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CNN Sunday Morning

Wildfire Destroys 300 Homes in Arizona

Aired July 06, 2003 - 08:19   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.


KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Near Tucson, Arizona, a wind blown wildfire, which you see right there, that already destroyed 300 mountaintop homes has pushed into a previously untouched subdivision. At least six cabins have burned. The Aspen fire destroyed about 70,000 acres.
Firefighters say they have it about half surrounded. Which means half of it still needs to be contained. As you see it expanding in some areas. The flames just continue to burn. They've dug various trenches and employed a number of different techniques to try to contain this fire. Part of is weather.

Rob what does it look like there in Arizona where this Aspen wild fair is still causing problems.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, they don't expect a whole lot of rain today. Good news is they don't expect a whole lot of wind, low levels of humidity, of course, so fire danger continues to be high. But this fire has been going on for it seems about months now.

There are other fires in New Mexico and Arizona; a couple have been spawned by thunderstorms that pop up. We're starting to get this monsoon. You can see those thunderstorms earlier and there will be a couple of more that fire up in New Mexico, not all of which will contain beneficial rains. Sometimes they just have the thunder and lightning, which, obviously, causes some fire and not always the rainfall. So, that's the scene we were in and they just have to contend with that. But no heavy wind expected today.

OSBORN: Thank you very much meteorologist Rob Marciano, we'll of course be talking to you all morning long. So thanks.

MARCIANO: All right. You bet.

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 July 6, 2003 - 08:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Near Tucson, Arizona, a wind blown wildfire, which you see right there, that already destroyed 300 mountaintop homes has pushed into a previously untouched subdivision. At least six cabins have burned. The Aspen fire destroyed about 70,000 acres.
Firefighters say they have it about half surrounded. Which means half of it still needs to be contained. As you see it expanding in some areas. The flames just continue to burn. They've dug various trenches and employed a number of different techniques to try to contain this fire. Part of is weather.

Rob what does it look like there in Arizona where this Aspen wild fair is still causing problems.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, they don't expect a whole lot of rain today. Good news is they don't expect a whole lot of wind, low levels of humidity, of course, so fire danger continues to be high. But this fire has been going on for it seems about months now.

There are other fires in New Mexico and Arizona; a couple have been spawned by thunderstorms that pop up. We're starting to get this monsoon. You can see those thunderstorms earlier and there will be a couple of more that fire up in New Mexico, not all of which will contain beneficial rains. Sometimes they just have the thunder and lightning, which, obviously, causes some fire and not always the rainfall. So, that's the scene we were in and they just have to contend with that. But no heavy wind expected today.

OSBORN: Thank you very much meteorologist Rob Marciano, we'll of course be talking to you all morning long. So thanks.

MARCIANO: All right. You bet.

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