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Morning News

Florida Firefighters Hoping Weather Assists in Putting Out Blaze

Aired February 21, 2001 - 9:08 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 to Florida, where firefighters are hoping that the weather will intervene in the fight against a wildfire that is now at 11,000 acres. Firefighters are saying, if they don't get some heavy rain, this blaze could burn for days.

Our Susan Candiotti joins us. She is in Polk county, Florida, this morning.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

They are saying here in Polk county that the fire that they have been battling for five days now is about 50 percent contained. They are not quite ready to say how much longer it will take for them to get it totally under control. Quite clearly, rain would be a big help.

As you take a look at what the situation looks like here: a 10- mile stretch of I4, which goes through central Florida, remains closed to traffic. They are having traffic detour around it, into some rural areas. And that pretty much is where the fire is situated right now, in a swamp area.

And so at the present time, no homes have been evacuated, and there has been no serious property damage at this time. But the land here is very, very dry.

And a little while ago we spoke with state Division of Forestry officials about how critical the situation is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMBER WELLER, FLORIDA DIVISION OF FORESTRY: Any ignition source right now is going to meet a ready bed of fuel: It's dried, it's cured. The frost also added to the fire danger because it killed a lot of the smaller plants, and they're standing up dead. They didn't, you know, fall over, so that makes them dry out faster, and burn hotter and faster when they do ignite. So basically, the weather and the fuel are all prime for fire. All it takes is an ignition source.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CANDIOTTI: Transportation officials hope to be able to reopen that stretch of I4 by the end of the weekend, if they're lucky, they say. And at the present time, we can tell you that the situation here points out a drought situation that has existed in Florida, serious drought conditions, for the past three years, and without any rainfall being predicted in the immediate future, there's no end in sight for the outbreak of these wildfires.

Back to you -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much -- you be safe out there.

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