RESTRICTION SUMMARY: PART MANDATORY CREDIT CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL

SHOTLIST:

AP PHOTOS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Napa - 9 October 2017

1. Flames raging ++NIGHT SHOT++

2. The sun rises over wildfires

3. Various of entire houses being eaten by the flames

4. Grape vines sit among the scorched ground ot the Robert Sinskey Vineyard

5. A small flame is all that remains from the flames that burned to the edge of the Robert Sinskey Vineyard

AP PHOTOS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

east of Napa - 9 October 2017

6. House on fire

AP PHOTOS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Santa Rosa - 9 October 2017

7. Various of fire at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel ++DAY AND NIGHT SHOTS++

8. A firefighter sprays a Keysight Technologies building

9. Firefighters hose down a burning tree

10. Two women hug as they watch houses burn ++NIGHT SHOT++

11. Kristine Pond reacts as she searches the remains of her family's home destroyed by fires

12. Mark Pedersen and his son Ben, left, look through the remains of their home destroyed by fires

13. Michael Pond, left, looks through ashes as his wife Kristine, center, gets a hug from Zack Thurston, their daughter's boyfriend, while they search remains of their home destroyed by fires

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL - MANDATORY CREDIT CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL

Napa - 9 October 2017

14. AERIAL of hundreds of homes destroyed in wildfires

STORYLINE:

An onslaught of wildfires across a wide swath of Northern California broke out almost simultaneously then grew exponentially, swallowing up properties from wineries to trailer parks and tearing through both tiny rural towns and urban subdivisions.

At least 10 were dead, at least 100 injured and at least 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed, authorities said. All three figures were expected to surge in the coming days as more information is reported.

Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.

Residents who gathered at emergency shelters and grocery stores said they were shocked by the speed and ferocity of the flames.

Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world.

They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometres) away.

Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing-person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.

Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a far larger and more developed city than usually finds itself at the mercy of a wildfire.

The city is home to 175,000 residents.

Hundreds of homes of all sizes were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

===========================================================

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WILDFIRES…

… A DEVASTATING DROUGHT …

A MELTING SNOWPACK.

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE …

(NATS)

PLAYING OUT IN CALIFORNIA.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law

"California's motivations for being a leader on climate policy are clear. California has a lot at stake."

THE STATE HAS BEEN A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING …

MUCH AS IT WAS 70 YEARS AGO WHEN A MYSTERIOUS HAZE CALLED "SMOG" SPURRED THE STATE TO REGULATE AIR QUALITY.

IN 1947, THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE GAVE COUNTIES THE POWER TO CRACK DOWN ON LOCAL POLLUTERS …

SOUNDBITE (English), narrative from a 1963 video by the Air Pollution Control District of Los Angeles County

"What is this pollution that we've heard so much about?"

… AND IN 1966, CALIFORNIA ADOPTED THE FIRST VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS IN THE NATION.

ITS AIR QUALITY STANDARDS ARE STILL THE TOUGHEST IN THE U-S.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

"There's a certain level of affluence and awareness in places like California. So we're making a concerted effort -- businesses, on a government level and certainly on an environmental level -- to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and lead the rest of the world, set an example for the rest of the world, for what can be done."

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN RECENTLY PLEDGED TO REDUCE CLIMATE EMISSIONS TO 40 PERCENT BELOW 1990 LEVELS WITHIN THE NEXT 15 YEARS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Governor Jerry Brown

"The trouble with climate change is it's a 'bad' happening very slowly. And if we don't get it in time, it'll be too late."

THAT'S HALFWAY TO THE GOAL SET BY FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FOR THE YEAR 2050.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY START-UPS FLOURISH IN CALIFORNIA …

… AND WHEN LEADERS WANT TO TALK CLIMATE CHANGE, THEY LOOK TO CALIFORNIA.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN RECENTLY ATTENDED A ROUNDTABLE FOR GREEN START-UPS IN LOS ANGELES.

SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden

"We're in a position where we have the cheapest energy in the world and will for the remainder of the century and you guys are going to make sure that it's clean energy."

CALIFORNIA IS SENDING A DELEGATION TO THE PARIS SUMMIT TO SHARE ITS EXPERTISE.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA School of Law

"California has figured out how to grow its GDP while bending down the curve of emissions, and that's part of what's been a really powerful lesson for the rest of the globe."

A LEADING ROLE EVEN MORE CRITICAL NOW AS CALIFORNIA ITSELF BEARS THE BRUNT OF GLOBAL WARMING.

THE HISTORIC DROUGHT IS PARCHING FARMERS AND LED TO MANDATORY WATER RATIONING STATEWIDE.

WITH BONE-DRY HILLSIDES, ONCE SEASONAL WILDFIRES NOW CHEW THROUGH THE STATE YEAR-ROUND …

… BURNING HOMES AND COSTING BILLIONS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA

"It's really a question of whether you want to get hit in the head by a hard ball or by a whiffle ball. So we can have a big impact on the future by switching to more sustainable energy sources."

A CAUTIONARY TALE CALIFORNIA IS SHARING WITH THE WORLD.

GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, LOS ANGELES

WILDFIRES…

… A DEVASTATING DROUGHT …

A MELTING SNOWPACK.

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE …

(NATS)

PLAYING OUT IN CALIFORNIA.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law

"California's motivations for being a leader on climate policy are clear. California has a lot at stake."

THE STATE HAS BEEN A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING …

MUCH AS IT WAS 70 YEARS AGO WHEN A MYSTERIOUS HAZE CALLED "SMOG" SPURRED THE STATE TO REGULATE AIR QUALITY.

IN 1947, THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE GAVE COUNTIES THE POWER TO CRACK DOWN ON LOCAL POLLUTERS …

SOUNDBITE (English), narrative from a 1963 video by the Air Pollution Control District of Los Angeles County

"What is this pollution that we've heard so much about?"

… AND IN 1966, CALIFORNIA ADOPTED THE FIRST VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS IN THE NATION.

ITS AIR QUALITY STANDARDS ARE STILL THE TOUGHEST IN THE U-S.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

"There's a certain level of affluence and awareness in places like California. So we're making a concerted effort -- businesses, on a government level and certainly on an environmental level -- to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and lead the rest of the world, set an example for the rest of the world, for what can be done."

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN RECENTLY PLEDGED TO REDUCE CLIMATE EMISSIONS TO 40 PERCENT BELOW 1990 LEVELS WITHIN THE NEXT 15 YEARS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Governor Jerry Brown

"The trouble with climate change is it's a 'bad' happening very slowly. And if we don't get it in time, it'll be too late."

THAT'S HALFWAY TO THE GOAL SET BY FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FOR THE YEAR 2050.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY START-UPS FLOURISH IN CALIFORNIA …

… AND WHEN LEADERS WANT TO TALK CLIMATE CHANGE, THEY LOOK TO CALIFORNIA.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN RECENTLY ATTENDED A ROUNDTABLE FOR GREEN START-UPS IN LOS ANGELES.

SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden

"We're in a position where we have the cheapest energy in the world and will for the remainder of the century and you guys are going to make sure that it's clean energy."

CALIFORNIA IS SENDING A DELEGATION TO THE PARIS SUMMIT TO SHARE ITS EXPERTISE.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA School of Law

"California has figured out how to grow its GDP while bending down the curve of emissions, and that's part of what's been a really powerful lesson for the rest of the globe."

A LEADING ROLE EVEN MORE CRITICAL NOW AS CALIFORNIA ITSELF BEARS THE BRUNT OF GLOBAL WARMING.

THE HISTORIC DROUGHT IS PARCHING FARMERS AND LED TO MANDATORY WATER RATIONING STATEWIDE.

WITH BONE-DRY HILLSIDES, ONCE SEASONAL WILDFIRES NOW CHEW THROUGH THE STATE YEAR-ROUND …

… BURNING HOMES AND COSTING BILLIONS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA

"It's really a question of whether you want to get hit in the head by a hard ball or by a whiffle ball. So we can have a big impact on the future by switching to more sustainable energy sources."

A CAUTIONARY TALE CALIFORNIA IS SHARING WITH THE WORLD.

GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, LOS ANGELES

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

1. Tree burning

AP TELEVISION

Westmoreland, California —April 29, 2015

2. Wide, dead tree, dry playa

AP TELEVISION

Mammoth Lakes, California -- March 25, 2014

3. Mountains with reduced snowpack seen from a snow survey plane

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — June 8, 2015

4. Los Angeles Water and Power "water police" officer exits car

5. Dead lawn with drought water conservation sign

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 20, 2015

6. SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 13, 2015

7. Wide, Hollywood sign

8. Various of Los Angeles traffic

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — November 26, 1954

9. File photo of smog in downtown Los Angeles.

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — July 15, 1978

10. File photo of smog over downtown Los Angeles.

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — November 26, 1954

11. File photo of smog in downtown Los Angeles

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, BANCROFT LIBRARY

California — 1971

12. Promotional newsreel of Kaiser Industries' "war on pollution" program

COURTESY CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE ARCHIVES

Los Angeles, California — 1963

13. Educational newsreel by the Public Utilities Commission about power plant pollution

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, BANCROFT LIBRARY

California — 1971

14. Promotional newsreel of Kaiser Industries' "war on pollution" program

15. Cars on freeway

16. Exhaust from car tailpipe

AP TELEVISION

El Monte, California — September 30, 2015

17. Car undergoing emissions testing

AP TELEVISION

Pasadena, California — November 13, 2015

18. SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (see transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Mojave Desert, California-Nevada border — February 11, 2014

19. Tight, solar panels

20. Wide, field of solar panels

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — October 7, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown signs climate legislation

21. SOUNDBITE (English), California Gov. Jerry Brown (see transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Paris, France — October 10, 2014

22. Various European leaders greet former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at 2014 Paris climate summit

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, California — November 9, 2012

23. Clean Tech Open sign

24. Winners of Clean Tech Open hold check

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 16, 2015

25. Vice President Joe Biden greets investors and entrepreneurs at roundtable for green tech incubator

26. SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden (see transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 13, 2015

27. Various of Los Angeles traffic

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 20, 2015

28. SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Long Beach, California — November 20, 2015

29. Various of trucks at Port of Long Beach

AP TELEVISION

Echo Lake, California — April 1, 2015

30. Top of mountains with reduced snow cover

AP TELEVISION

Okieville, California — June 30, 2015

31.Wide of drought-stricken lawn

32. Tight of farmer pulling small onion from dried-up garden

33. Tight of dripping shower head

AP TELEVISION

Weed, California — September 16, 2014

34. Smoking hillside, firefighters working

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

35. Chickens flee wildfire

AP TELEVISION

Weed, California — September 16, 2014

36. Folding chairs remain in smoldering church destroyed by wildfire

AP TELEVISION

Pasadena, California — November 13, 2015

37. SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (see transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

38. Burning tree

39. Firefighters fight blaze from on top of fire truck

40. Fire trucks drive down country road

41. Handwritten sign thanking firefighters

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water on fire zone

2. Brush fire area

3. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water on fire zone

4. Wide shot of firefighters watching water drop

5. Close shot of firefighter

6. Water drop on fire zone

7. Wide shot of helicopter over fire zone

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Mark Whaling, Los Angeles County fire fighter:

"You have the air show, with the helicopters dropping water or retardant depending upon what's needed at that location. And then you have the hand crews. Hand crews at the top are going to work their way down. We've got hand crews at the bottom. They're going to work their way up and they're hopefully going to pinch it off."

