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CNN Sunday Morning
Arizona Fires Continue to Grow, Colorado Fire Contained
Aired June 23, 2002 - 11:07 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Out West, officials suspect those two big wildfires burning in Arizona, have merged. Together, they would create the nation's largest wildfire.
Meantime, Colorado firefighters are getting a hand from mother nature. We have two reports on the fires. Mark Potter is in Colorado and Charles Molineaux is in Arizona with the latest.
Let's start with you, Charles.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, later today we could see the Rodeo and Chediski fires; renamed the Rodeo-Chediski fire. A single monstrous blaze, which may already cover 300,000 acres, and which is now poised just outside the city of Show Low.
You can see the huge smoke plume as we are looking out west from town. This is where the fire is threatening the city. Yesterday, the fire overran several smaller towns that had already been evacuated, and it broke right through what fire officials were hoping would be a major containment line and a major trigger point. That trigger point triggering large evacuations and ensuring that overnight this ordeal got a lot bigger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOLINEAUX (voice-over): Traffic jammed the few roads out of town still opened, as huge smoke plumes heralded a wall of fire bearing down on Show Low, Arizona at a mile every hour. And thousands of families moved out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's smoky. We can't breathe in front of the fire here, we can't breathe here.
MOLINEAUX: Cole Sigoviak (ph) and his mom are among -- or could become 30,000 people clearing out of Show Low and nearby towns in the path of the Rodeo and Chediski fires.
People who live here have been on alert to evacuate for days. And to the very end, the painful choices continue about what treasures to take.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This picture, we may not be able to take.
MOLINEAUX: Arlene Rokan (ph) and her mother are weighing their belongings versus the size of their car. The 87-year-old Beatrice Jarvez (ph) has lived on this spot for more than half a century.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to take it all because it all means something to me.
MOLINEAUX: While Rebecca Sanders (ph) faces moving out only days after the fire forced her out of a town just up the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've already got evacuated from Clay Springs. And then I came here with my dad. And now Show Low is going to have to evacuate and this is my second time. So, it's going to be kind of hard. But if this place burns down, I got nowhere else to go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MOLINEAUX: Fire crews here in Show Low are poised to begin what will be not just a fight against a forest fire, but it may be fights against house fires, as well. As the fire is expected to move into town later today.
We could see street to street spot fighting of fires as embers come flying through the air, and possibly land on lumber stacks or even on people's roofs. The concern being, that this fire will continue through this town, although it is expected to continue east from here, going right over the town of Show Low in the next couple of days.
The continuing fight against the fires in Colorado is also going on.
Let's go now to Mark Potter, who is in Lake George, Colorado -- Mark.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Charles, thank you.
A much different situation here. Firefighters describe themselves as being on the downside of this fire. After an expectedly good weather day yesterday, they were able to gain a lot of ground on this fire. And they've actually had three good weather days in a row, and that has made all the difference in the world.
Sixty-seven percent of this blaze is now contained, particularly, most of them on the eastern side, the critical eastern side. That's where most of the towns and homes are located. And so firefighters are allowing now, some of the residents to go back to their homes in at least two counties.
And behind me, you're looking at the checkpoint where they make sure that these are residents going up the road. Here is a vehicle coming down, probably one of the residents -- we can't see exactly what that is. But we have seen people coming in and out, talking about going back to their homes, and many of them saying that they're glad to see that their homes are OK.
Now, firefighters, as a result of all this, are just feeling a lot more confident now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALKER, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: Things are looking really good. Today is a bit of a test day. Relative humidities are dropping. And, hopefully, that will bring up any spots that we've missed, so that we can nail those down. And that should wrap up a lot of stuff for us.
MOLINEAUX: But the fire itself, how does it stand?
WALKER: There's not a lot of flame out there. There's some hot spots. And hot spots can be from like, a tenth of an acre to ten acres. And they're isolating those spots and taking care of those now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Now, the territory involved in this fire is holding steady at 137,000 acres: 114 homes have been lost. But none have been lost since early last week. This fire is certainly not out, but it could become dangerous again if the weather deteriorates. But right now, the firefighters are going off their 24-hour shifts. They'll only be working in the day time. And they're feeling an awful lot better than they were just three days ago -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A little bit of good news. Mark Potter, thank you so much.
For extra information on the fires, including graphics on the biggest wildfire in history, turn to the CNN Web site anytime, cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
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