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American Morning

Wildfires Continue in Southern California

Aired October 29, 2003 - 08:06   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The area in southern California burned by the wildfires is now nearly the size of the State of Rhode Island. Officials are particularly concerned about the so-called old fire, which has surrounded 16 small communities in the San Bernardino Mountains. And in San Diego County, two devastating blazes there are threatening to merge near the small town of Julian. The number of homes destroyed is just under 2,000. More than 600,000 acres have burned. Sixteen people have been killed.
Officials, however, predict that even more bodies will be uncovered when the flames are finally doused. And they're especially worried about the border area with Mexico, which is often used by illegal immigrants who may have been trapped there.

On the front lines east of San Diego, Jeff Flock is live for us near Alpine with the very latest -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad, good morning to you.

It's the Cedar and the Paradise Fires that are blazing out here. And as maybe you can see, it's blowing up pretty good. We've got some real winds, the Santa Ana effect this morning, and it's real early this morning. You can see this fire blowing up pretty good and we've got flames from here all the way to Alpine, about 18 miles off into the distance.

This is the hot spot today. Alpine under siege today. But elsewhere, back in San Diego, the damage already done.

And we accompanied some folks as they went back in to look at their homes and see what the fire had done to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

FLOCK (voice-over): What is one family's worst nightmare...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's exactly, I think, the way it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way I left it on Sunday.

FLOCK: ... is another's wildest dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. It's all OK.

FLOCK: For most in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood in San Diego, it is not OK.

ANITA LAMATT: Oh, man.

FLOCK: Anita Lamatt's (ph) first look at what is left of what was her two story house. Now, there is a chimney.

LAMATT: We're all safe. All of our neighbors are here and we can replace it all.

FLOCK: Sifting through the rubble, boyfriend Mike Bush finds plenty to replace in the ash and cinders.

MIKE BUSH: It's just so devastating. I didn't know fire and water could be so powerful.

FLOCK: Across the street...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a single splash. We're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got something, at least.

FLOCK: But about all Danielle and Tiny Tamm (ph) salvaged was a few pieces of china and a little hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not the time for me to cry. This is the time for me to organize my thought and rebuild the whole thing again from scratch.

FLOCK: That will take some doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the hallway light.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and here's another big old blob of silver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to hang high in the ceiling.

FLOCK: The fire spared little, two homes out of about 15 on Meadowdale Lane. Otto and Ellie Lee's (ph) house was one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at this. Look at the computer. It's still here.

FLOCK: But when it is over, everyone says they will still be here, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're definitely going to rebuild. We're definitely going to rebuild.

FLOCK: Someone said what was lost was only stuff and stuff can be replaced. But for most, it was truly all the stuff they possessed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand why we had to lose all this. But I guess everything happens for a reason.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Soledad, as we stand here this morning, difficult to figure out what that reason is. And scenes like that, of course, still yet to play out in the communities out here behind me, where the fire has not even yet done its damage -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, Jeff, hard to look at those pictures.

Thanks for that report.

FLOCK: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Overwhelmed, exhausted, fitting descriptions for those who are on the front lines of the southern California battleground.

Harold Schaitberger is the president of the International Association of Firefighters.

He flew from Washington to California to take a firsthand look at exactly what firefighters are up against.

And he joins us this morning from Sky Forest, California.

We can see over your shoulder, sir, the flames burning.

Give me a sense of what you've seen and how it's impacted you.

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS: Well, I've been touring the fire lines all night since I got here. I was down in the base camps meeting with my members, seeing what kind of resources they were receiving. I've been up on the fire lines for the last eight hours. Actually, in front of me, behind the camera shot, we just have a major portion of the Waterman Fire that has now jumped the road. And we'll be going up in toward the Big Bear country, which is a huge resort area.

They've been trying to hold that fire on the one side of Route 18, trying to cut it off, parallel fighting it to keep it from crossing that road and getting into the communities where there are virtually hundreds of homes now that are going to be exposed.

O'BRIEN: When we hear the reports and we see some of these pictures, which are just, just the expanse and the devastation is hard to even imagine and comprehend. The firefighters, we hear, so exhausted that in many cases they're being removed from the fire lines so that they have a little time to recover.