9. Helicopter picking up water

10. Close shot of helicopter carrying water

12. Firefighters

13. Map, pullout to close shot of firefighters

14. Close shot of firefighters discussing firefighting operations

15. Firefighters

16. Fire truck pulling away

17. Wide shot of burned out area

18. Close shot of burnt tyre

19. Wide shot of burned out area

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Mark Whaling, Los Angeles County fire fighter:

"If that wind comes up it has the potential to blow fire embers down below where the crews are working and cause the fire to flare up again."

21. Close shot of water bucket connected to helicopter being filled in pond

22. Wide shot of helicopter hovering over pond

23. Helicopter flying away

24. Wide shot of homes near fire zone

25. Home near fire zone

26. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water over fire zone

STORYLINE:

Firefighters near Los Angeles used water-dropping helicopters to help beat back a stubborn wildfire burning 30 miles (48 km) north of the city.

Local fire officials say the foothill fire burning near the city of Santa Clarita is now approximately 39 per cent contained, after scorching more than five-thousand acres of parched brush land over the weekend.

More than 1,500 firefighters were battling the foothill fire, with three treated at hospital for minor injuries.

Fire crews were working along a mountain ridge on Monday morning to prevent a flare up along the front lines where the fire was halted.

They were working to save hundreds of homes threatened by the stubborn wildfire that broke out in tinder-dry brush and raced over hillsides and through canyons in northern Los Angeles County.

Although no structures have been lost, nearly 1,600 homes have been evacuated since the fire began on Saturday.

The fire was ignited when a hawk flew into a power line, was electrocuted and its flaming body fell into brush left dry by years of little rain.

The foothill fire was one of several burning across more than 40,000 acres of California from eastern San Diego County to Yosemite National Park.

SHOTLIST:

APTN

Acton, California

1. Smoke plume rising from fire zone along ridge line

2. Fire and smoke

3. Close shot of fire

4. Wide shot of fire and smoke

6. Mid shot of fires

7. Firefighters dousing burnt area with water

8. Wide shot of horses in farm compound near burned out area

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Connie Collins, Resident:

"If you picture the world ending, this is what it looks like. It just came around the corner, smoke, flames, fire department, everything. You're thinking, 'God I hope everybody gets their animals out, everybody gets themselves out'. And it was just absolutely.... horrific."

10. Burned out area

11. Downed power lines

12. Worker on power line tower

13. Water dropping aircraft flying overhead

14. Fire fighters inspecting burn zone

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Vince Agapito, Firefighter:

"A lot of this fuel has not been burned for a long time. Drought puts a stress on the fuel which causes a lot of downed dead fuel. And so we have this mixture and it's creating a bunch of problems. In addition to that we have a nice, I shouldn't say nice, but we have an extremely hot, dry summer and when you have fuels and weather mixed like that if there's a fire then it really gets erratic and hot."

16. Burned out area

17. Brush fire

18. Burn zone

ABC - No Access Internet

North Of Los Angeles, California

19. Fire in background with flag

20. Close-up of flares

21. Medium shot of flares

22. Pan from road to destroyed bridge

23. Medium shot of firefighters

24. SOUNDBITE(English) Stanton Florea, US Forest Service:

"I think today we are concerned that a brush fire is going to turn into a catastrophic forest fire."

25. Wide shot of fire

26. Various shots of plane and helicopter dropping retardants on fire

27. Aerial shot of fire

28. Close-up of officials

29. Medium shot of fire fighter pulling a hose

30. Car drives by amid heavy smoke

31. SOUNDBITE(English) Captain Mark Whaling, Los Angeles County Fire Department:

"A lot of this area has the lighter, flashier fuels actually. And that's one of the reasons we see such rapid spread of fire."

32. Close-up of fire

33. Fire trucks

STORYLINE:

Firefighters in the US continued to battle patches of wildfire burning in rural areas 60 miles (96 kilometres) northeast of Los Angeles (LA) on Wednesday.

So far, the Crown Fire has burned across more than 10-thousand acres (4,047 hectares) after erupting late on Tuesday and raging through the area during the night.

About two-thousand firefighters were battling the blaze that was about 25 per cent contained by Wednesday morning.

So far officials say the Crown Fire has destroyed a mobile home, an abandoned house and a bridge.

Meanwhile, firefighters have gained the upper hand on two other large wildfires in the area, allowing weary crews to be transferred to the Crown Fire.

The area is thick with thousands of dead juniper and pine trees that were ravaged by six years of drought and an infestation of bark beetles.

Winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour (40 kilometres per hour) and temperatures in the high 90s degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) pushed flames past farm homes between Acton and Palmdale California, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometres) north of downtown Los Angeles.

The hot, dry weather has helped fuel a series of southern California fires in the past week.

Threatened communities have so far avoided the large-scale loss of homes that occurred during wildfires last year, but officials warned that the fire season is young.

Captain Mark Whaling from the LA County fire department believes one of the reasons for a rapid spread of fire is the existence of "lighter, flashier fuels" in the area.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus043526

WILDFIRES…

… A DEVASTATING DROUGHT …

A MELTING SNOWPACK.

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE …

(NATS)

PLAYING OUT IN CALIFORNIA.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law

"California's motivations for being a leader on climate policy are clear. California has a lot at stake."

THE STATE HAS BEEN A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING …

MUCH AS IT WAS 70 YEARS AGO WHEN A MYSTERIOUS HAZE CALLED "SMOG" SPURRED THE STATE TO REGULATE AIR QUALITY.

IN 1947, THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE GAVE COUNTIES THE POWER TO CRACK DOWN ON LOCAL POLLUTERS …

SOUNDBITE (English), narrative from a 1963 video by the Air Pollution Control District of Los Angeles County

"What is this pollution that we've heard so much about?"

… AND IN 1966, CALIFORNIA ADOPTED THE FIRST VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS IN THE NATION.

ITS AIR QUALITY STANDARDS ARE STILL THE TOUGHEST IN THE U-S.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

"There's a certain level of affluence and awareness in places like California. So we're making a concerted effort -- businesses, on a government level and certainly on an environmental level -- to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and lead the rest of the world, set an example for the rest of the world, for what can be done."

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN RECENTLY PLEDGED TO REDUCE CLIMATE EMISSIONS TO 40 PERCENT BELOW 1990 LEVELS WITHIN THE NEXT 15 YEARS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Governor Jerry Brown

"The trouble with climate change is it's a 'bad' happening very slowly. And if we don't get it in time, it'll be too late."

THAT'S HALFWAY TO THE GOAL SET BY FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FOR THE YEAR 2050.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY START-UPS FLOURISH IN CALIFORNIA …

… AND WHEN LEADERS WANT TO TALK CLIMATE CHANGE, THEY LOOK TO CALIFORNIA.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN RECENTLY ATTENDED A ROUNDTABLE FOR GREEN START-UPS IN LOS ANGELES.

SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden

"We're in a position where we have the cheapest energy in the world and will for the remainder of the century and you guys are going to make sure that it's clean energy."

CALIFORNIA IS SENDING A DELEGATION TO THE PARIS SUMMIT TO SHARE ITS EXPERTISE.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA School of Law

"California has figured out how to grow its GDP while bending down the curve of emissions, and that's part of what's been a really powerful lesson for the rest of the globe."

A LEADING ROLE EVEN MORE CRITICAL NOW AS CALIFORNIA ITSELF BEARS THE BRUNT OF GLOBAL WARMING.

THE HISTORIC DROUGHT IS PARCHING FARMERS AND LED TO MANDATORY WATER RATIONING STATEWIDE.

WITH BONE-DRY HILLSIDES, ONCE SEASONAL WILDFIRES NOW CHEW THROUGH THE STATE YEAR-ROUND …

… BURNING HOMES AND COSTING BILLIONS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA

"It's really a question of whether you want to get hit in the head by a hard ball or by a whiffle ball. So we can have a big impact on the future by switching to more sustainable energy sources."

A CAUTIONARY TALE CALIFORNIA IS SHARING WITH THE WORLD.

GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, LOS ANGELES

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus043526

WILDFIRES…

… A DEVASTATING DROUGHT …

A MELTING SNOWPACK.

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE …

(NATS)

PLAYING OUT IN CALIFORNIA.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law

"California's motivations for being a leader on climate policy are clear. California has a lot at stake."

THE STATE HAS BEEN A LEADER IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING …

MUCH AS IT WAS 70 YEARS AGO WHEN A MYSTERIOUS HAZE CALLED "SMOG" SPURRED THE STATE TO REGULATE AIR QUALITY.

IN 1947, THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE GAVE COUNTIES THE POWER TO CRACK DOWN ON LOCAL POLLUTERS …

SOUNDBITE (English), narrative from a 1963 video by the Air Pollution Control District of Los Angeles County

"What is this pollution that we've heard so much about?"

… AND IN 1966, CALIFORNIA ADOPTED THE FIRST VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS IN THE NATION.

ITS AIR QUALITY STANDARDS ARE STILL THE TOUGHEST IN THE U-S.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

"There's a certain level of affluence and awareness in places like California. So we're making a concerted effort -- businesses, on a government level and certainly on an environmental level -- to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and lead the rest of the world, set an example for the rest of the world, for what can be done."

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN RECENTLY PLEDGED TO REDUCE CLIMATE EMISSIONS TO 40 PERCENT BELOW 1990 LEVELS WITHIN THE NEXT 15 YEARS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Governor Jerry Brown

"The trouble with climate change is it's a 'bad' happening very slowly. And if we don't get it in time, it'll be too late."

THAT'S HALFWAY TO THE GOAL SET BY FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FOR THE YEAR 2050.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY START-UPS FLOURISH IN CALIFORNIA …

… AND WHEN LEADERS WANT TO TALK CLIMATE CHANGE, THEY LOOK TO CALIFORNIA.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN RECENTLY ATTENDED A ROUNDTABLE FOR GREEN START-UPS IN LOS ANGELES.

SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden

"We're in a position where we have the cheapest energy in the world and will for the remainder of the century and you guys are going to make sure that it's clean energy."

CALIFORNIA IS SENDING A DELEGATION TO THE PARIS SUMMIT TO SHARE ITS EXPERTISE.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA School of Law

"California has figured out how to grow its GDP while bending down the curve of emissions, and that's part of what's been a really powerful lesson for the rest of the globe."

A LEADING ROLE EVEN MORE CRITICAL NOW AS CALIFORNIA ITSELF BEARS THE BRUNT OF GLOBAL WARMING.

THE HISTORIC DROUGHT IS PARCHING FARMERS AND LED TO MANDATORY WATER RATIONING STATEWIDE.

WITH BONE-DRY HILLSIDES, ONCE SEASONAL WILDFIRES NOW CHEW THROUGH THE STATE YEAR-ROUND …

… BURNING HOMES AND COSTING BILLIONS.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA

"It's really a question of whether you want to get hit in the head by a hard ball or by a whiffle ball. So we can have a big impact on the future by switching to more sustainable energy sources."

