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CNN Live Sunday
Thousands Flee Wildfires in Arizona
Aired June 23, 2002 - 18:09 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, to Arizona. Thousands of people are on the run from monster wildfires racing across hundreds of thousands of acres. CNN' Bill Delaney is in one of the towns under siege, Show Low, Arizona. Bill, we're hearing that an evacuation may be underway right now or even later tonight in Show Low.
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the evacuation happened last night, and one indication of that is that white rag that you see on the little house right across the street from where I'm standing.
I can't walk over there. We're in a very restricted environment here at a fire camp in Show Low, Arizona. Seven thousand people evacuated from Show Low, Arizona last night, and it's because of what you're looking at now, this monumental cloud of smoke from the Rodeo fire, along with the Chediski fire here, has now consumed 300,000 acres of central Arizona.
This fire, just about a mile or so, Carol, down the road from where we are, fire officials, firefighters out there trying to build a fire line.
In all, so far in central Arizona, 200 homes destroyed, although they have saved about 1,000; 25,000 people evacuated, a fire still not under control by any means with no end in sight. Jim Paxon of the National Forest Service earlier had this to say about what's going on here in central Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM PAXON, NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE: Our dog's not willing to quit fighting. We're going to win this war. It's just going to take it to where we can get on top of the fire. Our primary intent is safety of our firefighters and safety of the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DELANEY: Now what we keep hearing here, as this fire continues to consumer hundreds of thousands of acres in Arizona, and as other fires continue to consume acreage throughout the west is from people here, local people, from fire officials, and from Governor Jane Hull of Arizona just a couple of hours ago, a call to clean out the forests. People here say there are simply too many trees in the forest. Listen to what Governor Jane Hull had to say just a couple of hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR JANE HULL, ARIZONA: We have got to clean up these forests. Nature did it. Nature did it on a very regular basis before people came out here. Now, nature is telling us that we have got to get this in control. This is the most out of control fire we've ever seen. This is not -- this is the time to get our act together and realize that the healthier the habitat is, the cleaner the forests are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DELANEY: All of that, of course, down the road a piece now, but that is a drumbeat that you're hearing now in the wake of all these fires. We'll wait through the next several hours here to see just what happens in this pretty much deserted town, except for firefighters, of Show Low, Arizona -- Carol.
LIN: Bill, I'm wondering what you're hearing or what you did hear from the residents when they were there in town. I mean, what the governor is talking about is more prescribed burns and also allowing wildfire to burn naturally through an environment, rather than suppressing it so these fuels don't build up.
Are people at Show Low and the surrounding regions supporting that idea? Do they think that that's something that would have prevented this massive wildfire?
DELANEY: You know, Carol, I've heard that again and again from people here in Show Low. Now, Show Low, there's only about 8,000 people in this place, but it's considered a city, so people here are not the people out in the hamlets inside the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, where people have built beautiful retreats and multimillion dollar homes deep in the forest.
Now you might hear something different if you spoke to people out there, but the answer is, I've heard again and again from people here, we've got to clean out these forests. There's too many trees. The only way to prevent infernos, like what we're experiencing now, is simply for there not to be so many trees.
Fire officials say there should be about 50 trees an acre. There are about 2,000 Ponderosa Pine in the National Forest per acre right now.
LIN: And thanks to Smokey the Bear who kept fire suppression in that area for so long.
DELANEY: Well, that's right.
LIN: Yes, thank you so much Bill Delaney. You stay safe out there. Bill Delaney live in Show Low, Arizona. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
