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CNN Saturday Morning News
Colorado Weather May Threaten Firefighters' Efforts
Aired June 15, 2002 - 09:12 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: Favorable weather in Colorado overnight has helped firefighters rein in the largest wildfire in state history. Dozens of people who were forced from their homes have returned. But the weather today could threaten that progress.
CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us once against from Castle Rock, Colorado, with the latest from there -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, definitely the weather helped out a lot yesterday helping firefighters gain huge strides in this fire. It went from 5 percent containment to 30 percent, and that's because the winds calmed down. The winds are probably the biggest determining factor in a fire like this. And also, the humidity is up, putting more moisture in the air.
Now, we're here at the Northern Interagency Fire Camp at Castle Rock, where the folks are still catching a little shut-eye here before they get out on the fire lines. But most of the firefighters are up, have gone to briefing, had breakfast, and ready to get back on the fire lines.
Now, as you said, the weather is changing today, and here to talk to us a little bit about what they can expect is Joe Colwell with the fire spokesman here with the Hayman fire.
Joe, what's the difference today? I understand the winds may come back up later this morning. It's pretty calm now.
JOE COLWELL, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: It's pretty calm now. Usually it is in the morning. And what we're expecting today is fairly good conditions up until about 11:00. And what they're saying is, from about 11:00 until 2:00, there's that window in there when we're going to have the instability. We expect that the fire could really kick up then.
And then later, after that, hopefully we'll have the thunderstorms that may actually have some moisture in it. But there's that midday period which we have to watch out for.
DORNIN: Now, the thunderstorms themselves, though, could bring their own dangers, right, with -- in terms of lightning strikes?
COLWELL: Right, the -- well, lightning strikes -- although they're saying today there may not be too much lightning. But it has winds, and the biggest problem with the winds is they're very erratic. They can come down and go every direction.
DORNIN: And, you know, there's -- well, there's still, like, 5,000 evacuees, I guess, and people are wanting to go back home, and some people have been allowed back in. But what -- I know that there's some communities that are sort of right on the line here. Now, what happens if the winds kick up today?
COLWELL: If the winds kick up, and if they reach -- if the fire advances to a certain what they call a trigger point, then they automatically trigger the evacuation of the next series of people in that area. And so these people have been living there knowing that, you know, they could have to leave any time now.
I compare it, like, if you got a dragon laying out in the woods, and that dragon isn't dead yet. We're trying to kill him, but he's still there, and he still has the capacity to breathe a lot of fire.
DORNIN: Are you expecting, though, to tell anybody that they can go home today, or if you make some strides on this fire?
COLWELL: We're going to have to make a lot of strides, and it's more than likely going to be a few days at least. We wish we could give the people better information, but we're not going to do it until we know it's completely safe, and we're just not quite there yet. Hopefully we'll get there quicker sooner than later, but we're not trying to promise anything.
DORNIN: Now, how about air strikes? Do you think you're going to be able to get up and fly and...
COLWELL: We hope to have that. We have four air tankers and I think it's about nine or 10 helicopters ready today. They will be supporting the people, trying to knock the line down and help that. So, yes, we do have them available.
DORNIN: Great. Joe Colwell, here with the -- on the Hayman fire, which has already burned 103,000 acres. It's, you know, there's 20 miles of Colorado mountains that have been on fire as a result of this fire, something like 140 square miles, is it, Joe, you know, that has burned already.
So it's an incredibly huge fire. They're hoping to make some big strides today. Winds are calm, but that could change -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, good question.
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