A CAUTIONARY TALE CALIFORNIA IS SHARING WITH THE WORLD.

GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, LOS ANGELES

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

1. Tree burning

AP TELEVISION

Westmoreland, California —April 29, 2015

2. Wide, dead tree, dry playa

AP TELEVISION

Mammoth Lakes, California -- March 25, 2014

3. Mountains with reduced snowpack seen from a snow survey plane

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — June 8, 2015

4. Los Angeles Water and Power "water police" officer exits car

5. Dead lawn with drought water conservation sign

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 20, 2015

6. SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 13, 2015

7. Wide, Hollywood sign

8. Various of Los Angeles traffic

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — November 26, 1954

9. File photo of smog in downtown Los Angeles.

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — July 15, 1978

10. File photo of smog over downtown Los Angeles.

AP PHOTOS

Los Angeles, California — November 26, 1954

11. File photo of smog in downtown Los Angeles

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, BANCROFT LIBRARY

California — 1971

12. Promotional newsreel of Kaiser Industries' "war on pollution" program

COURTESY CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE ARCHIVES

Los Angeles, California — 1963

13. Educational newsreel by the Public Utilities Commission about power plant pollution

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, BANCROFT LIBRARY

California — 1971

14. Promotional newsreel of Kaiser Industries' "war on pollution" program

15. Cars on freeway

16. Exhaust from car tailpipe

AP TELEVISION

El Monte, California — September 30, 2015

17. Car undergoing emissions testing

AP TELEVISION

Pasadena, California — November 13, 2015

18. SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (see transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Mojave Desert, California-Nevada border — February 11, 2014

19. Tight, solar panels

20. Wide, field of solar panels

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — October 7, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown signs climate legislation

21. SOUNDBITE (English), California Gov. Jerry Brown (see transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Paris, France — October 10, 2014

22. Various European leaders greet former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at 2014 Paris climate summit

AP TELEVISION

San Jose, California — November 9, 2012

23. Clean Tech Open sign

24. Winners of Clean Tech Open hold check

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 16, 2015

25. Vice President Joe Biden greets investors and entrepreneurs at roundtable for green tech incubator

26. SOUNDBITE (English), Vice President Joe Biden (see transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 13, 2015

27. Various of Los Angeles traffic

AP TELEVISION

Los Angeles, California — November 20, 2015

28. SOUNDBITE (English), Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Long Beach, California — November 20, 2015

29. Various of trucks at Port of Long Beach

AP TELEVISION

Echo Lake, California — April 1, 2015

30. Top of mountains with reduced snow cover

AP TELEVISION

Okieville, California — June 30, 2015

31.Wide of drought-stricken lawn

32. Tight of farmer pulling small onion from dried-up garden

33. Tight of dripping shower head

AP TELEVISION

Weed, California — September 16, 2014

34. Smoking hillside, firefighters working

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

35. Chickens flee wildfire

AP TELEVISION

Weed, California — September 16, 2014

36. Folding chairs remain in smoldering church destroyed by wildfire

AP TELEVISION

Pasadena, California — November 13, 2015

37. SOUNDBITE (English), Bill Patzert, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (see transcript below) ++sot partially covered++

AP TELEVISION

Lower Lake, California — July 31, 2015

38. Burning tree

39. Firefighters fight blaze from on top of fire truck

40. Fire trucks drive down country road

41. Handwritten sign thanking firefighters

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus057728

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant to combat a wind-driven wildfire burning out of control Thursday in rugged coastal canyons west of Santa Barbara, California.

Hundreds of campers, some rural homes and an oil processing facility evacuated as the flames crept toward the ocean.

Famous properties in the area include Rancho del Cielo, which served as President Ronald Reagan's Western White House. The fire was about a mile from the ranch and moving away from it at midday, officials said.

Strong gusts and rising temperatures across the dry Western U.S. also worsened wildfires in other states.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus057728

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant to combat a wind-driven wildfire burning out of control Thursday in rugged coastal canyons west of Santa Barbara, California.

Hundreds of campers, some rural homes and an oil processing facility evacuated as the flames crept toward the ocean.

Famous properties in the area include Rancho del Cielo, which served as President Ronald Reagan's Western White House. The fire was about a mile from the ranch and moving away from it at midday, officials said.

Strong gusts and rising temperatures across the dry Western U.S. also worsened wildfires in other states.

KABC-TV - MUST COURTESY KABC/NO ACCESS LOS ANGELES MARKET

Santa Barbara County, California - 16 June 2016

1. Various aerial shots of fire

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant to combat a wind-driven wildfire burning out of control Thursday in rugged coastal canyons west of Santa Barbara, California.

Hundreds of campers, some rural homes and an oil processing facility evacuated as the flames crept toward the ocean.

Famous properties in the area include Rancho del Cielo, which served as President Ronald Reagan's Western White House. The fire was about a mile from the ranch and moving away from it at midday, officials said.

Strong gusts and rising temperatures across the dry Western U.S. also worsened wildfires in other states.

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant to combat a wind-driven wildfire burning out of control Thursday in rugged coastal canyons west of Santa Barbara, California.

Hundreds of campers, some rural homes and an oil processing facility evacuated as the flames crept toward the ocean.

Famous properties in the area include Rancho del Cielo, which served as President Ronald Reagan's Western White House. The fire was about a mile from the ranch and moving away from it at midday, officials said.

Strong gusts and rising temperatures across the dry Western U.S. also worsened wildfires in other states.

KABC-TV - MUST COURTESY KABC-TV/NO ACCESS LOS ANGELES MARKET

Santa Barbara County, California - 16 June 2016

1. Various aerial shots of fire

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST:

NICK GIBLIN/DRONESBASE VIA AP PHOTOS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Santa Rosa - 10 October 2017

1. STILL Various aerial images showing a neighbourhood that was destroyed by a wildfire

AP PHOTOS (Rich Pedroncelli) - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Napa - 10 October 2017

2. STILL Flames fed by a gas line, burns in the debris of a fire ravaged home

3. STILL Firefighter Nick Gonzalez-Pomo, of the San Rafael Fire Department, waters down smoldering ashes on a garage

AP PHOTOS (Eric Risberg) - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Napa - 10 October 2017

4. STILL Smoke from wildfires in the Sonoma Valley makes its way toward the Napa Valley

AP PHOTOS (Jeff Chiu) - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Santa Rosa - 10 October 2017

5. STILL The sun shines through smoke and haze from wildfires over Santa Rosa

AP PHOTOS (Eric Risberg) - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Napa - 10 October 2017

6. STILL A rack of burned bottles of wine are seen at the Signorello Estate winery

7. STILL The remains of burned bottles of wine are seen at the Signorello Estate winery

STORYLINE:

At least 17 people have died and at least 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed in wildfires in Northern California.

A carelessly discarded cigarette, a downed power line, a car's backfire or a chainsaw's pull.

Just about anything could have started any one of the wildfires now tearing through Northern California, authorities have said.

Investigators are looking into the causes, but no determination has been made at any of the 17 sites of major wildfires blazing in the state.

Conditions were ripe for wildfires in California wine country after record rains last winter created an abundance of dry vegetation, which combined with low humidity and unusually high winds to create fast-moving infernos.

None of the major fires has been contained.

They are spread over a 200-mile (321 km) region north of San Francisco from Napa in the south to Redding in the north, taxing firefighting resources.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded:

(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.

The flames that raced across California wine country left little more than smouldering ashes and eye-stinging smoke in their wake.

House after house was gone, with only charred debris to mark sites that were once family homes.

Newly homeless residents of Northern California took stock of their shattered lives Tuesday while the blazes that have killed at least 15 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses kept burning.

Hundreds more firefighters joined the battle against the uncontained flames.

The wildfires already rank among the five deadliest in California history, and officials expected the death toll to increase as the scope of destruction becomes clear.

Kenwood, California - 10 October 2017

1. Police tape blocking entrance to Chateau St. Jean winery entrance

2. Singed vines surrounding Chateau St. Jean sign

3. Fire truck parked in front of fire on winery property

4. Fire burns next to winery production facility

5. Flames

6. Pan down from metal wine storage containers to flames

7. Two firefighters using hand tools to cut lines around fire

8. Close of firefighter using hand tool on flames on burning brush

9. Firefighter raking brush back away from fire

10. Fire burning next to wood crates and winery equipment

11. Firefighter watching brush fire burn itself out

12. Firefighter using hose to extinguish fire

13. Firefighter with hose spraying around winery equipment

14. Grape vines in foreground, firefighter in background

15. Firefighters spraying water on winery maintenance building

16. Firefighter breaking hole into roof

17. Various of firefighter using hose

18. Two firefighters fight fire inside maintenance building

19. Firefighter poking hole through ceiling

20. Firefighter spraying water inside building

21. Smoke billowing behind vineyard

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Trombetta, Evacuated resident:

"All we've heard is that our barn is gone for sure. Which I can assume our house is also gone. It's all Facebook stuff."

23. Pan from fire station to group waiting to hear about their homes

24. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Trombetta, Evacuated resident:

"This fire was fast. It started in Kenwood and came up about three miles up that ridge just in no time at all."

25. People waiting near fire station to try to get word on their homes

26. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Trombetta, Evacuated resident:

"Just waiting to find out so I can call the insurance to see if it's a complete write-off, which I assume it is. (Reporter - have they given you any indication when you are able get back in now?) No, they have given us no indication, because it's not contained, as we speak it's not contained. They don't want to let anybody in there. I don't blame them."

27. House exterior

28. Various of officers walking around a house (checking for looters, victims)

29. Officers checking out a burned car in the drive way

30. Officers walking down drive way and leave property

SHOTLIST

ON SCENE VIDEO - No Access North America

8 May 2007

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Helicopter flying over fire, dropping water over the flames

2. Mid of fireman battling fire

3. Medium shot of fire, filmed through window

4. Wide shot of fire engines in front of house, fire raging in the background

5. Medium shot of firemen working

6. Various of fire

7. Wide shot of firemen silhouetted against background fire

8. Wide shot of helicopter hovering over scene, lights of fire engine parked on ground flashing

9. Wide shot of helicopter circling above scene

AP TELEVISION

8/9 May 2007

++NIGHT SHOTS++

10. Various of fire

11. Fire engines driving past UPSOUND: sirens

12. Medium shot of police officers wearing masks

13. Various of police cars, UPSOUND: Police announcing mandatory evacuation order in Los Feliz

14. Various of people evacuating

15. Close-up of ash on car

16. Car leaving

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) August, no last name given, resident:

"I just moved in here like two days ago, all my stuff is just... I was just unpacking right now."

(Q: What do you think about all this?)

"This is terrible, but it's still a beautiful place."

18. Various of people evacuating in cars

STORYLINE:

Firefighters said they were making major progress against a wildfire that roared across brush-covered hills in Los Angeles' sprawling Griffith Park on Tuesday, triggering evacuations of homes and of some of the city's most famous landmarks.

A wall of flames raced across ridges and jumped fire lines late in the evening as the fire drew closer to homes and the Griffith Observatory, one of the locations for the 1955 film "Rebel Without a Cause."

