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American Morning
Oregon Town Faces Wildfires
Aired August 16, 2001 - 09:03 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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to fires stretched to the max in another location as they start another day on the frontlines now with resources running low and wildfires raging wild. Nearly 400,000 acres are burning across 10 Western states this morning and the National Interagency Fire Center has declared a level five alert. That's the highest danger point, when the military can be called in to help.
The fire is particularly close to home for the 150 people living in Monument, Oregon. They're getting hourly updates now on the 6,000 acre blaze on the outskirts of their town.
We get more on the firefight in Oregon from reporter Joel Iwanaga (ph) of CNN affiliate KOIN-TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOEL IWANAGA (ph), KOIN-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Massive flames continue to swallow parts of the Mount Hood National Forest near Olalee Lake (ph). Since Sunday, the fires have consumed nearly 2,000 acres.
BERNIE PINEDA, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: It's kind of a little bit of a concern because the shifting is over towards the buildings in this case and that's a, that's kind of a concern of the potential there that it may take off in this direction.
IWANAGA: Cooler temperatures and calmer winds are helping fire crews.
PINEDA: It's a welcome sign at this point compared to 24 hours this time yesterday.
IWANAGA: Still, the blaze has already destroyed half of one campground and threatened seven others. The dense forest and steep terrain is making the fires difficult to fight.
UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: It's heavy timber on all sides except where the lake is and it's just kind of Mother Nature's way of slapping us around a little bit here.
IWANAGA: But crews are fighting back on the ground and in the air.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRAZIER: Joel Iwanaga reporting from CNN affiliate KOIN-TV.
KAGAN: With air tankers, helicopters and fire crews running on maximum, a crucial question now, what more can be done and where can the help come from?
Joining us now, Don Smurthwaite. He is with the National Interagency Fire Center and he's live on the phone with us from Boise, Idaho. Don, good morning.
DON SMURTHWAITE, INTRAGENCY FIRE CENTER: Good morning to you.
KAGAN: Explain to me what level five means in practical terms.
SMURTHWAITE: Level five is the highest preparedness level that we have. It means that we have lots of crews committed to fires. It means that we have active fires in several parts of the country. It means we have some shortages of resources and it's usually the point that triggers some serious discussions with the military about their assistance.
KAGAN: Let's talk about some of those military options potentially, what kind of talks you're having, what are some things that might be able, that the military might be able to help you out with.
SMURTHWAITE: We're putting together a crew of instructors and it's too early to say where they will be, but it's a good guess that some time early next week they will be at one of the military installations training soldiers and marines to come out and help us do some hand blind work on the fires.
KAGAN: So these are, this is resources, these are people that would still even have yet to be trained in how to do this.
SMURTHWAITE: That's correct, although they will get the full basic firefighting training, probably on a compressed schedule. But they will be qualified as a type two hand crew before we even get them near a fire.
KAGAN: Don, how would you compare resources and the situation with fires to last year, which people remember as one of the worst fire years on record?
SMURTHWAITE: That's a great question. Actually, at this time this year we're in much better shape than we were in the year 2000. For example, we've burned about 2.3 million acres so far in 2001 and last year at this time it was right around five million acres. So, the fire season came in a hurry, but it's coming late and I think that plus the Congressional funding that we received have helped us to avoid what could have been even a worse season.
KAGAN: So, so far you're ahead of where you were last year, but what about conditions? SMURTHWAITE: The conditions are still very dry in the West, in particular the Pacific Northwest. There could be a change in the weather coming up. We're expecting some winds and maybe some of those dreaded dry thunderstorms. So the next 24 hours are going to be critical.
KAGAN: We wish you well.
SMURTHWAITE: Thank you.
KAGAN: Don Smurthwaite with the National Interagency Fire Center. Thank you so much for joining us there.
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