ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Western Wildfires: Lots of Fires, Low Number of Firefighters Makes Job Difficult in Montana

Aired August 21, 2000 - 11:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Contain one fire, then move on to the next. National firefighting coordinators say that's been the trend and that trend continues. And with all the big fires burning there, that trend will continue possibly for some time.

CNN's Greg Lefevre, live in Darby, Montana, right there in the Bitterroot Valley with more on what's happening today.

Greg, a whole another week there, what are they saying thus far?

GREG LEFEVRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are in the middle, Bill, of a respite, if you will. It's a weather respite. Late on Saturday night there was a brief but intense wind storm as a cold front blew through. The residual of that cold front, though, was cold weather. It was 39 degrees this morning when we came in here and that means that the firefighters can rush in and do a heavy assault on the front- lines of some of these fires.

The most dangerous of those fires called the Razor fire. It's about 30 miles southwest of here. Some 24 cabins were saved over the weekend as the firefighters rushed in. The weather right now is calm and still and cool. This is a little three-day period where the firefighters are trying to make the most of it. The temperature is going to heat up later in the week, and with that brings more temperatures, hot, dry timber, lightning storms and more intense fires. So the firefighters want to get ahead of this right now.

There are two other fires, dangerous fires, burning near here. The Scaloal (ph) is right outside the town of Darby. Last night folks could look over the ridge tops from their backyards, and see the flames coming up to the ridge outside of their town. And then there is the Mink fire southeast of here. It is a dangerous fire because it is moving into an area called the urban/wildland interface, a lot of homes have moved into this area, people have their life savings, their retirements in some of these homes. And the firefighters are going from house to house to house in that area, trying to protect them from the fast-moving advancing fire. So we have this little weather respite right now where the firefighters are trying to take advantage of it -- Bill.

HEMMER: Hey, Greg, quickly here, two questions, first of all, do the firefighters in that area have enough resources to take advantage when this cooling pattern came through, I see you shaking your head no.

LEFEVRE: Not at all, not at all, you've got a million fires, and, like, 10 firefighters. The ratio is awful. We were out on a fire scene yesterday where you had about six acres of fires and six firefighters, that's not enough. But you look at the dozens of fires around this area, for example, briefly, this fire camp houses 1,000 people, they are manning 12 major fires from here. It usually takes 1,000 people to do like two major fires. So they are completely outstripped.

HEMMER: Numbers are against them. There is good news, there was a small friend found this past weekend, what's happening on this bear?

LEFEVRE: There may be a new Smokey Bear. A little eight-month- old cub was found right outside the Razor fire by Joe Jacquithe, he is a Montana fish and wildlife and parks ranger. The little cub was taken to a veterinary clinic in Helena. The cub has his paws burned. He was walking around in the charred area right outside the Razor fire, looks like he's OK. But it also looks like he lost the rest of his family in that fire -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, that's a shame, but a good ending for that bear and it's going to be put back into the wild as well, so we will follow that.

Greg Lefevre, nice report, Greg.

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

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.