Hundreds of firefighters and five water-dropping helicopters rushed to the landmark park - a mix of wilderness, cultural venues, horse and hiking trails and recreational facilities set on more than 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) on the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Fire department officials said late on Tuesday that the fire had "laid down" and that authorities hoped an aggressive attack in the morning would bring it under control sometime Wednesday.

Late Tuesday, authorities called for a mandatory evacuation of homes that sit along the park's southern edge as the fire burned out of control.

Helicopters flew dangerous water-dropping missions after dark and no homes were lost by late evening.

Residents helped direct traffic through tight neighbourhood streets.

More than 200 residents were expected at an evacuation centre, according to officials.

"I just moved in here two days ago," said one resident, August, who did not give his last name. "This is terrible, but it's still a beautiful place."

The fire destroyed Dante's View, a trailside terraced garden on Mount Hollywood, said a City Councilman.

Rangers evacuated the park's Vermont Canyon area, which includes the Los Angeles Zoo, two golf facilities, a merry-go-round and school, said an official from Department of Recreation and Parks spokeswoman.

Fire department officials said the evacuations were voluntary and the areas were not in imminent danger of being overrun.

The animals in the zoo were not immediately evacuated. There was no word on their condition.

Nearly 1,300 utility customers lost power in Los Feliz when flames downed power lines, said a spokesman from the Department of Water and Power.

The blaze erupted on the second day of a heat spell.

The National Weather Service said downtown hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius), 23 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) above normal, tying the record for the date.

In 1933 the area was the site of one of nation's worst wildland firefighting tragedies, a blaze that killed 25 firefighters.

Keyword-fire- wildfires

July 23, 2002

NASA: California Wildfires

SAT NASA

15:21:44 video file

15:23:05 California wildfires slate

15:23:43 aerial with push

15:23:57 aerial with push

15:24:08 different shot, static aerial

15:24:20 static aerial of wildfire

15:24:28 push ms aerial wildfire

15:24:39 push to aerial wildfire

FTG FOR COVERAGE OF THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES / PRESSER, NEWSER, PRESS CONFERENCE W/ SENATOR BARBARA BOXER (D-CALIF)

RS 5226 KABC SANTIAGO CANYON AERIALS KFMB BARBARA BOXER NEWSER

BARBARA BOXER

15:06:52 thank you so much

15:06:56 mayor sanders, supervisor roberts, rep davis

15:07:04 i needed to come out here today, to see how you're helping the people deal with unprecedented fires

15:07:21 its warm in dc, but the heat hit me in such a way in san diego i never felt before

15:07:34 that combo, with the heat, winds, low humidity, causing such a problem

15:07:48 right here, right now, even though we know its still all over the area

15:07:56 its a sign, the FEMA director said hes hopeful that wind will die down

15:08:10 we'll get an onshore breeze, lowering humidity

15:08:17 saw touching things here today, wont rethank everyone mayor thanked

15:08:29 special word about national guard, wrote to dept of army, we are low on national guard equipment because of iraq

15:08:47 he wrote back, you're right, we would have problem

15:08:54 because of gov's swift action, moved guard from border, have enough personnel at disposal

15:09:12 with pact of other states in union, getting equipment we need

15:09:23 not able to use firefighting aircraft because of wind, today might be day

15:09:34 when i heard we were bringing stadium, my heart said lets make this a good experience

15:09:45 i have to say, the folks behind me have done everything to do that

15:09:55 kinds doing arts and crafts, seniors upstairs

15:10:02 cool up there, air conditioning

15:10:07 private sector pulled through, food and water

15:10:14 FEMA brought in cots, prepared for 30,000 people to sleep here

15:10:25 peaked here, people can start returning to homes

15:10:34 1200 homes gone

15:10:36 that next thing i want to talk about - back in 10 days, seen. Feinstein sends her best wishes

15:10:49 i will come back again, thats the part congresswoman davis, we need to get on the federal aid

15:11:03 mayor and supervisor will be opening some more, in rancho bernardo today

15:11:13 one stop shops, see insurance people, what loans and grants available

15:11:24 if businesses, public sector doing damage assessment

15:11:33 congressional delegation, to make sure those funds are available

15:11:42 any public buildings we need to do

15:11:47 thats what i have to say, im very touched and moved from what i saw

15:11:57 so glad i got to do this for just a few hours - its better to be there, not just hear about it

15:12:08 if you have questions, ill answer them, or i can turn podium to congresswoman

SUSAN DAVIS

15:12:23 thank you very much, im so pleased i had a chance to fly back with the sen from Washington

15:12:33 this is a remarkable scene here at the stadium

15:12:40 san diego has really responded to the need

15:12:46 makes me feel proud of the community

15:12:51 my constituents in the 53rd district - not effected by fire directly

15:13:03 in many ways, we've taken on role of hosting evacuation, help if needed

15:13:15 hope mother nature will help with efforts of emergency responders, to make sure people are safe, out of homes, fire will no longer penetrate further into san diego community

15:13:39 winds which have subsided some, they will begin to do the same

15:13:50 remarks of sen boxer, mayor sanders, supervisor roberts, fema director paulison, such a tremendous effort, national guard, so grateful

15:14:10 remind people - we need to put face on this for everybody

15:14:16 how people pick up lives, i understand 2 firefighters who lost homes

15:14:25 we need to think about them, along with other residents of san diego who lost homes, to put their face

15:14:41 able to pick up their lives, to pick up and develop homes for future

15:14:53 thank you san diego for moving through this unprecedented disaster in the county

15:15:05 thank you very much

15:15:09 thank you congresswoman davis

PAULISON

15:15:13 thank you mr mayor

15:15:19 i appreciate the support out of congress - bipartisan effort to rebuild FEMA

15:15:31 our hearts go out - several fatalities, injuries, lost homes, truly heartbreaking

15:15:44 i want to keep spirits up, if your home is gone, we can fix that, we can put that back in place, cant replace lives, volunteerism remarkable, people from san diego helping people from san diego

15:16:12 what americas all about

15:16:15 president signed initial emergency declaration gov requested

15:16:25 assistance for life and property, and get things up and running

15:16:35 signed major disaster declaration, opens up inidiv assistance

15:16:44 we ask them to call 1800--621-FEMA, under-insured or not insured, please registered

15:16:59 you can register on fema.gov, or people here who can register you individually

15:17:12 publish addresses at 2:00, you can physically go there - 1 stop shop, where you can go, insurance companies will be there, SBA will be there, Mark Everson, president of Red Cross, we thank them for their strong presence - by afternoon will have 3000 people on ground

15:17:36 this is a remarkable example of what happens as a unit, instead of stove piping, we have the federal govt, the state, and other federal agencies in mountains with firefighters - those men and women working side by side, putting lives on line to protect your property

15:18:01 this is what its all about, we've been working hard to rebuild this organization, and the entire response system in this country, thank you and god bless

MAYOR JERRY SANDERS

15:18:21 before chairman Roberts speaks, id like to acknowledge our council pres pro tem, hes in the stadium making sure everything runs, I want to thank him, Kevin Faulkner too.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISOR RON ROBERTS

15:18:48 senator boxer, thank you for coming, high temps, low humidity, combined to create the perfect fire storm

15:19:09 thats what happened, thats what we're dealing with

15:19:15 come here, seen what we're dealing with, how do we get recovery going

15:19:26 going to get assistance centers open, fed and state aid into hands of local community

15:19:40 board of supervisors already got rid of any building permit fees

15:19:56 i truly appreciate willingness to help, senator has shown tremendous optimism, help those damaged by it, thanks for coming to san diego

MAYOR

15:20:15 matt betting hausen is director of homeland security, hes been here from day 1

SENATOR BOXER

15:20:39 addendum for firefighters who have come from all agencies - wonderful men and women, showed pics on floor of us senate, my colleagues are so moved, all those telling story in press, our colleagues are coming up to us and saying, "what can we do to help"

15:21:17 happening from dem, reps, and independents a like

15:21:23 i have a bill i wrote a long time ago, called firefighter protection act - health protection act

15:21:36 dont have insurance, those employed by county, city, some are volunteers or worked part time

15:21:51 since 9/11 - when firefighter or emergency worker gets injured in nationally declared disaster, dept of health will follow them through treatment, to come out and testify on behalf of such a bill, we cant walk away from their long term health effects, when we're rebuilt and on our way

MAYOR

15:22:43 i think we're all probably melting, so we can answer brief questions

15:22:52 poway is now open for people to

15:23:02 all areas in poway, except high valley, thats indeed good news

ROBERTS

15:23:36 every time you have a fire, you learn something

15:23:44 navy had 2 helicopters - several others in the air - a little jurisdictional problem, cal fire - last night the senator's representatives, susan davis's representatives, we had a meeting to expedite getting those in the air

15:24:18 that will result in more navy helicopters helping us

15:24:26 you're right, i dont know if this is place to go into detail, we're moving in direction of permanent solution, some issues still remain, there will be never a situation again, what has to happen

15:24:48 to get military assets over the target

DAVIS

15:25:02 i think in any situation like this, we want to back and take a look in these issues, lessons learned, the navy pilots were not able to go out, that cross training, what i had heard, largely a weather problem, if that's not the case, we will want to learn from that

15:25:37 had training and ability, from notes i had, there was great communication all through this

BOXER

15:26:02 i met with head of national guard to ask about air assets, he said he acted very quickly, has those assets at point magoo, how those get deployed is something in agreement between those parties

15:26:26 we have to wait to see what went right, what went wrong, weather, jurisdictional problems

15:26:40 time is of essence if you can use air assets

15:26:56 i can sit down with you and show you rules, there are SVA loans that come in, at low rates, depending on income, made available - short term grants , very important to et details, FEMA website

15:27:21 www.fema.gov theres also a hotline, is 1-800-627-FEMA

15:27:52 people who have homes, that have been destroyed, once DACs are set up, it will be one stop shop, if they've lost insurance policy, hopefully insurer will be there, FEMA will be there, SVA will be there, having gone through some major tragedies, it works

15:28:23 the program works.

15:28:54 IT IS 1-800-621-FEMA

15:29:03 im leaving 2 of my top notch staff here,

15:29:18 we have lots of people here, dedicating staff, if you're worried about social security check, or with medicare, any problems, let me know, via my staff, who will being visiting DACs every day,

15:29:47 thank you very much, and mayor, and supervisor davis, has one more thing, and then we're done, we'll stop melting

DAVIS

15:30:03 i needed to say this for my colleagues - whose districts directly effected by fair, we've been working together to get emergency authorization right away, resolution on floor of house - 280-5353, for 53rd district, thank you very much

15:30:45 thank you.

Natural Sound

Fires roared through tinder-dry Southern California brushlands on Wednesday, charring homes and spurring evacuations during what is normally the wet season throughout the region.

The brush fire, driven by 65 mile-per-hour (103 kilometres-per-hour) wind gusts, spread to homes and shut down a major highway as the number of firefighters across southern California increased due to the high fire danger.

Authorities said stiff Santa Ana winds and the area's thick vegetation made for the possibility of a major incident.

Homes were evacuated along both sides of Interstate 8, which was closed in both directions.

Fire dispatchers said some homes in the sparsely populated area east of San Diego did catch fire and the blaze was moving toward a development of 50 to 100 homes.

