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CNN Live Sunday
Chediski-Rodeo Wildfire Bears Down on Evacuated Towns
Aired June 23, 2002 - 17:01 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: In Arizona, fire crews fear that the massive Rodeo blaze will soon join the smaller Chediski wildfire. They were just three-quarters of a mile apart this afternoon. The combined fires could be nation's largest wildfire, and they're bearing down on evacuated towns. CNN's Bill Delaney joins from Show Low, Arizona, now, with the latest -- Bill.
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you, Kyra. Yeah, the toll here, now -- nearly 200 homes destroyed, though as many as 1,000 homes have been saved. A thousand people have been evacuated. Three hundred thousand acres of central Arizona on fire.
Now, in Show Low, Arizona, where I am, for days we've been watching the fire from several miles away, but now, here in Show Low, we are very much the front line. Spot fires, we are told, could start here in the next few hours. We just saw a fire retardant plane pass over us, a C-130. An indication they may be trying to get to some of the homes on the western fringes of this town, homes that could burn in the next several hours. No containment of this fire, and no one much left here in Show Low.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELANEY (voice-over): As for days now, the town of Show Low woke to a wall of smoke to the west. The difference -- few to contemplate, its certainties menace. Most of the town of 8,000 evacuated the night before. An orderly retreat few expected, after days of the wind not pushing the fire toward them until the fire turned right at them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got beat up pretty hard yesterday and the day before, and we'll get beat up pretty hard today. We're not winning this war with the big dragon, the monster that's reared its ugly heads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, the town was evacuated last night about 6:30 our time.
DELANEY: A few stayed, like Randy Tenney (ph), a one-time mayor, who now runs a motel that as a child, 40 years ago, he watched his grandparents build.
RANDY TENNEY (ph): I feel like they're still here. This is it. This is what I have. And when the fire started, you know, I just -- I just said how can I help people. DELANEY: That kind of place -- old, deep ties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are pretty down and out, you know, and we all have all families here, and we're all one big family, everybody in the community. You know, Randy, I consider him family, and it's just -- it's tough on everybody.
DELANEY: The worst day in generations in Show Low. But in a town won in a card game back in the days of the Wild West, everyone says no mere monster wildfire will put them out of business for good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DELANEY: What you keep hearing here from local people, from fire officials and just a couple of hours ago, from Arizona Governor Jane Hull, a demand that the forest be cleaned out. That there were just too many trees in the forest for this enormous fire to feed on. They point fingers at excessive fire prevention, at some environmentalists. They allege that they prevent nature taking its course every few years with smaller natural fires ending up in a catastrophe like this.
Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Oh, Bill, it's amazing seeing how close that smoke is to you and those homes. Bill Delaney, thank you.
And, of course, waiting is the hardest part for the residents who have been evacuated from their homes. Brian Nims (ph), with CNN affiliate KPHO, says many people don't know what they'll find when they go back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD FARNSWORTH: A lot of stuff was left behind, but we got the important stuff out.
BRIAN NIMS, CNN AFFILIATE KPHO CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first, Richard Farnsworth spoke matter-of-factly about his whole ordeal. He described how he and his wife abandoned their home in Show Low at about 8:00 last night. They grabbed everything they could.
RICHARD FARNSWORTH, SNOW LOW RESIDENT: Just basically started packing what we could, and, you know, got our animals and just headed up here.
NIMS: But, you see, he's a long timer in Show Low. Been here 35 years. When we asked about his thoughts and his fears, it was simply too much.
FARNSWORTH: Sorry.
NIMS: With his wife by his side comforting him, Richard cried a good long cry -- something no doubt thousands of his neighbors feel like doing, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a tough situation, you know, and just, you know, don't know what to expect to see when we get back, and.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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