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CNN Saturday Morning News

California Fire Burns 3,000 Acres

Aired July 28, 2001 - 09:33   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Up in northeastern California, firefighters are battling to get the upper hand on a fierce wind- driven fire. It's already burned some 3,000 acres, and Kristen Simoes of our affiliate station KCRA has this report now from the front lines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN SIMOES, KCRA REPORTER (voice-over): Flames crumble trees, race through forest land, and far outrun the fire crews. It's a blaze that has tore through more than 3,000 acres of national forest land, leaving nothing but charred remains. Those on the front lines are fighting back.

LARRY PEABODY, TAHOE NATIONAL FOREST: Well, this is the front of the fire, and we're going to try to contain it by constructing hand line (ph).

SIMOES: While this crew from the Tahoe National Forest works on boundaries, down the road, others begin the cleanup.

JEREMY CHANDLER, FIREFIGHTER: After the fire goes out, you pretty much just go through anywhere that has white ash, you assume it's hot ash and just go through and grab it up with tools and put water on it and make sure it's completely out.

SIMOES: More than 900 crews are fighting what they've named a stream fire, and hundreds more are on the way. It's a blaze that began by lightning, and it's burned through campsites and park buildings near Antelope Lake, a fire that has proven nearly impossible to contain.

MIKE VINEYARD, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: We're dealing with a fire that's being driven by some pretty strong winds, and about the time we get line in, it takes off on us again.

SIMOES: At its height, crews estimate the winds were 25 miles an hour, flames so high and smoke so thick, it covered the sun. As the skies above the Plumas National Forest grow even darker, work for hundreds of firefighters grow more intense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NELSON: And that was reporter Kristen Simoes of our affiliate station KCRA.

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