Do you feel like there are enough resources out there at this time to get this job done eventually?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, it's one of the problems that we've had for many years. This goes back to whether it's Hurricane Andrew, whether it's the Midwest floods, whether it's 9/11, where we had such a catastrophic event and I lost 343 members. The fact of the matter is that we do not have sufficient resources in over two thirds of the fire departments in this country. And California is no different.

And too many of these communities that have had to deploy resources into these nine huge fires are, number one, putting those communities at less than full protection. And they call what they call surge capacity. When you have to bring this many firefighters in to fight this many fires, some of the largest in the state's history, you're leaving many other areas exposed. And the fact of the matter is that there is just not enough resources for these courageous firefighters to be able to do their job as safely as they should be able to.

They're doing it courageously. They're working long shifts, many of them not taking a break, working 24 hours at a shift. The resources are desperate, but they're desperate all over this country.

This just, again, hopefully focuses this country on the needs of the fire service.

O'BRIEN: Do you have concerns, in addition to that, about environmental risks that some of your firefighters are facing? I mean we see the flames, but what we don't see as much of is the overwhelming smoke in the area.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, I don't know if you can see the smoke in the area now. And it's been charged all night. You have a lot of particulate matter that's, of course, in this smoke. But you also have to realize it's not just the forests and the woods burning. When so many thousands of homes now are burning, there's a lot of carcinogens, there's a lot of other toxins that are in this smoke. I'm very concerned about the long-term medical health of the firefighters on this line, just as I was about the health of the firefighters that were on that pile in New York City when we were told by EPA that it should be a safe atmosphere for them to operate in. Now we find out that's not the case and we have to have medical monitoring and medical care provided to ensure that the New York firefighters get the coverage, the care and the monitoring they deserve.

These firefights in California need the very same care. They need the same monitoring to ensure their long-term health.

O'BRIEN: Harold Schait...

SCHAITBERGER: And that's why we're going to be encouraging Congress to introduce legislation to do just that and provide $25 million for the medical monitoring of these firefighters.

O'BRIEN: Harold Schaitberger, joining us this morning from Sky Forest, California.

Thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

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 October 29, 2003 - 08:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The area in southern California burned by the wildfires is now nearly the size of the State of Rhode Island. Officials are particularly concerned about the so-called old fire, which has surrounded 16 small communities in the San Bernardino Mountains. And in San Diego County, two devastating blazes there are threatening to merge near the small town of Julian. The number of homes destroyed is just under 2,000. More than 600,000 acres have burned. Sixteen people have been killed.
Officials, however, predict that even more bodies will be uncovered when the flames are finally doused. And they're especially worried about the border area with Mexico, which is often used by illegal immigrants who may have been trapped there.

On the front lines east of San Diego, Jeff Flock is live for us near Alpine with the very latest -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad, good morning to you.

It's the Cedar and the Paradise Fires that are blazing out here. And as maybe you can see, it's blowing up pretty good. We've got some real winds, the Santa Ana effect this morning, and it's real early this morning. You can see this fire blowing up pretty good and we've got flames from here all the way to Alpine, about 18 miles off into the distance.

This is the hot spot today. Alpine under siege today. But elsewhere, back in San Diego, the damage already done.

And we accompanied some folks as they went back in to look at their homes and see what the fire had done to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

FLOCK (voice-over): What is one family's worst nightmare...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's exactly, I think, the way it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way I left it on Sunday.

FLOCK: ... is another's wildest dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. It's all OK.

FLOCK: For most in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood in San Diego, it is not OK.

ANITA LAMATT: Oh, man.

FLOCK: Anita Lamatt's (ph) first look at what is left of what was her two story house. Now, there is a chimney.

LAMATT: We're all safe. All of our neighbors are here and we can replace it all.

FLOCK: Sifting through the rubble, boyfriend Mike Bush finds plenty to replace in the ash and cinders.

MIKE BUSH: It's just so devastating. I didn't know fire and water could be so powerful.

FLOCK: Across the street...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a single splash. We're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got something, at least.

FLOCK: But about all Danielle and Tiny Tamm (ph) salvaged was a few pieces of china and a little hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not the time for me to cry. This is the time for me to organize my thought and rebuild the whole thing again from scratch.

