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Sunday Morning News

Mother Nature Comes to the Aid of Weary Firefighters in Western U.S.

Aired September 3, 2000 - 8:11 a.m. ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, from the shake to the bake, fire crews in the Western United States say nature has come to the aid of exhausted crews. The relief has come in the form of much needed rain.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Hamilton, Montana, a nerve center of the firefighting efforts.

Rusty, how are you holding up?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it is substantially colder this morning than it has been over the last few days. It got down into the upper 30s here in the Bitterroot Valley. And they got a lot more rain than they had anticipated yesterday during the thunderstorms. About an inch fell in some areas, more than an inch, actually, in the Bitterroot Valley in some areas, which is helping firefighters in many ways, hindering them in some because it can be difficult to get into some of the areas with the slippery rocks and some areas where there are rock slides.

But with us this morning to tell us a little bit about their firefighting strategy now is Ed Whitaker. He's the crew boss for the Minnesota firefighters that are here.

Ed, tell us a little bit about how your strategy has changed and what you're going to be able to do now that the rain has come.

ED WHITAKER, FIREFIGHTER: Well, the strategy is the plan is chief. But basically we're going to shift over from indirect attack to direct based on the fact that the humidities are up and the temperatures are down. That way the crews can work right along the fire's edge as opposed to having to back off because of safety.

So we can work safely up against the fire's edge, which will increase our efficiency and hopefully help us get a head's up on this thing.

DORNIN: What do you have to be careful of when it, when you do have thunder showers and it is, you know, it is raining? Do you also have to be careful, I mean are there safety concerns there?

WHITAKER: Oh, yeah. Obviously the footing and because of the slick powder and dust on top of the rock, and other is, frankly, as cold as it was yesterday, the hypothermia. It actually snowed here last night on the mountains so it'll be cold this morning going in.

DORNIN: OK, great. Ed Whitaker, Minnesota firefighter, thank you very much for joining us this morning and good luck out there. Thank you.

WHITAKER: Yes, ma'am. All righty.

DORNIN: So it looks like firefighters are making some progress. It is slow. One great thing here in the Bitterroot Valley is for six weeks folks here have been breathing some pretty unhealthy air. It was often difficult to even see the mountains in the area and it is absolutely beautiful now. People can actually breathe a sigh of relief on that level -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: That's good news. Rusty Dornin live from Montana, thank you.

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