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CNN Sunday Morning
Suspect in Rodeo Fire to be Arraigned Today
Aired June 30, 2002 - 09:01 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: Now, to our top story. The man accused of starting the Rodeo fire in Arizona is set for court this morning. That blaze joined another to create the largest wildfire in Arizona history. There is some good news though for residents in Show Low, they're being allowed to return home.
That's where CNNs David Mattingly is, he joins us live this morning.
Hello again, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.
Everyone here at the firefighter base camp in Show Low, waking up to the news that one of their own could be responsible for starting this devastating wildfire. One newspaper, the "Arizona Republic," reporting, quoting, unnamed federal sources saying the person in custody is a firefighter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Rodeo fire started on Apache reservation land. Arson has long been suspected. So far, there has been hundreds of millions of dollars in timber lost on the reservation alone. In addition to the hundreds of homes destroyed in surrounding towns, as the fire linked with the Chediski fire.
A hotline had been set up with a $6,000 reward offered. Authorities had encouraged anonymous tips, but it's not known if this led to a break in the case. Word of the arrest came late last night and with few details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE PIERCE, RODEO FIRE INVESTIGATION TASK FORCE: Law enforcement officials today at 8:15 p.m., arrested an individual for allegedly starting the Rodeo fire June 18. He is in custody and will make an initial appearance before a United States magistrate judge tomorrow morning at 9:30.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Day 12 now of the Rodeo-Chediski fire and it is still threatening communities in the West, but the all-clear has been sounded along the eastern edge, where people in seven communities are now returning home. This includes the 7,700 residents of Show Low, one of the big success stories of this disaster, Kyra, not a single home lost.
Back to you in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: David Mattingly, thanks, David.
The U.S. Forest Service says, it has fired its employee who was charged with sparking the largest wildfire in Colorado history. Terry Barton was dismissed for, quote, "reasons of behavior." She is currently free on bond. Her trial is set to begin trial on August 26. The Hayman fire, which she is accused of setting is now 90 percent contained.
While crews keep up the fight against wildfires raging across the West, foresters are taking a look behind the fire lines at why the region is burning, and what the future may bring.
Here is CNN's environment correspondent Natalie Pawelski.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years after the worst fire season in half a century, the West is ablaze again, and this time it's even worse. Foresters say massive fires threatening people's homes, may be the new reality in the American West.
JIM PAXON, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: I think everybody that has anything to do with the management of these lands has part of the blame. You know, you can go to the Forest Service, and BLM and the other land management agencies that were active in suppression in a good spirited, but misguided, ecological standpoint for 80 years, and we're playing catchup for that now.
PAWELSKI: Suppression is what foresters call the policy of fighting every fire you can. For most of the 20th century, that was standard operating procedure on federal land. Where there was smoke, there were firefighters. Even kids learned that forest fires are bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.
PAWELSKI: Foresters have come to realize that wild land fire is natural, even essential, and without it, forests have become clogged with dense thickets of fast-burning smaller trees, brush and downed logs. So now, when a fire starts, it burns with a vengeance. Add to that a record drought. Some trees are drier than the lumber you'd buy at a hardware store.
And throw in a population boom. Colorado, for example, grew by 48 percent in the last 20 years. And many of the West newcomers have moved into the woods, into places where a few years ago, a forest fire might not have mattered as much, because no homes were in its path.
MAYOR FOREST HAYES, DARBY, MONTANA: So now, we have homes that are back in areas that have, for centuries that burned on a regular basis.
PAWELSKI: So with millions of people living near dangerously clogged forests, now dried by drought, what do you do?
(on camera): Forest Service plans for fixing the problem are controversial, featuring controlled burns, targeted logging, designed to thin the forest and make it less vulnerable to catastrophic fires. But even if everybody agreed on that strategy tomorrow, safety is years away.
(voice-over): There are 191 million acres of national forest across the country, and the Forest Service says about 40 percent, an area the size of Arizona, is at risk for severe fire.
Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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