It was believed to have covered several hundred acres.

Because of the high wind, unusual temperatures in the 80s and a lack of rain, officials had issued a "red flag" wildfire warning on Tuesday.

Fire crews also remained on the lookout for blazes.

There hasn't been any rain in the area since October 29, when a half-inch fell in Los Angeles.

Only one point two inches of rain has fallen in downtown Los Angeles since July, compared with normal rainfall of just over five (5.08) inches.

The National Weather Service said the northeasterly wind should ease by the end of the day, although the high temperatures will continue.

Alpine, Southern California, January 3, 2001

1. Night shot, fire on hill

2. Mid shot, vehicle next to fire

3. Close shot, smoke and flames, pull out to mid shot

4. Wide shot, fire

5. Mid shot, burning building

6. Helicopter shot, fire, zoom in

7. Various helicopter shots, burning building

8. Extreme aerial shot, fires

NASA: Southern California Wildfire cover footage.

California Wildfires Los Angeles around Universal Studios

HEADLINE: Winds ease but Calif. wildfire threat remains

CAPTION: A huge Southern California wildfire carved a path to the sea and burned on the beach Friday, but firefighters got a break as gusty Santa Ana winds turned into breezes. (May 3)

AP Television

Camarillo, California - May 3, 2013

1. Wide, smoke from fire billowing across fields 2. Wide, smoke obscuring sun, orange light over Pacific Coast Highway 3. Medium, road closed sign, CalTrans workers on PCH 4. Wide, orange sun and smoke

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Battalion Chief Mike Nagy, Culver City Fire Dept.:

"It's pretty unbelievable for this time of year. Yesterday where we're at was close to 100 degrees, 3% relative humidity. That's something we don't usually see along the coast this early, anytime really."

6. Tight, flames

7. Wide, red sun and hillsides ablaze

8. Tight, wildflowers in front of flames 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Battalion Chief Mike Nagy, Culver City Fire Dept.:

"It's made it's run. It's not going to go much further west. It can't.

This is about as far as it's going to go this way."

10. Tight, burning bush

11. Tight, flames and mustard flowers

12. Wide, firefighters drag hose

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Battalion Chief Mike Nagy, says defending Point Hueneme Naval Base is a priority:

"There's a lot of priorities there with their communications and the base itself. But also the utilities. We want to make sure the residents - we do what we can do to make sure they're not inconvenienced. If we can stop the power poles from burning that's what we're going to do out here."

14. Medium, firefighters spray flames with hose 15. Medium, firefighter with hose on shoulder

16. Tight, burning grass

17. Tight, firefighter with hose

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Battalion Chief Mike Nagy, Culver City Fire Dept.:

"We got out here about 11, 11:30. We were over at the college until about

3 o'clock in the morning. Then we got moved down here to PCH."

STORYLINE:

A huge Southern California wildfire carved a path to the sea and burned on the beach Friday, but firefighters got a break as gusty Santa Ana winds turned into breezes.

Temperatures remained high, but humidity levels were expected to soar as cool air moved in from the ocean and the Santa Anas retreated.

At the same time, the reversal of wind direction carried the risk of sending flames in new, dangerous directions.

The wind-whipped fire erupted Thursday in the Camarillo area, threatening as many as 4,000 homes but only damaging 15, Nash said.

The 15 1/2-square-mile blaze was only 10 percent contained on Friday, and the work of more than 900 firefighters, aided by air tankers, was just beginning.

Evacuations were lifted overnight for neighborhoods as the fire moved toward the coast. California State University, Channel Islands remained closed, and new evacuations were called for coastal canyons, Nash said.

Firefighters did not know how many homes were immediately threatened but said the area mainly included ranches, orchards, camps and vacation homes rather than dense neighborhoods. Some expensive ridge-top and canyon homes also were in the path of the flames.

By midmorning, the fire was 20 miles from Malibu, burning mostly in rugged mountains. It jumped the Pacific Coast Highway and burned on a beach shooting range of a coastal naval base. No housing structures were in immediate danger.

The fire reinforced predictions that California is in for a bad summer fire season because dry winter and spring weather has left brush tinder-dry.

In addition, the California Department of Water Resources found the water content in the snowpack was just 17 percent of normal. The snowmelt is a vital water source for the state.

More than 3,000 firefighters were battling six major wildfires on Friday in California, the state fire agency said.

SHOTLIST:

KABC- No Access NAmerica/Internet

Santiago Springs, California - 24 October 2007

++NIGHT SHOT++

1. Aerial of fires burning

++DAWN SHOT++

2. Aerial pull out of fires to smokey sky at sunrise, pan of skyline

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jerry Saunders, Mayor of San Diego:

"You have got to conserve power today. We have no choice. More lines are down in the northern part of the county. We have got to do everything as a community we can to fight this fire, that means conserving water it means conserving energy, it means staying off the roads whenever possible and because of the smoke in the air a lot of people need to stay indoors as much as they can today."

4. Wide of smokey orange sky over mountain

++NIGHT SHOTS++

5. Aerial of fire burning

6. Aerial wide of smoke over mountains

NASA TV

Space -23 October, 2007

7. Long pan of smoke from wildfires, shot from Discovery shuttle

STORYLINE:

Property damage from this week's devastating Southern California wildfires totals at least one (b) billion US dollars in San Diego County alone, officials said on Wednesday.

San Diego county's director of emergency services said at least 1,200 homes had been destroyed in the county, a number that officials believed would rise.

That brings to roughly 1,500 the number of homes destroyed in the seven-county region that has been ablaze since Sunday.

The announcement of San Diego's staggering losses came as President George W. Bush signed a major disaster declaration for California in the wake of wildfires that have burned about 410,000 acres (165,925 hectares) and forced at least a half-million people to evacuate.

Forecasters predict the Santa Ana wind whipping up the wildfires will begin to weaken late on Wednesday afternoon, when cool sea breezes are expected in the fire ravaged region.

Pictures taken by KABC on Wednesday in Santiago Springs, showed fires still burning as thick grey smoke hung dormant across an amber coloured sky at dawn.

Mayor of San Diego Jerry Saunders, told residents "you have got to conserve power today. We have no choice".

"We have got to do everything as a community we can to fight this fire, that means conserving water it means conserving energy, it means staying off the roads whenever possible and because of the smoke in the air a lot of people need to stay indoors as much as they can today," Saunders said.

The change in weather could provide an opportunity for greater aerial assault and help firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes, a Homeland security spokesman said.

Twenty-one firefighters and at least 24 others have been injured since the blaze erupted four days ago.

One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four other deaths as connected to the blazes.

[TAPE 4]

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;00;36;24] To start, just say your name and how to spell it so it's on there for the transcriber.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Anthony Westerling, ANTHONY WESTERLING.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;00;58;19] And um, and your title here.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

I'm an assistant project scientist.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And your specialty?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;01;04;13] Wildfire and climate.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Wildfire and climate?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Yeah.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;01;07;16] OK, well, the basic question I have is, we're doing a series about global warming and its impacts. What can you tell us about the impact of global warming on the wildfire situation?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;01;17;11] Well, you know, California in particular has a very diverse climate and a very diverse ecosystem, so there's a lot of variety here. That means that no one story is going to tell you about the whole state. But there are two common elements that are true for wildfire everywhere, and that's, is there enough fuel to burn? You have continuous fuel, you can get a fire that spreads to a large size. [04:01:40:07] And the other is, is the fuel dry enough to burn? So climate change effects both of those things. And one, one aspect is changes in precipitation and in temperature during the growing season effect the moisture available to grow vegetation that can later burn. [04:01:56:20] And the other thing is, temperature during the, the, uh, fire season itself, so during the summer typically, uh, drives wildfire risks. So the hotter it is the more likely it is to burn in some places, not in others. So, just to give you some examples, uh, if you're out in the desert here east of San Diego, you could see a place where there's very sparse vegetation, and normally it might not be able to carry a fire to a large size in the vegetation because it's not continuous enough. [04:02:28:06] But, um, if you get enough precipitation, for example, you can get a lot of grass that will grow, and cure out, and dry out during the, the summer, and, and then you can get a large fire. [04:02:37:13] You go up to some place like Yosemite and Sequoia, and you have these pine forests, they're really drive, the wildfire risks in places like that are really driven by temperature in particular. [04;02;51;06] Uh, and as you go up in elevation, snow is very important. If you melt the snow earlier in the year, or if you get less snow and more rain in the wintertime you get a much longer dry season during the summer, and that means you get a lot more opportunities for fires to burn, you have a longer time when vegetation can dry out. [04:03:10:21] And so, we're already seeing this to some extent around the west. We've had tremendous increases in forest fire risks, and forest.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:03:25:02] Before you pick up with we're already seeing this around the west, I want to ask a point just to finish completing the dots. If it is true that, that global warming means, is often bringing us a lot more rain early in the growing season and a lot more drying out later. OK, ready? OK, so to complete the dot what is, what is, uh, the dots, what is, what is global warming and climate change doing to early rains and later drying?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;03;50;16] Well, you know, it varies a lot in terms of precipitation. If you look at a broad range of these models, uh, you'll see that they're all broadly in agreement in terms of warmer future for, for the western United States. Now some of them maybe are warmer than others, but they all have, are in the same direction, and it's not that huge a spread in temperature. [04:04:12:16] But, when you look at precipitation it's a very different story, a lot of uncertainty about precipitation. So, some models are much dryer in, in a place like southern California, and others are much wetter in terms of how much precipitation you're going to get. [04;04;28;00] That part's really un-, unpredictable at this point. We can't say what's going to happen with precipitation. And, and so fire regimes, fire risks like we have here in southern California that are driven both by temperature and a lot of antecedent precipitation are very uncertain, we don't know, uh, whether it would increase or decrease under climate change, because we don't know how wet it's going to be. [04;04;50;21] But, if you look at some place like northern California, um, in the Sierra's, the coast ranges, places like that, is really strongly driven by temperature, and dry years tend to be both warmer and less precipitation. And, and so you get a really big impact from climate change in all the models that we've looked at in northern California, for example.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:05:13:21] So, so it's true in some places that, that global warming means that you're getting heavier rains early in the year when it's growing, and much hotter and dryer later in some places-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

You know, I'm not the person to ask.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:05:23:16] OK, OK fine. OK, good. So what have your projections, what are your, give us a sense of quantification of, of how much worse you're seeing-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:05:34:29] Well what about what, what we're already seeing, and then we'll talk about-

BILL BLAKEMORE

Yeah, yeah, go-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

.projections.

