACUEE: Yeah, approximately on the 11th.

DORNIN: And so you have been able to go in and see if your house is still standing?

HAUGH: Yeah, it is still standing, but that was four or five days ago. And the best information I have is that it is still there.

DORNIN: And I understand you are also staying here with John Cronin, who is -- you are on evacuation alert, right?

JOHN CRONIN, POTENTIAL EVACUEE: We are on evacuation alert any moment.

DORNIN: What is that like, living under that kind of a -- what are you spending your time doing?

CRONIN: Waiting to hear the news. That's just about all you have time to do. You have to be real careful about where you leave and when you go, when you get back, because you have to be ready to go at any moment. So you can't go far away. Every trip is, you know, planned and real quick.

DORNIN: And you're all packed up and ready to go?

CRONIN: Well I wouldn't say all packed up, but we have the majority of our personal possessions.

DORNIN: So you come here often then to check in and...

CRONIN: At least three times a day.

DORNIN: Three times a day. That's tough. Well, anyway, good luck and thank you very much for joining us.

CRONIN: Thank you.

DORNIN: So they do say that the weather conditions, once again, it's going to be very low humidity and high winds. They're trying to put a big fire break around the fire to stop it from going into an area called Woodland Park, which is a fairly populated community. But things are still very dicey here, Leon.

HARRIS: Yeah, boy oh boy. Rusty Dornin, be careful out there. We'll check back with you later on today to see how things are shaping up.

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