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American Morning
Firefighters is Montana Bracing for Another Tough Day
Aired September 03, 2001 - 11:16 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: After getting a break over the weekend, firefighters in Montana are bracing for another tough day to come. High winds are expected to return to the area around Glacier National Park, where a big wildfire has scorched almost 50 thousand acres. And as one fire official says, that could make the fire go like crazy.
Right now, the blaze is only about 5 percent contained.
With lighter winds yesterday firefighters were able to make some progress, drive the flames away from some buildings that were threatened.
Actually, we're getting some information -- now we're being joined on the telephone, right now, from Glacier National Park.
Let's see, who is it we have with us on the phone?
BOB MCKINNEY, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: This Bob McKinney, I'm a fire information officer.
HARRIS: Hello, Bob, glad to have you with us this morning.
What's the latest word?
MCKINNEY: Well, the latest word is that the fire has kind of laid down a little bit yesterday and we made some progress against it. However, it is, like you said, nearly a 50 thousand acre fire. The thing is 50-some miles around, the fire line is about 50 -- I think the last count I had was 52 miles of fire line around. We're only about 5 percent contained. And if we get winds this afternoon, like they're predicting, we may have a real fight on our hands.
HARRIS: Yes, we did get the bad word about the winds expected to come in. Our Chad Myers checked in with us.
What are you going to do when those winds hit then?
MCKINNEY: well, what we have to do when the winds hit, if they get too strong, we've got to pull our firefighters back because, even though this is a big fire and a very important fire for us to get out, safety is always job number one with firefighters. And there's not -- there's no real estate in the world that's worth the life of even one firefighter.
HARRIS: You got it.
How -- are there any residents who's homes or lives may be threatened by this fire?
(CROSSTALK)
MCKINNEY: Hopefully nobody's life will be threatened by the fire, but there are several residences that are being -- in the line of the fire. We have a structure protection team set up at these residences and at one business, a little store, and they have sprinklers set up, they've cleaned out around the buildings, they've cleared away all the burnable material, and they're going to stick it out right to the very end there.
HARRIS: OK.
What about the terrain? What's the terrain like in this area?
MCKINNEY: It is -- it's vertical. It's -- the terrain is extremely rough, extremely rugged. The temperature's very hot. It really makes it difficult for our firefighters.
We've got over 11 hundred firefighter and 10 helicopters on the job now. And we've got some of the best firefighters in the world. We've probably got the best firefighters in the world. They come from all over the country. They come as far away as Louisiana. I'm from Virginia. And, you know, all the western states. We've got firefighters here from Canada. And we're going to give it our best shot.
HARRIS: Well, here's hoping that you guts really make some progress with this before things do get too much worse with that winds coming.
And Bob McKinney, thank you very much and good luck to you.
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