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American Morning

Colorado Governor Discusses Wildfires

Aired June 10, 2002 - 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in our "Up Front" this morning, all of Colorado is burning. That is what Colorado Gov. Bill Owens said as he looked out over his state from the air yesterday. The Pike National Forest fire southwest of Denver is out of control, growing by 500 acres an hour. It is only about 40 miles from Denver.

Heidi Hemmat is standing by in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and she has the very latest for us.

Good morning -- Heidi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI HEMMAT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Downtown Denver's usually clear blue, mile-high sky is filled with choking smoke from a fast-moving wildfire 60 miles southwest of the city. The Hayman Fire, as it's now called, exploded from just 300 acres Sunday morning to more than 25,000 acres by nightfall, devouring more than 500 acres per hour.

TERRY MCCANN, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: This is an unusual fire. Normally they'll lay down a little bit, but this one doesn't seem to have been doing that, and that's tripled for the weather conditions.

HEMMAT: Further west, near the town of Glenwood Springs, firefighters are battling a fire that so far consumed 7,000 acres, destroyed more than 2 dozen homes, and forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Came out here and looked over my deck, and that ridge right there totally in flames.

HEMMAT: Controlling the Coal Seam Fire, which has been burning underground for the past 100 years, is now one of the nation's top priorities. But state and federal resources are stretched to the limit by a wildfire season that started early this year, in a state starving for rain. Now Coloradoans can only hope for a change in the weather, a change forecasters predict won't happen for at least several days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

I did want to mention -- joining us live now in Glenwood Springs -- I do want to mention that this is the same general area, Paula, where 14 firefighters were killed just eight years ago fighting a fire just a couple ridges away from what's being called the Coal Seam Fire, a very painful memory for the people here in Glenwood Springs. Fortunately, nobody has been hurt in this fire or any of the other fires burning throughout the state so far this year -- back to you.

ZAHN: I was just there about a month ago, and you could still see the charred stumps, and it goes on for miles and miles. It's hideous to watch. I understand they had to actually close the interstate not too far from where you were this weekend because of the fires.

HEMMAT: Yes. And this is a major east-west thoroughfare here in Colorado. It was major backups everywhere you looked. And it was basically because the smoke was so thick and it was so difficult to see that it was really a hazard to drive on I-70 anywhere around there. Now the highway has reopened, though.

ZAHN: All right. Heidi, thanks for your update. Appreciate your joining us on AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

Right now we're going to go back to Denver, and that is where we find Colorado's Gov. Bill Owens.

Good to see you again, sir. Thank you very much for being with us this morning.

GOV. BILL OWENS (R), COLORADO: Good to be back with you, Paula.

ZAHN: So how bad is it today? We are going to try to, as you're speaking, put up a map to give people a perspective of just how widespread these fires are.

OWENS: We're facing a huge challenge because of these fires. Just when we think we have one put out, several more flame up. We have fires in Glenwood. We have a fire in the Denver metropolitan area just south of Denver that basically blackened our sky all day yesterday -- has the potential to do that today.

And so we're very appreciative of what Joe Allbaugh and the FEMA professionals are doing. They're helping us pay for these fires. But our firefighters are getting stretched very thin. And if these fires continue, we are going to have some real challenges very soon.

ZAHN: And let's assume those challenges continue. What are you going to do?

OWENS: Well, I'm going to be on the phone this morning with FEMA and Joe Allbaugh to see what the future holds, because we need to see what the resources are, and we need to see what happens if we have two or three more major fires break out today as happened yesterday. We have fires burning in Colorado today that haven't yet been named, but they're already expanding.

And that Hayman Fire, just south of the Denver metropolitan area, 30,000 acres, doubled in size yesterday in three hours. Some fire professionals think it may double again in the very near future. So it's a huge challenge. Colorado is, in fact, in a crisis right now. We really appreciate all that neighboring states and the federal government are doing to help us.

ZAHN: How did these fires get started in the first place, governor?

OWENS: Good question. The one in Glenwood is a nature-made fire. It's a coal seam that finally burned up to the ground. It's been burning for 100 years. The huge fire outside of Denver, though, was manmade by a campfire. Another big fire in Grand Junction manmade. Another fire we just put out caused by human carelessness, in Canyon City.

My message to Colorado and to Americans who might be visiting the American West this summer is be very careful. We're going to have enough challenge with just these lightning-caused and nature-made fires without having to put firefighters at risk battling preventable fires.

ZAHN: Boy, it breaks your heart for anybody to drive along that Glenwood Canyon to see the amount of damage.

OWENS: Well, I know you're a -- Paula, you're a big fan of Colorado, and we love to have you come out. And when we put these fires out, come on back out, because it's a beautiful state. All of these fires are impacting directly less than 1 percent of Colorado. But obviously, the smoke is spreading.

ZAHN: We have seen the enormous toll this is taking on nature. What are your people up against? How many homes have been lost? How many farms?

OWENS: Well, we've lost hundreds of homes. Not very many farms, because most of these fires are up in the mountains. We've lost some ranchettes. We've had some cattle that have to be moved.

It's caused some significant property damage. That's why the Glenwood Fire is so crucial. It's right along an interstate. For a while, two nights ago, it threatened Glenwood Springs itself. Right now that fire is burning more off into the forested lands. But wherever these forests have an interface with humans, we're putting people and property at risk. And that's where the fire professionals are holding the line.

We're having to let some of the forest burn in order to put the resources around people and property, and I think that's the right call, regrettably.

ZAHN: The pictures just sting when you see them. We wish you tremendous luck as you try to get this under control.

OWENS: Well thanks, Paula. I appreciate it. Come back to Colorado soon.

ZAHN: Yes, and I just hope that people heed your message about knowing that this place is a tinderbox, and not throwing stuff out of car windows and stuff that lazy people often do -- governor, good luck to you.

OWENS: Thanks.

ZAHN: Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado. Appreciate your time.

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