BILL BLAKEMORE

What you're already seeing, In other words it's already, there's-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;05;38;06] Yes. So, looking at the western United States, there's just been a tremendous increase in the frequency of large dangerous forest fires. And it's really been concentrated at sort of mid-elevations, or like around seven thousand feet in elevation, and uh, the worst place in terms of the biggest increase has been the northern Rockies. [04:05:57:13] And then the second after that is, is California in the Sierra Nevadas and the coast ranges of the northern California coast.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;06;13;08] OK, so the worst, uh, the worst that we've seen so far, the biggest increase has been in the northern Rockies, concentrated around seven thousand feet in elevation. And after that comes California, uh, especially the Sierras and the coast ranges along the north coast. [04:06:30:10] Uh, it's been a tremendous increase in both places, and it, and those, those two account for, for most of the changes in the west. There's been a lot of discussion about the effects of, of um, a century of land management on fire risks, because when you suppress fires for a long time in some places you get an increased fuel load, you get more trees growing close together, you get more shrubs and things like that, and it can carry fire to a large size. [04:06:59:08] But, uh, that effect is completely overwhelmed by, by the temperature signal that we're seeing. What's happening is that the snow is melting earlier in the year on a, at very regular intervals now, and uh, we're getting much longer fire seasons, it dries out much more than before, and we just get tremendous increase in, uh, in the number of large wildfires in the mountains of the west.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:07:26:24] And you can, and you can just complete the circle there for us with global warming, about why, why it appears-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;07;32;02] So, if this is, you know, if you ask any climatologist, they're going, they're not going to be able to tell you what, were these temperature increases, these early springs driven by climate change or not, just like they can't say any specific storm was caused by climate change. [04;07;05;22] But, if you think about it as an analog for the future, it tells us that we're going to have much greater fire risks, we're going to have a lot more large forest fires tan we do right now.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;07;58;26] Because the snow melts out sooner?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Because the snow melts out sooner it, you have both a longer dry season, that means that, that the vegetation is not going to be buffered by the moisture in the snows and then in the soils. [04:08:11:28] And then subsequently it also means that, that you have just a longer time when an ignition can cause a fire. So, you get a much longer fire season, and much more intense.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And for the public who's a little bit confused about fires, wildfires, they're good, they're bad, they replenish the earth, they don't replenish the earth. We saw Yosemite come back, etc., etc.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;08;32;08] Well, if you have a, a system that's adapted to, say, burning every fifty years, or burning every hundred years, and you start burning it ever ten years, you're going to completely change the character of that ecosystem, it's not going to be this iconic forest like you have now, it'll be something else.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:08:49:29] And what about the impact on human development?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;08;51;11] Well, the biggest problem in California, the biggest challenge for the state going forward is that some of our fastest growing areas in terms of population and development are in the path of what we see, where we see some of the biggest increases in fire risks in the future. And so places that account for a very small percentage of the state's population now, uh, really are driving the increase in, in property losses in the state from wildfire. [04:09:19:18] And those are the places that are going to have the biggest increases in fire frequency in future, uh, driven by temperature increases from climate change.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[0:11:26:27] I didn't quite follow that. Why are they driving it? I mean they didn't, you said the places that have the least population.?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;09;32;06] OK, so they have, presently they account for a small percentage of the state's population, but they're the fastest growing, and, and they're-

BILL BLAKEMORE

Start that from the beginning. When you say "they" you're talking about what?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;09;42;06] So the Sierra, um, the Sierra, Sierra Nevada foothills, and sort of the expanding ring of wild and urban interface around the core, you know, Bay Area metropolitan area in northern California, very rapidly growing populations, rapidly growing development. And it's dispersed around its edges, so you're sprinkling expensive homes in places that like to burn. [04:10:07:19] And they're going to burn even more when you increase the temperature. And the damages from. The vulnerability to the state's economy from building another apartment building in San Diego is negligible, whereas if you build another house out in the Sierra foothills, you're dramatically increasing the state's economic vulnerability to climate change impacts from, through wildfire. Is that.?

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;10;31;27] Exactly, helping us understand the economic impact of wildfires is a very interesting point.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Right. So, so part of this, this uh, future risk that, that the state is going to have to manage is, how do we control, or do we not control development in these areas? [04;10;46;28] Do we allow the wild and urban interface, that's these homes sprinkled throughout, uh, what are currently, you know, undeveloped areas, to grow? And that's a very difficult issue, because on the one hand you increase the state's vulnerability, but on the other hand that's the use that people want to make on that land, and if they have to forego that, that's also an economic impact for the state. [04:11:10:20] So either way, it's a lose/lose situation. You don't develop in those lands, or you do and you, you have much greater costs and much greater risks.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;11;19;14] So both for the wild environment, the ecosystems, and for the human environment, global warming is causing much greater likelihood of wildfires.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

That's right. And when you combine that with population growth and development in these currently lower density areas, uh, it, it's going to be a tremendous management problem for the state in the future. [04;11;41;09] For one thing, fire managers have very different options when there are homes and people living in an area and when there aren't, in terms of how they can manage wildfire. [04;11;50;13] They can take decisions that are more strategic, thinking about what are, what are the resources, the natural resources that they want to preserve, and what can, um, they do in terms of lighting a back fire, for example, and they'll just let one area burn and focus their resources somewhere else. [04:12:08:24] When you have a lot of homes in, in an area that's, that's prone to large wildfires, they take a very different strategy. They, they try to protect islands around development that has significant value. [04;12;21;10] And, and so you get larger fires because they have to focus their resources on protecting these little islands within the, the wildfire rather than fighting the wildfire itself.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:12:32:15] And how sure are you that it's going to keep warming?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

I just listen to what the climatologists tell me.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And what do they, and what is your assessment of what the climatologists are telling you about that?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;12;41;21] Well, what we see on the ground is that it's already happening, it looks just like what they tell us to expect to see. So, from my own parochial point of view it sure looks like climate change to me.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:12:53:11] And what is your general expectation from your specialty of whether or not you expect it to keep going and accelerating?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

I'm sorry, can you rephrase that question? [LAUGHS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

Is this a problem, is this a problem from what you're being told and from what your general understanding is that's very likely to keep going and getting worse?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;13;09;05] Yeah, I think this will continue to get much worse.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Much worse?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Yes.

BILL BLAKEMORE

I mean.?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:13:16:24] Well because, think about it, as you move up in elevation, you'll have some place in the west that's just a little bit colder than, than the threshold where the snow would melt. OK? And so that area is very vulnerable right now. [04:13:33:18] And so when we get a warm spring right now, that area melts sooner than it would otherwise. You go uphill a little bit further and the impact is, is not so clear, because, because there's more temperature that you can use up as the temperature increases before you're going to melt the snow. Right? So, you get a very sudden response in places that are vulnerable now, that are close to the threshold where the snow's going to melt. [1:14:00:08] But there are a lot of parts of the mess that are not burning now that might burn in the future as temperatures continue to increase. And so the problems that we have in the northern Rockies around seven thousand feet in elevation, and in parts of California, may become much more common. You know, maybe they will spread to higher elevations. [04;14;17;16] Maybe we'll have a problem in the northwest where we have not had as much of a problem now because it's much wetter than it is here.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;14;22;29] So, you're also an economist?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

I'm also an economist.

BILL BLAKEMORE

You're general sense of the economic impact, therefore, from all the fires that, uh, global warming is bringing?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:14:31:09] You know, I think that the biggest economic impact is going to be from the sort of synergistic effects, the combined effects of different things. You know, we generally tend to look at things with blinders on, we'll look at just the effects of climate change on wildfire, or just the effects on the water system. [04;14;46;27] Well, if you burn out a water shed, if you burn out, say, the west slope of the Sierra Nevadas, you have the ecological impacts, you have the impacts on, say, people's enjoyment of the, the scenery and fishing and things like that, you have the impact on people's homes, but you also are going to get more run off. It's, you know, the, the problem with climate change for water resources is that, that uh, if you get an earlier spring, you get earlier run off, and you can't manage the reservoirs to captures as much of the water as you can if it runs off later in the year. [04:15:21:24] Well, if you have a lot of fires in the slopes above that reservoir, you're going to get more erosion, you're going to get more sediment run off. That, that creates additional complications for managing these resources. You're going to have flashier run off, you know, because uh, it won't be retained by the roots in the soil because there won't be as many roots in the soil. [04:15:46:16] And, and so all of these problems we really have to get a sense of how they build on one another, and that's an area that has not been sufficiently explored yet.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;15;55;08] And if the temperature and the carbon keep going up and up and up.?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:15:59:29] We'll keep passing thresholds where we start to see effects that we didn't anticipate, or that, that, you know, occur rather suddenly rather than sort of gradual changes, like the wildfire in the western United States, it really just kicked up in the mid 1980's. There was nothing going on for decades, and then, and then just the next year it was a different system entirely, and it's been like that for almost twenty years now.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;16;43;13] So fire and carbon?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

OK, so I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head, I can give it to you later.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Just your-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Something in the order of twenty to forty percent of the carbon uptake in the United States is potentially occurring in these mountain forest of the western United States. [04:17:03:10] And when people talk about, um, you know, the growth of forests in North America, they usually think of the east coast and, and southern piedmont as places that have, uh, increased forest cover since the last turn of the century, the 1900's. but, and maybe that hasn't occurred to the same degree here in the western United States, I'm not certain about that. [04:17:24:00] But, but what we do know is that the western United States, the mountain ecosystems are an enormous carbon pool, and if we start releasing that carbon because we are increasing temperatures and therefore burning more regularly, we're going to release a lot of carbon that's currently stored in these forests, and that's going to be a positive feedback, it's going to exacerbate the, the whole problem with climate change.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:17:48:01] Right. Did you hear that all right? It's a very important thing he just said.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;18;02;02] The percentage of carbon uptake accounted for by western mountain forests for the United States is something like on the order of twenty to forty percent, and that ecosystem, the western mountain forests in the United States are an enormous carbon pool. They're storing carbon in the trees, in the, in the soils, and as we raise temperatures, uh, a couple of things happen. [04:18:33:22] And a colleague of mine, David Shimmel [PH] has found that it increases the, it decreases the ability of the ecosystems to uptake carbon in the years that it's warmer, when you get a warmer spring. But it's also the case that, that uh, as you warm it up, it burns off, and, and the more frequently that it burns the more, the less carbon it's going to store, and that means a very large positive feedback on climate change where, where climate change gives you warmer temperatures, gives you more frequent fires, which gives you more carbon release from the forests and soils, which is a positive feedback to climate change.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:19:17:18] So it gives you both more carbon back into the atmosphere and less carbon taken out of it because there's less plants to take it out?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

And that would also be something to consider as well. You might want to ask Dave Shimmel before you, before you, you say anything that I said about him.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:19:32:24] This sounds pretty dire in the next, you're talking about something that we're going to see increasing not in a few hundred years, but increasingly in the coming decades.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;19;40;25] Yeah, I mean, this is already something that we're seeing happen, I think.

BILL BLAKEMORE

So this is going to effect the life of today's toddlers by the time they're middle age.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Yeah, my daughter.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Your daughter. You have a daughter?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:19:54:13] Uh-huh.

BILL BLAKEMORE

How old? A kid?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Uh, she's twenty-one months.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Twenty-one months old.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;19;57;26] Yeah, and I have no idea what kind of, what kind of world she's going to inherit.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Are you worried about it?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Of course, any rational person.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Scared?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;20;14;22] Concerned.

BILL BLAKEMORE

What do you think is, do we have a chance of stopping it in any way, controlling it?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;20;23;04] My own subjective opinion is that we still maybe have a window of opportunity, but it's something that has to be dealt with in this generation. If we put it off to our children, it'll be too late. That's, that's my opinion.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And that means drastically cutting carbon emissions?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;20;46;27] That means drastically cut, cutting carbon emissions, yes.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Oh good, more good news.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

OK?

BILL BLAKEMORE

Anything else?

