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American Morning

Oregon Firefighters Battle Wildfires

Aired August 15, 2001 - 11:30   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: Fire season is roaring ahead in the hot, dry West. Around 300 separate wildfires are eating up forest and scrubland from practically the Canadian border to south of Mexico.

Firefighters have surrounded the largest fire in Nevada. And they're now making progress on dozens of smaller blazes. A hunting cabin and several outbuildings are the only casualties so far in Nevada.

The view of the fires from space is quite impressive. Seen here, the blue haze you see on the satellite image here is smoke from the Western fires. Nevada is in the bottom right-hand corner there. Idaho is on the top right. And on the middle left, you can see the plumes from individual fires burning now across Northern California.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Firefighters from as far away as Saint Louis are helping out on those frontlines in Oregon today. The state has 75,000 acres in flames.

Mark Glyzewski from our Portland affiliate KPDX has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK GLYZEWSKI, KPDX REPORTER: Two Oregon National Guard Chinook helicopters joined the nearly 250 firefighters in the battle against the Monument fire complex that sparked Monday morning from lightning strikes. The flames crept within a quarter mile of Jenny Mung's (ph) house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a creek that runs through our place that dried up extremely early this year. We have cattle. Our daughter has a 4-H sheep project out here. We have horses. We have animals. The neighbors all have animals. And it's very scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We also have some very tired initial attack crews out there that we need to keep an eye on.

GLYZEWSKI: The 60 acre Franklin Mountain fire to the north came within two miles of Monument, when fire crews managed to contain it. But all the smoke around town still causes concern.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I think that everybody is still worried about it. I really think they are.

GLYZEWSKI: But restaurant owner Joyce Price (ph) feels reassured by the firefighters' arrival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am sure they're going to get it out, you know? They got them all over Oregon, I guess.

GLYZEWSKI: That need for fire crews forced Governor Kitzhaber to also declare the state Conflagration Act, allowing local fire crews to help protect homes. We spotted fire crews here from as far away as Clackamas and Redmond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only is fire danger high, but that the resources to fight fire are stretched extremely thin. And so that situation exists right now throughout Oregon. And so everybody needs to be especially careful over the next few days, at least until the weather changes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Thanks to KPDX and reporter Mark Glyzewski, who's covering the devastating wildfires in Oregon.

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