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American Morning
New Mexico Fires
Aired June 26, 2003 - 09:49 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: I want to bring you the late of the now on a story we've been covering for most of the morning. That is the wildfire in New Mexico. It is threatening parts of Albuquerque. We have with us on the phone right out the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, who is actually at the command center for fighting these fires.
Governor, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, NEW MEXICO: Good morning, Daryn. Nice to be with you.
KAGAN: I understand you had a chance to take a flight over the fires. Give us a sense of what you saw and what the situation is right now with Albuquerque.
RICHARDSON: Well, in Albuquerque, one of the most precious areas is the Basque. It's a wildlife area and residential, and it's in very bad shape. I did a tour of the site. It appears that the state National Guard helicopters are dropping water and being very effective, but we worry about winds that are going to be coming later this morning. We worry about potential arsonists. This was clearly caused by arson.
And we're a little disappointed. I understood that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending the deployed people from the Forestry, the National Forestry, and they were supposed to come this morning. Now I hear they're coming tonight from California. That's going to hurt us a bit.
And there are so many wildfires in the West, it's so dry in the West. There's a drought here in New Mexico. We are just watching. We've got about nine fires going on in the whole state of New Mexico. This is our biggest challenge.
KAGAN: Yes, and, governor, with this particular fire, as I understand it, it's about 700 or 800 acres strong. When you look at fires as you compare the Aspen Fire in Arizona right now, that seems small, yet the number of homes they're talking about being threatened seems incredibly large.
RICHARDSON: Well, we've had close to 1,500 evacuations, and we're talking about a substantial residential area, but also the Bosque is a very precious recreation wildlife, environmentally sound area that is right now under siege. And while it looks like we've contained most of the major brush fires, the fact that we predict winds coming soon, the fact that there are arsonists out there, very careless people, the fact that we don't limit fire works in New Mexico makes us very vulnerable, especially between now and the Fourth of July. So we need federal assistance to get down here fast, and we're hampered a bit by the fact that there are so many other fires in other parts of the West.
But we're a little disappointed. I thought the Forestry Department would be sending some of their people to help our very besieged and tired firefighters, but we've got a crisis situation on fires here in the West, and certainly here in New Mexico.
KAGAN: We wish you well, getting the help that you think you need there in New Mexico, getting a handle on the fire. and certainly catching the people who you believe are responsible for setting it in the first place.
Governor, Bill Richardson, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 26, 2003 - 09:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to bring you the late of the now on a story we've been covering for most of the morning. That is the wildfire in New Mexico. It is threatening parts of Albuquerque. We have with us on the phone right out the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, who is actually at the command center for fighting these fires.
Governor, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, NEW MEXICO: Good morning, Daryn. Nice to be with you.
KAGAN: I understand you had a chance to take a flight over the fires. Give us a sense of what you saw and what the situation is right now with Albuquerque.
RICHARDSON: Well, in Albuquerque, one of the most precious areas is the Basque. It's a wildlife area and residential, and it's in very bad shape. I did a tour of the site. It appears that the state National Guard helicopters are dropping water and being very effective, but we worry about winds that are going to be coming later this morning. We worry about potential arsonists. This was clearly caused by arson.
And we're a little disappointed. I understood that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending the deployed people from the Forestry, the National Forestry, and they were supposed to come this morning. Now I hear they're coming tonight from California. That's going to hurt us a bit.
And there are so many wildfires in the West, it's so dry in the West. There's a drought here in New Mexico. We are just watching. We've got about nine fires going on in the whole state of New Mexico. This is our biggest challenge.
KAGAN: Yes, and, governor, with this particular fire, as I understand it, it's about 700 or 800 acres strong. When you look at fires as you compare the Aspen Fire in Arizona right now, that seems small, yet the number of homes they're talking about being threatened seems incredibly large.
RICHARDSON: Well, we've had close to 1,500 evacuations, and we're talking about a substantial residential area, but also the Bosque is a very precious recreation wildlife, environmentally sound area that is right now under siege. And while it looks like we've contained most of the major brush fires, the fact that we predict winds coming soon, the fact that there are arsonists out there, very careless people, the fact that we don't limit fire works in New Mexico makes us very vulnerable, especially between now and the Fourth of July. So we need federal assistance to get down here fast, and we're hampered a bit by the fact that there are so many other fires in other parts of the West.
But we're a little disappointed. I thought the Forestry Department would be sending some of their people to help our very besieged and tired firefighters, but we've got a crisis situation on fires here in the West, and certainly here in New Mexico.
KAGAN: We wish you well, getting the help that you think you need there in New Mexico, getting a handle on the fire. and certainly catching the people who you believe are responsible for setting it in the first place.
Governor, Bill Richardson, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