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;21;43;19] So, so for people who live in the San Bernardino foothills, for example, if they've been listening to all kinds of voices that are still out there, credibly, about climate change, can you just add a sentence or two to tell them, and they said, why should I care that the climate is changing?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:22:01:04] Well, they probably moved to that place because they liked it the way it is now. If you change the climate you're going to change the ecosystem, the weather, everything about the place that, that might have attracted them in the first place is going to be effected.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:22:15:24] And your not talking about a century from now.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

No, probably not.

MAN

But specifically with the wildfire threat, I mean-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:22:24:11] Well, you know, wildfire in San Bernardino foothills, for example, San Bernardino, is a very different thing from wildfire in the Sierra Nevadas or northern coast, it's much more driven by, well it depends what kind of ecosystem you're in. You know, the coastal chaparral, for example, the shrub lands in California, uh, are really driven by Santa Anna winds, the wildfire risks there are really driven by Santa Anna winds. [04:23:52:18] And that's more of a, you know, very short term meteorological condition rather than thinking about temperature or the antecedent precipitation, and that's something that's very hard to, to understand how it might change coming out of a climate change simulation.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;23;07;06] You mean because it's possible, for example, that climate change in the San Bernardino foothills for all you know could mean more rain there for a while.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

It could, or it could mean less, I, it's harder to say.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Less rain and more fire. Right, so-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04:23:22:26] I mean, if you warm it up and you get less rain, you get less vegetation over time in a place like that, and you're going to have maybe lower fire risks, especially at lower elevations, then you might have now, because it would become more like a desert and less like it, like it is now.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;23;39;25] But we haven't, here's a question, seen many more of these fires in foothills like that, where there's suburban-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

Yeah, well, part of the problem is that the suburban settlement has expanded into areas that, that burn, and those fires are not at all unusual for, for this place.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;23;58;05] Right, but anything, you're saying generally from seven thousand feet up you're seeing climate change effects?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;24;03;26] That's right, in mid to upper elevations, seeing, and it's really focused, you know, like six to eight thousand feet elevation-

BILL BLAKEMORE

It started in the eighties, mid-eighties?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;24;12;27] Mid-eighties, yeah.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Oh, oh, important thing, was Yosemite part of that pattern? Yeah, the big Yosemite fire was in the mid eighties.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;24;21;16] Yeah, it's all-

BILL BLAKEMORE

Could you just say something about, for example-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;24;25;16] You can't say anything about one specific fire, you know. It's looking at the statistics of all of them together.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:24:30:12] Right, In other words, it's-

ANTHONY WESTERLING

That means I'm not going to say. [LAUGHS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

That's one of the semantic problems we're finding in covering this. It fits the pattern-[BREAK IN AUDIO]

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;24;44;24] Well the answer for-

MAN

Any time, go ahead.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

.for southern California would be that they do not at all fit the, a pattern that you would attribute to climate change.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:24:49:17] And that would be for the fires you're having in southern California?

ANTHONY WESTERLING

That's right, the uh, coastal southern California looks just like it's looked for a long time, it just, it accounts for less than one percent of the change in, in fires that we would attribute to changes in-[BREAK IN AUDIO] ..by Santa Anna wind events.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Right.

ANTHONY WESTERLING

[04;25;11;13] And, and so nothing about this system is particularly vulnerable in the short term to temperature changes, whereas at higher elevations where you get, for example in the northern Rockies you have a big area that's right at an elevation where it's just below freezing for a large part of, you know, late winter, early-[BREAK IN AUDIO]

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

[END ANDY WESTERLING INTERVIEW]

[BEGIN MAT FRATUS INTERVIEW]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:38:17:21] So what do you, what do you remember from, from around here? What was happening?

MAT FRATUS

Well, the day that the fire transitioned up the hill and crested over the top and immediately went down a chimney up over in this area here, and uh, the vegetation was so thick, there was huge stands of trees that had already been impacted by the bark beetle, and really nothing to stop the fire from coming down, to the point that, because this road has no exit, there's only one way in and one way out. [04;38;44;27] And we really, none of our tactics that we were using were really slowing the fire down. Uh, we essentially had to pull out of this area and just resign that these houses would just have to burn.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;39;15;08] So, tell us, tell us more about what we're looking at here, what happens, and, and what the, what the information is.

MAT FRATUS

[04;39;20;16] Well, this particular area is a, kind of an outskirt of Lake Arrowhead, an area known as Cedar Glen, and, and Hook Creek Road area here. Um, a lot of houses, although you can't tell now that this was actually a very densely populated area, um, because of the, the types of vegetation, because of the weather patterns that we were having, uh, the fire came through here at such a rate that everything that we had tried to do to stop it really was, for the most part, ineffective. [04;39;47;20] And you have to keep in mind that even though, uh, we have very good fire protection in this area on a normal day, we had fires burning throughout the state, so the resources we were working with were limited to start with, but the type of fire behavior we were dealing with was really unlike what most of us had seen. [04;40;02;05] I had talked to people who had been in the fire service their entire career, and not only this fire, but fires in proceeding years, because of the drought, because of the fuel conditions, they produced, uh, fire behavior, flame links, intensities that we had never really experienced before, and everything that we had to throw at it we did, and it just seemed to burn right through us. [04:40:21:02] So, we were taking a defensive posture in here, uh, for reasons of safety. We knew that we couldn't make a stand in this area and be effective. So uh, it was very difficult for a lot of us, I was born and raised in this area, and to see this entire area burn in my, in my lifetime, I've never seen a fire come through here of anything of that magnitude. [04;40;39;24] Uh, so the best we could do was try to get over one more ridge, uh, over to the next ridge over is where we finally made a stand, and uh, quite honestly, uh, as, as much as our, I think our tactics were effective ultimately what helped us win this fight was the weather change, uh, we had a low pressure come in, it actually began to rain, actually began to snow within a couple of days after this burning, and I have to wonder if that had not happened how much farther this fire would have gone, how much more devastation we would have seen.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;41;13;02] So first just say your name, your position, your title, how you spell it.

MAT FRATUS

OK. Mat Fratus, MAT, one T, Fratus, FRATUS, and I'm a division chief with the San Bernardino with the San Bernardino City Fire Department.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;41;25;02] And how long have you been, in one way or another, connected with the fire department?

MAT FRATUS

About twenty years.

BILL BLAKEMORE

About twenty years. And you grew up around her?

MAT FRATUS

[04;41;30;27] Yes I did. Um, born and raised up on the mountain here, my kids are the fifth generation of my family that have been living up here, so we have a lot of strong roots in this community.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:41:41:01] So what did it feel like to see your own community burn?

MAT FRATUS

Uh, the best way I can describe it is just surreal. Uh, driving through areas that I've known my entire life that are literally going up in flames. The house I grew up in, uh, houses, every house, uh, probably within an eighth of a mile, uh, of it had burned by the time I came up on the hill. [04;42;02;08] It was just, it was very difficult to see. Areas like this, people's houses that I knew who lived there, who used to live there, uh, now just piles of rubble.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Did you ever think you would see anything like this when you were growing up?

MAT FRATUS

[04:42:14:06] I really didn't. Uh, you kind of learn to live with fire when you live in a mountainous area like this, in an urban interface area, but uh, in all that time it had never really threatened the, the structures to this extent. Never had it come this close. [04;42;26;07] And this time not only did it come close, but it just roared through large sections of housing.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And the old timers, did they tell you when, the last time they had seen a fire like this?

MAT FRATUS

[04:42:35:06] I don't know anybody that had ever seen a fire of this magnitude. We've had some large ones, but uh, over time the mountain has become more and more populated, uh, and the, the level of, of interface has increased, uh, but nobody that I know of had ever really seen it burn to this level, this many houses, do this much devastation and impact.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:42:54:25] So you're a fire chief, you're a professional fire chief, fire fighter?

MAT FRATUS

Yes.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And I, and you're talking about global warming? That's a whole different field. How come you fire, you're not the first one we've run into, how come you fire chiefs are nowadays talking about global warming?

MAT FRATUS

[04:43:09:03] Well, there's a lot of evidence that's indicating that there is, that global warming itself is having a great deal of impact on the intensity and the frequency of the fires that we're having. Uh, clearly we're having more people move into the interface areas, and that's certainly one element of it. [04;43;26;11] But, as we begin to see the fires each year grow in intensity, um, it becomes more and more difficult to suppress them, and then it becomes somewhat of a vicious cycle, because as these fires grow they actually contribute by their products of combustion into the global warming, uh, process again. [04:43:42:02] So it's very difficult to try to find the balance, but uh, we do know that even prior to the 2003 fire season, in the years prior to that, we are experiencing warmer weather, drier fuel conditions, uh, drought, all of which were contributing substantially to the kind of fires that we were having and the intensity that they were coming at.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;44;01;05] What are some of the other things that are related, sometimes, to global warming, that are elements that, coming together, can contribute to making it a worse fire?

MAT FRATUS

[04;44;09;08] Well the, the warming, um, the, the drought that we experienced, and this of course, you know, you start looking into the chain in the ecosystem, and how this happens, uh, we had experienced several years of drought before the 2003 fire season. In the San Bernardino Mountains one of the issues that that brought about was an infestation of the bark beetle. And this particular species of bark beetle has always been present in the San Bernardino Mountains, but the, the tree's natural defense to, to ward off these bark beetles is to create pitch, which pushes them out of the tree. [04:44:41:16] But it takes, uh, enough moisture to create that sap and the pitch to push them out, and because of the drought they were unable to defend themselves, which just made a perfect breeding ground. [04:44:51:10] So, what had happened in this mountain, even before the fire, maybe even as devastating as the fire in some ways, is the fact that we had hundreds and thousands of trees, and we're talking hundred year old trees that were dying in a matter of months. [04;45;05;16] So, you would look across the forest and what you would see is just fields and fields of dead trees. And of course we knew that if we were to have a fire in these conditions, uh, it was going to be devastating. Uh, we weren't even sure how bad it could be. [04:45:19:20] When you take a hundred foot tree that's dead and you put it together with a hundred more hundred foot trees that are dead, and then you light the fuse underneath them, um, it's basically, it's just a powder keg.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:45:30:09] So what was, what would it have been like if we had been standing here in the midst of the worst fire, in this little cauldron of a valley here?

MAT FRATUS

[04;45;34;16] Well, I watched this area burn from a ridge that was farther back over this way, and I watched it right up until probably, there were still houses burning in here around midnight, and it was absolutely intense. Uh, we wandered down some roads trying to get in on the ridges on the other side, and the, just the sound of the fire was deafening. You had to, to yell to the person that was standing five feet away from you, and you couldn't even see the fire yet. [04:46:00:13] This was just the noise from the fire. Uh, so the, the amount of fuel that it had to burn, and the intensity that it had that, when it came over this ridge, uh, was just phenomenal.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Hell on earth.

MAT FRATUS

[04:46:12:04] I would describe it as that, yes.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Noise from a fire?

MAT FRATUS

Yes, I've heard it described before by people, they describe it as a freight train. My best description was, if you've ever stood at the base of a very large waterfall, uh, that was what it sounded like. It was just a constant roar, and again, so loud you couldn't speak to the people next to you without yelling. [04:46:34:21] And yet the fire was still in a place you couldn't even see it, it was that far away. That was how much, uh, intensity it carried with it as it went through here.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:46:41:25] And all basically because things were just too dry, so it brought in the beetles, that made it drier, and it made it even drier, so when it caught fire it was even drier.