FLOCK: That will take some doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the hallway light.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and here's another big old blob of silver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to hang high in the ceiling.

FLOCK: The fire spared little, two homes out of about 15 on Meadowdale Lane. Otto and Ellie Lee's (ph) house was one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at this. Look at the computer. It's still here.

FLOCK: But when it is over, everyone says they will still be here, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're definitely going to rebuild. We're definitely going to rebuild.

FLOCK: Someone said what was lost was only stuff and stuff can be replaced. But for most, it was truly all the stuff they possessed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand why we had to lose all this. But I guess everything happens for a reason.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Soledad, as we stand here this morning, difficult to figure out what that reason is. And scenes like that, of course, still yet to play out in the communities out here behind me, where the fire has not even yet done its damage -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, Jeff, hard to look at those pictures.

Thanks for that report.

FLOCK: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Overwhelmed, exhausted, fitting descriptions for those who are on the front lines of the southern California battleground.

Harold Schaitberger is the president of the International Association of Firefighters.

He flew from Washington to California to take a firsthand look at exactly what firefighters are up against.

And he joins us this morning from Sky Forest, California.

We can see over your shoulder, sir, the flames burning.

Give me a sense of what you've seen and how it's impacted you.

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS: Well, I've been touring the fire lines all night since I got here. I was down in the base camps meeting with my members, seeing what kind of resources they were receiving. I've been up on the fire lines for the last eight hours. Actually, in front of me, behind the camera shot, we just have a major portion of the Waterman Fire that has now jumped the road. And we'll be going up in toward the Big Bear country, which is a huge resort area.

They've been trying to hold that fire on the one side of Route 18, trying to cut it off, parallel fighting it to keep it from crossing that road and getting into the communities where there are virtually hundreds of homes now that are going to be exposed.

O'BRIEN: When we hear the reports and we see some of these pictures, which are just, just the expanse and the devastation is hard to even imagine and comprehend. The firefighters, we hear, so exhausted that in many cases they're being removed from the fire lines so that they have a little time to recover.

Do you feel like there are enough resources out there at this time to get this job done eventually?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, it's one of the problems that we've had for many years. This goes back to whether it's Hurricane Andrew, whether it's the Midwest floods, whether it's 9/11, where we had such a catastrophic event and I lost 343 members. The fact of the matter is that we do not have sufficient resources in over two thirds of the fire departments in this country. And California is no different.

And too many of these communities that have had to deploy resources into these nine huge fires are, number one, putting those communities at less than full protection. And they call what they call surge capacity. When you have to bring this many firefighters in to fight this many fires, some of the largest in the state's history, you're leaving many other areas exposed. And the fact of the matter is that there is just not enough resources for these courageous firefighters to be able to do their job as safely as they should be able to.

They're doing it courageously. They're working long shifts, many of them not taking a break, working 24 hours at a shift. The resources are desperate, but they're desperate all over this country.

This just, again, hopefully focuses this country on the needs of the fire service.

O'BRIEN: Do you have concerns, in addition to that, about environmental risks that some of your firefighters are facing? I mean we see the flames, but what we don't see as much of is the overwhelming smoke in the area.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, I don't know if you can see the smoke in the area now. And it's been charged all night. You have a lot of particulate matter that's, of course, in this smoke. But you also have to realize it's not just the forests and the woods burning. When so many thousands of homes now are burning, there's a lot of carcinogens, there's a lot of other toxins that are in this smoke. I'm very concerned about the long-term medical health of the firefighters on this line, just as I was about the health of the firefighters that were on that pile in New York City when we were told by EPA that it should be a safe atmosphere for them to operate in. Now we find out that's not the case and we have to have medical monitoring and medical care provided to ensure that the New York firefighters get the coverage, the care and the monitoring they deserve.

These firefights in California need the very same care. They need the same monitoring to ensure their long-term health.

O'BRIEN: Harold Schait...

SCHAITBERGER: And that's why we're going to be encouraging Congress to introduce legislation to do just that and provide $25 million for the medical monitoring of these firefighters.

O'BRIEN: Harold Schaitberger, joining us this morning from Sky Forest, California.

Thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

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