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American Morning

Western Wildfires: Blaze Grows to 56 Thousand Acres

Aired September 04, 2001 - 11:04   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Firefighters battling that huge blaze at Glacier National Park in Montana are getting a bit of break today. Lighter winds should make their job a lot easier.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is following the story for us in Columbia Falls, Montana -- Keith.

KEITH OPPENHIEM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Colleen. We actually just had a briefing from the incident commander and the news was not as good as we had hoped.

This morning we heard that the fire had gotten somewhat bigger, to 52 thousand acres. Now, because of infrared technology flights that fly over the fire at night, they find that the fire is yet even larger, now at 56 thousand acres, gone up 4 thousand acres.

In general there is a concern about the long-term fight of this fire because the conditions are so dry as this fire enters a national park.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHIEM (voice-over): Smokey skies loom over the rippling waters of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park as tourists sit on the beach watching the threatening power of what's been called the "Moose Fire."

SHARON NASH, PARK VISITOR: To me it reminds me that we're not the ones in control, that something stronger than people exist.

OPPENHIEM: We saw firsthand the power of something stronger. Moments after taking thing picture of bands of smoke and flames rising from hillside, gusty winds intensified the fire, covering our entire view of the ridge.

There are now more then a thousand firefighters digging fire lines, operating pumps, and trying to stop or slow the Moose Fire's expansion.

SAM RETHERFORD, FIREFIGHTER: There's been a lot of spread, dramatic spread. We lost a lot of control of the fire line, but we're just kind of getting back in and protecting what we need to.

OPPENHIEM: Homeowners are protecting their properties with fire retardant materials, but the truth is, despite all the technology, the best answer to this forest fire is cooler, wet weather.

Still the locals and visitors to this beautiful place appreciate the bravery of the fire crews.

NASH: I have a new healthy respect for what the firefighters have to go through and my hat is off to them, what that do for us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHIEM: There's some news we're waiting for today, Colleen, and it has to do with something called "trigger points." Trigger points are the places in a fire like this where if the fire goes past the trigger point that fire officials here might normally order evacuations. In fact, they did that yesterday.

There's a place called Camus (ph) Ridge and it's near Lake McDonald, it's that beautiful lake that you saw in that piece, and if the fire goes passed the trigger point on Camus Ridge, that could create evacuations inside Glacier National Park. There are about 80 private homes in that area, there's also a lot of tourist inside the park, so there is the possibility that there could be more evacuations if the fire keeps on moving forward.

They don't think that will happen. They think it's going to move sort of back down the hill. But that's the unsureness of a fire like this, you don't know exactly what it will do on any given day.

Back to you, Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: All right.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim, thanks very much.

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