Ventura Fires Burn Close To Homes
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Ali. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information from around the world are arriving all the time. Happening now — a verdict in the civil trial of Robert Blake. It’s 1:00 p.m. in Burbank, California, where the jury’s decision is about to be read. Will Blake be held responsible for the death of his wife after being acquitted of murder charges? Also this hour, in Southern California, western wildfires pushed by winds, threatening homes, charring acre after acre. We’re live in the hot zone. Plus, new attacks in Iraq and new attacks right here on Capitol Hill. It’s 4:00 p.m. here in Washington, where the name-calling is even more intense after a Democrat’s stunning stand against the war. Wait until you hear what the Republicans are planning to do in the next few hours. I’m Wolf Blitzer. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM. Right now we are waiting for the verdict in that wrongful death suit against the actor, Robert Blake. We will bring it to you as soon as it’s read. The former “Baretta” star was sued by the children of his late wife Bonny Lee Bakley. They say he should be held responsible for her death in 2001 and pay damages, even though he was found not guilty of murder back in March. That verdict only minutes away. In the meantime, red hot flames are snaking near hillside homes in Southern California. Scores of firefighters are struggling to keep the blaze in check, but the winds are working against them and residents are on standby for a possible evacuation. Let’s go to the front lines. CNN’s Ted Rowlands, our man on the scene. He’s joining us now live. Ted, give our viewers an update. What is happening right now? TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fire here started about 3:30 a.m., and since then firefighters have been working to try to protect homes. We are in an area of the city of Ventura, in California, and they have been successful to this point in protecting these homes. There was an out building that was lost, but otherwise no major structures have been lost. You can see that firefighters are actually in each one of these driveways, trying to protect these homes. About an hour and a half ago, the fire ripped through this area and came within feet of a number of these homes. People had been gathering their stuff throughout the day, getting ready to possibly evacuate, and then sure enough word came in for them to leave. Firefighters have been using resources in the air and on the ground, as you might imagine, a lot of air drops, and that has made the difference here. For the most part, these people breathing a sigh of relief in this specific neighborhood. This is sort of scattered around in this general area. If you look across the canyon, there are more homes over there that are potentially in danger. But at this point, the good news to report is that these folks who had to leave here two hours ago, not knowing if they would come back to find their homes, they should be alright. Most of the fuel has been burned up here and it is unlikely their homes are going to be in danger. BLITZER: Ted Rowlands reporting for us from Ventura in California. J.T. Alpaugh is a helicopter pilot; he’s a reporter; he is on the scene for us as well. J.T., how bad is this situation, given some perspective. You have covered a lot of these wildfires. J.T. ALPAUGH, HELICOPTER REPORTER: Good afternoon, Wolf. We just landed here within the last hour, and have been covering this all morning. The fire is extremely large, nearly 2,000 acres. We’ve covered this fire from the beginning this evening. What you are seeing right now is we have a heavy Santa Ana wind condition about 35 to 40 miles per hour out of the northeast blowing these flames. L.A. County, Ventura County and multiple agencies fighting this fire and doing an excellent job to get these flames knocked down and protect these homes and structure protection. They are doing a really good job here and we are going to keep an eye on the fire… |