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American Morning

In Arizona, Two Major Wildfires Have Merged Into One

Aired June 24, 2002 - 09:06   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In the West, two major wildfires have merged into one. It's in eastern Arizona, and several towns have been evacuated. One of them is Show Low, Arizona, and that's where we find our Charles Molineaux who is covering this story.

Charles, good morning.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

This menacing orange glow which appeared on the western horizon overnight has given way to something of a haze. It's a lot closer than it was, but the expectation is that things will be a little bit calmer now. The forest service had been predicted this entire area would be overrun by fire today. But there have been more favorable conditions for them. Winds died down somewhat. Temperatures dropped as well.

But fire crews have been out on the fire lines, working hard to reinforce their fire breaks between the fire and here. Overnight, they kept working on a strategic canyon. This is the Cotton Wood Canyon, just west of Show Low. We had the hoses, the shovels, the bulldozers, as well as drops of fire retardant, and they are hoping that if they get this latest fire break built, they can pretty much severely impede the fire's ability to launch another hard eastern assault on the town of Show Low, something they've been fearing for a long time as the winds started blowing out from the west.

But these more favorable conditions given them another opportunity to reinforce their defensive lines, and for the moment, we're looking at a pretty quiet situation this morning. We're waiting for the winds to pick up and the fire to kick up again today.

KAGAN: Hey, Charles, we've been talking a lot about houses. But we should point out that Show Low is i Navajo County, Arizona, and there are as many as 1,000 archaeological sites and pueblos and other historical places that are very important to native Americans that are threatened by this fire as well. Have you heard anything about that?

MOLINEAUX: That is a major concern. The older sites, of course, have probably seen a number of fires in the past. A much greater concern for the Indians in this area is actually a very large timber mill, which is not in the fire zone, but has basically been completely wiped out by it because the timber reserves have been pretty much eliminating, and 400 jobs at least have already been directly lost as a result of this fire. That is one thing we know already. This would be in the Apache Reservation just south of here. A lot of concern about that already, as well as concerns about forestry, hiking and elk hunting. So the impact on these reservations has already been very severe.

KAGAN: Anybody familiar with the Native American situation in the southwest knows that that already is a very difficult economic situation here.

MOLINEAUX: Yes, these are very poor counties here.

KAGAN: Charles Molineaux, in Eastern Arizona, thank you very much.

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