Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Two Fast-Moving Fires Chasing Hundreds of Families Out of Their Homes in California

Aired September 07, 2001 - 09:01   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: Two fast-moving fires are chasing hundreds of families out of their homes in California. One of the fires is near the town of Oroville, and the other one is in Darby. Both of them are out of control. The blaze near Oroville doubled in size in a matter of hours yesterday, destroying eight homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 100 homes. The Darby fire has forced the evacuation of nearly 400 homes.

We get more on that fire from reporter Mike Teselle of CNN affiliate KCRA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE TESELLE, KCRA REPORTER: Entire ridgetops outside of California were engulfed in fire. Flames are still so dangerously intense that tornadoes of fire, or fire rolls, can be seen from a distance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's bad. That just means the fire intensity gets critical. And that would mean it's extreme.

TESELLE: Even worse, this fire is burning in such a deep, steep canyon that the only weapon firefighters have is constant bomber runs and helicopter drops. It's a fire that's causing major headaches and evacuations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really scary to think we may come home to just blackened woods.

TESELLE: The good news that is that winds are blowing this fire away from those homes. The bad news is that firefighters expect winds will shift, back toward town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't put people down there. If you can't put people down, you can't fight it, so the only thing you can do is fight it from air. And even this, you couldn't even put aircraft in there, because they couldn't see.

TESELLE: So hot, so dry, so dangerous is this fire, firefighters don't expect to stop it any time soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The weather like this the whole week.

TESELLE: On the fire's front lines, I'm Mike Teselle, in Calaveras County.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: That Calaveras County fire is now 40 percent contained, but the fire near Oroville, California is only about 10 percent contained. For the latest on that blaze, we're joined on the phone from Oroville by Captain Ted Crawford of the California Division of Forestry. Thanks so much for joining us.

This fire doubled in size in a matter of hours. What happened?

CAPT. TED CRAWFORD, CALIF. DIVISION OF FORESTRY: Well, we had a -- winds came up last night approximately 1:00 in the morning, and pushed the fire south-southwestly direction, and created a lot of problems for the firefighters.

MESERVE: What kind of problems?

CRAWFORD: Well, just because it was blowing so hard, and it was very dry, warm temperature type of wind, which fanned the fire, and also because of the terrain that it's burning in.

MESERVE: What sort of terrain is this? Describe it for us.

CRAWFORD: We are in hilly kind of country. It's running from about 1,100 foot elevation to about 1,800 foot elevation. A lot of drainages, and a lot of draws and a lot of homes scattered throughout the area.

MESERVE: What is the situation right now? How many homes, if any, are threatened at this point?

CRAWFORD: Well, we have -- through the night, we estimate that we have evacuated about 200 structures in that particular area, and those houses are still -- have been evacuated. And the fire is still running through that particular area.

MESERVE: Do you know yet what caused this fire?

CRAWFORD: No, we do not. It's still under investigation.

MESERVE: Captain Ted Crawford of the California Division of Forestry, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com