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CNN Saturday Morning News

Weather is Assisting Firefighters Battle California Fires

Aired November 01, 2003 - 07:09   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.


CAROL COSTELLO CNN ANCHOR: To Southern California now. Rain, fog, and cooler temperatures, and even snow, are doing their part in allowing firefighters some breathing room. Wildfires have now torched around 750,000 acres and destroyed about 2,800 homes.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, three fires have now merged. Sections of the blaze may be fully contained by tomorrow, though.

In San Diego County, the 275,000-acre Cedar fire, the largest blaze in California history, is now 65 percent contained after burning for six days. And west of Los Angeles, the Simi Valley fire is 85 percent contained. More than 100,000 acres have burned there.

SAN MIGUEL: And those raging wildfires have made thousands of people homeless in the last week.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is live at an evacuation center at the San Bernardino airport with some of those residents. Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, how are you there, Renay?

We are with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the incident command post right across the street from the evacuation center. And I'll be a little bit quiet, because there's actually firefighters in tents set up all over this place. There's also evacuees sleeping across this street. And we didn't want to wake them up at 4:00 in the morning.

The old fire that we're working on here is now 45 percent contained, says the Forest Service. Keep in mind it affects sort of the southern edge of the fire that's been burned through, for the most part, and they expect that on November 8 at 6:00 p.m. on November 8, a very exact number, that they will be able to say it's fully contained, and then residents will be able to get back into their homes.

There's about 2,000 people, 1,800 to 2,000 people, here at the San Bernardino National Airport that have been overnighting here for several days, some of them just a few days and then dipping in and out.

But it's conditions that are not particularly great for folks. And because of the rain and the snow, and if the fire seems to be getting under control, there's a lot of frustration, a lot of desire to get back home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

APRIL BURNS, LAKE ARROWHEAD EVACUEE: It's been unreal for the stress. This is, like, when we heard it was snowing yesterday, everybody in there just applauded and jumped up and down. But it's, like, all of a sudden you come out and smell the smoke, and it's, Oh, God, it's flared up again. And then everybody goes down.

And me, I just -- I'm in a numb stage. I don't know if I should be happy or if I should cry or if I should just be screaming. I just -- I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: It has got to be the most frustrating thing in the world, people who want to get back to their homes. Most of the homes up there are still there, fortunately.

The Forest Service says the problem now, though, is that not only is the fire still somewhat of a hazard on the north end, it can't get a line all the way around it yet, but there are trees that are falling down there. Today they had mud slides up on the main road up there. There are rock slides. And in the neighborhoods where the fire burned through, there's also tons and tons of power lines down.

So there's lots of hazards for those firefighters, and they're concerned with residents if they get up there too soon, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: And Miguel, I mean, you know, we talk about the fickle nature of these forces of nature. You've been working that particular area for the last couple of days or so. Have you had a chance to see where, you know, the fires and the damage may have spared some homes, but right next to it, you'll see a home that's just been burned down to the foundations?

MARQUEZ: Yes, there was the Cedar Glen area was one place that we worked quite a bit in, and it was amazing, this was a very heavily forested area in that region. It -- the fire came up a little canyon, destroyed almost every single home in that area, but there were one, two, maybe three or four homes in that area that were saved.

One of them, the guy had done abatement around it, so he was able to save his home. Whether or not that was the reason it happened, it's not clear, but his home was there in a sea of destruction, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: All right, Miguel Marquez near the San Bernardino airport. Thanks so much, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Sure.

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 November 1, 2003 - 07:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO CNN ANCHOR: To Southern California now. Rain, fog, and cooler temperatures, and even snow, are doing their part in allowing firefighters some breathing room. Wildfires have now torched around 750,000 acres and destroyed about 2,800 homes.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, three fires have now merged. Sections of the blaze may be fully contained by tomorrow, though.

In San Diego County, the 275,000-acre Cedar fire, the largest blaze in California history, is now 65 percent contained after burning for six days. And west of Los Angeles, the Simi Valley fire is 85 percent contained. More than 100,000 acres have burned there.

SAN MIGUEL: And those raging wildfires have made thousands of people homeless in the last week.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is live at an evacuation center at the San Bernardino airport with some of those residents. Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, how are you there, Renay?

We are with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the incident command post right across the street from the evacuation center. And I'll be a little bit quiet, because there's actually firefighters in tents set up all over this place. There's also evacuees sleeping across this street. And we didn't want to wake them up at 4:00 in the morning.

The old fire that we're working on here is now 45 percent contained, says the Forest Service. Keep in mind it affects sort of the southern edge of the fire that's been burned through, for the most part, and they expect that on November 8 at 6:00 p.m. on November 8, a very exact number, that they will be able to say it's fully contained, and then residents will be able to get back into their homes.

There's about 2,000 people, 1,800 to 2,000 people, here at the San Bernardino National Airport that have been overnighting here for several days, some of them just a few days and then dipping in and out.

But it's conditions that are not particularly great for folks. And because of the rain and the snow, and if the fire seems to be getting under control, there's a lot of frustration, a lot of desire to get back home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

APRIL BURNS, LAKE ARROWHEAD EVACUEE: It's been unreal for the stress. This is, like, when we heard it was snowing yesterday, everybody in there just applauded and jumped up and down. But it's, like, all of a sudden you come out and smell the smoke, and it's, Oh, God, it's flared up again. And then everybody goes down.

And me, I just -- I'm in a numb stage. I don't know if I should be happy or if I should cry or if I should just be screaming. I just -- I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: It has got to be the most frustrating thing in the world, people who want to get back to their homes. Most of the homes up there are still there, fortunately.

The Forest Service says the problem now, though, is that not only is the fire still somewhat of a hazard on the north end, it can't get a line all the way around it yet, but there are trees that are falling down there. Today they had mud slides up on the main road up there. There are rock slides. And in the neighborhoods where the fire burned through, there's also tons and tons of power lines down.

So there's lots of hazards for those firefighters, and they're concerned with residents if they get up there too soon, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: And Miguel, I mean, you know, we talk about the fickle nature of these forces of nature. You've been working that particular area for the last couple of days or so. Have you had a chance to see where, you know, the fires and the damage may have spared some homes, but right next to it, you'll see a home that's just been burned down to the foundations?

MARQUEZ: Yes, there was the Cedar Glen area was one place that we worked quite a bit in, and it was amazing, this was a very heavily forested area in that region. It -- the fire came up a little canyon, destroyed almost every single home in that area, but there were one, two, maybe three or four homes in that area that were saved.

One of them, the guy had done abatement around it, so he was able to save his home. Whether or not that was the reason it happened, it's not clear, but his home was there in a sea of destruction, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: All right, Miguel Marquez near the San Bernardino airport. Thanks so much, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Sure.

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