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Morning News

Western Wildfires: Hazy and Hectic in Atlanta, Idaho

Aired August 23, 2000 - 9:07 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we update the raging wildfires that are burning in the west. Increasing danger from the fires has forced federal authorities to close an additional 1.3 million acres of public land in Montana. Nationwide, wildfires burned 5.7 million acres this year. That's land about the size of the state of New Hampshire.

In California, a wind-driven fire Plumas National Forest has grown to almost 23,000 acres. Precautionary evacuations have started in three communities north of Sacramento.

A lot of college students fighting fires in Idaho return to class soon, and authorities are worried about losing some valuable help. Twenty-seven large fires are burning on the almost 629,000 in the state. One of them has destroyed homes in the small Idaho community that's called Atlanta.

Dale Dickson (ph), of our CNN affiliate WTVB, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DALE DICKSON, WTVB REPORTER (voice-over): Living in Atlanta can often be laid back, even lazy. Now it's hazy and hectic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They actually were going right on top of the fire. I mean, getting right on top of it, where the smoke was coming right up through their helicopter. And they were dumping right on the houses. You know so they were putting their life in danger for us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a roller coaster. Yes, it has.

DICKSON: Gerry Perkins (ph) grew up here. After a career in nursing, she retired to her dream house on top of this mountain. She just about lost the dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was something to live through. It was a lesson of life. I think it was a lesson of life.

DICKSON: Firefighters still camp out in her yard. They're knocking down hot spots. Dick Forny (ph) and Jenny Hours (ph) aren't so fortunate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is amazing, it looks like a bomb went off in the this area. The fire was coming from up there. And coming over this ridge. And I knew that it was going to come and just explode, you know, together, but.

DICKSON: The devastating reality finally sinks in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cried to day for the first time, and that's when we came out and started digging through. And I started thinking, well, of all the little things that I could have grabbed that I didn't.

DICKSON: The two not only lost memoirs, they lost a piece of history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met him when I was 17 and he was 18 in this house.

DICKSON: They lived across from the old mine. The wooden structure was falling down over the years, now nothing is left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's even holes over there where the posts were in the ground and its burned all the way down to the bottom of the post in the ground.

DICKSON: Jenny and Dick will start over. The others will keep a watchful eye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to be here. I'm going to stay here and I'm going to be watching this smolder and that flame right there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Emergency firefighter training sessions for civilians are being held in Idaho this week.

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

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