MAT FRATUS

[04:46:48:15] Uh, that is a, a big part of it. Uh, there's also a lot of, another element that we think impacted this was the forest management policies. Uh, we have really, as, as a fire service it's been a, a hundred years of suppressing one hundred percent of all the fires, and in this area in particular they're very sensitive to cutting any trees. Even property owners are not allowed to cut trees on their own property. [04;47;12;20] So, the forest has to be allowed to take care of itself. The forest is going to stay healthy one way or the other, and a healthy forest is not too dense with trees. This forest became unhealthy because it was too dense with trees, and if you, you can only, uh, suppress the natural cycle of the forest for so long before it's going to do what it needs to do. [04;47;32;11] The bark beetle was part of that, and ultimately the fire was part of that as well.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;47;36;05] Now can you be sure it's global warming that has caused this recent drought that brought in the bark beetle that brought in the dryness?

MAT FRATUS

[04;47;41;02] Well, uh, in my profession I would not, uh, say that I, I am sure that I could offer scientific evidence, but what I do know is, uh, for myself, I've been in the fire service for a while, I know many others that have spent their entire careers in the fire service, and there is certainly something that is different in the intensity and the frequency of the fires that we're experiencing, and all indicators, and there is some strong evidence that this is a trend that we can expect to continue. [04:48:08:16] Uh, we're looking at our fire season 2006 right now, and we're gearing up for another intense fire season in the, uh, the southern areas. Even as we speak they're having intense fires in the Texas/Oklahoma areas, areas where you don't typically have large conflagrations where they're burning through towns and so forth. But this is something that we're seeing on a much more regular basis than we did before.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;48;29;12] So maybe the land is a little bit more sensitive to drying for fires than people had thought?

MAT FRATUS

Uh, that would certainly be one explanation for the conditions that we're seeing.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:48:39:27] And what are you hearing in general? I mean, I know you're not a climatologist, and we're not going to represent you as one, you're a firefighter. But what are you guys in general hearing about global warming and the likelihood of it just continuing to get worse?

MAT FRATUS

[04:48:52:25] Uh, well it wasn't something originally that we ha really looked at as a, a causal factor for these elements that we're seeing change, and the way that the fires are coming about. But uh, in absence of other things, more and more it really points, uh, to global warming as at least one of the significant elements that's causing this change in the fire-

BILL BLAKEMORE

We're, and we've been talking to climatologists, and they tell us that the carbon in the atmosphere that they've been measuring since '58 is just inexorably going up, and every year it goes up a little bit more. [04;49;19;13] You add to that carbon with a fire, of course, but to get, for all reasons the carbon is continuing to go up, which means more global warming, and they don't see an end in sight yet. And the carbon stays in the atmosphere a hundred years. [04;49;31;29] What is the, how do you, how does that make you feel?

MAT FRATUS

[04;49;35;15] Well, any time there is a change like that in the climate it's going to impact, uh, the fires, the wild land fires. Um, the things that we really look at, I mean, the, the fuels themselves are going to be impacted, that's one of the significant factors that we use to calculate how intense something will burn, or how readily it will burn. Um, the weather patterns are also going to have a huge impact, not only while the fire is burning, but also, you know, what kind of a winter are we having, what kind of a summer are we expecting. [04:50:06:18] This particular winter we were very dry in January and February, so our grass crops came up early. Then it started to rain in March and April, it was almost backwards of what a typical season would be. So now we have the equivalent of two grass crops that are coming up. [04:50:20:12] When they dry out in the spring and summer we're going to have a very intense fire season. So all of those things are certainly going to impact what we can expect to see in the wild land firefighting front.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;50;28;21] And what about snow pack and early snow melt? How, does that effect it further, so that the water runs off before summer's over?

MAT FRATUS

[04:50:37:04] Uh, well, certainly those would be some of the impacts of drought or, or lack of. Um, some of the broader things we have to look at, which occurred after several yeas of drought we had the most devastating fire, the San Bernardino, or San Bernardino National Forest had ever experienced. The following year we had record rainfall. Well, because of the fire the previous year, this caused record floods, uh, we had very devastating floods that impacted not only the mountain areas, but the front country area, the city of San Bernardino, we had several fatalities because of that. [04:51:08:05] So it's never really one single event, there is generally several things that are going to lead up to it and there will be several byproducts of an event like this, and most of them have been very devastating.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:51:19:21] Huh, the worst kind of, the worst kind of season. And when you have a burned off area like this, does this increase run off?

MAT FRATUS

Yes, it does. The natural vegetation, once it grows into the soil, actually holds the soil back, so you can, the ground can withstand a substantial amount of rain and not have the slough of the top soil. [04:51:39:29] Once all that vegetation is burned away, you immediately lose the top soil. And this is an element of the intensity of the fires. When we do controlled burnings to try to regulate the vegetation, we do it at a very low intensity, so you burn off the surface fuels, but it allows for the fuels to grow back at another time, relatively quickly, but it does thin it out. [04:52:01:07] When you let it grow for years and years and years and get thick, and then you have an uncontrolled wild land fire like the one we had in 2003 go through, it burns it right down to the rocks. [04:52:10:05] It essentially destroys the vegetation, takes it many more years to grow back. so, for those years, while it's growing back, you're going to be susceptible to, uh, devastating floods on a fire like this size.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;52;20;06] And if it keeps warming, and the warming accelerates like most of the climatologists are saying it will.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;53;02;07] So if the global warming keeps accelerating as the climatologists are telling it will, it's going to keep going up, because the carbon is going to keep going up, and then it's going to start going up faster and faster, that sounds to me like you are going to be fighting for the rest of your career an ultimately unwinable battle.

MAT FRATUS

[04;53;20;04] Well, if in fact the, uh, the changes in the fire behaviors and the intensity of the fires that we're seeing, at least in the southern region here are attributed to global warming, if that is the case, um, and it appears that global warming is an issue that is not going to subside or go away any time soon, it is absolutely reasonable to assume that we are going to see fires, uh, what we thought was the anomaly will soon become the rule, which will change the way that we have to attack them. [04:53:47:21] Um, it will change the amount of, of fires that we'll just have to let burn, and unfortunately could create greater damage than we've seen in the past.

BILL BLAKEMORE

And add all that much more carbon to the atmosphere.

MAT FRATUS

[04;54;00;09] That is part of the vicious cycle of the global warming and its impact on wild land fire.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Everybody we're interviewing we're asking this: what's the solution?

MAT FRATUS

[04;54;10;10] Well, uh, that I really don't know. I mean, from a firefighter's perspective, uh, I think our biggest thing is that we're hoping that a solution is found. Um, we know that, uh, you know, once a wild land fire starts, as much as it contributes to it, there's not really much more we can do than, than just try and suppress it. But uh, as far as, you know, the clear answers, I'm sure, are going to be social, they're going to be technical, there's going to be a lot with it that's going to have to change if we're going to reverse this trend.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;54;38;24] Everybody we, we're also asking everybody we talk to, in your gut, how bad do you imagine it getting? I mean, I don't know if you have kids, but when today's kids are, you know, in middle age, I mean, you've already experienced hell on earth, and some climatologists are saying a lot of the human race is going to experience hell on earth. You see it in these fires. How, in your gut, how bad do you think it could be in fifty, sixty years?

MAT FRATUS

[04:55:01:00] Well, it, it's very difficult to tell. Um, I, I would like to think that we would be able to reverse some of the trend. However, under the scenario that, that things don't change, and it continues to escalate, um, we probably won't even recognize the way that we address the fire situation in fifty years compared to what we do now. I mean, for right now for us it's a surprising change. Uh, for those that will come after us it will just be the way they have to do business, and uh, there's really, I mean, you can only do so much as a fire service to put a fire out. [04:55:35:15] At some point you just have to stand back and let it go. And as the interface continues to encroach in, into the wild land, and we have more and more houses built in areas that are prone to fires, uh, you, there's nothing much that you can do but stand back, keep your people safe, try to suppress it as best you can, prevent it as best you can, but they're going to burn, and there's going to be damage.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;55;57;01] All right.

MAN

I was hoping you could just give us a quick summary of this fire in terms of lives lost, houses lost, acreage.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:56:04:04] Looking at me, of course.

MAT FRATUS

OK, yeah.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

MAT FRATUS

[04;56;12;17] The old fire was one of several fires that, uh, began to burn in late October of 2003. Um, because of that resources were stretched thin all over the state. This fire ultimately burned into another fire that started a few days sooner, the Grand Prix Fire, and collectively as they grew together it burned about ninety-three thousand acres, which is the largest fire in the history of the San Bernardino National Forest. [04;56;36;11] Uh, we had several structures lost up on the mountain top, we had even more structures lost down in the city of San Bernardino, over a thousand residences were lost just in this fire alone, in addition to multiple outbuildings, commercial buildings, vehicles, and so forth. Uh, we had several thousand people actually displaced, had to find temporary shelter, and some of them permanently displaced as their homes were burned down. Um, it definitely changed the face of, of operations not only up on the mountaintop area here, but in the city itself.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;57;11;25] Did you, uh, anybody ever put a dollar figure on it?

MAT FRATUS

I don't know if they have finished putting the dollar figure on it. The cost of this fire is still growing in some ways. These, now more indirect ways, uh, direct costs of the fire, of course, you know, the suppression cost, the costs to the housing people, and so forth, but the cost of rebuilding, cost of, uh, jobs that were lost, cost of businesses that will never rebuild, those are costs that will really be, uh, it will take a long time to really figure how much that's cost to communities.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Were, were there fatalities in the fire?

MAT FRATUS

[04;57;45;22] There were, um, indirect, and you know, and just for off camera stuff, those slides that I gave you have got all the statistic stats.

BILL BLAKEMORE

That's great.

MAT FRATUS

[04;57;53;11] I don't want to contradict them, I don't have a lot of them off the top of my head, but they'll be there for you to use.

BILL BLAKEMORE

OK, great. OK, great.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:58:04:08] My goodness, this is, what is, what are we looking at here?

MAT FRATUS

Well, what we're standing in now is the foundation of what once was a house. And uh.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

Just tell us all about this.

MAT FRATUS

[04:58:15:09] Well what you're looking at now, uh, is the foundation of what was probably a, uh, a fairly large house. One of the things about a house once it burns down, it's almost kind of an optical illusion, you don't realize how big the house was just based on the, the foundational area, which is all we're looking at here. [04:58:34:20] But, as you see here, uh, up across the ridge, in fact just about everywhere you look up here, you'll find foundations that represent, uh, at one point, what was somebody's home, along with everything that was in it. And as you look through some of the ashes you can see, you know, melted aluminum and so forth, these were everything from windows to personal belongings, to uh, irreplaceable effects. [04;58;55;00] And when you multiply this by the hundreds of homes that were lost in this fire, uh, it's really very sad to see this happen.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:59:01:09] And all this timber, the lumber that's still here, that was what was basically bringing the fire in.

MAT FRATUS

[04:59:06:23] Yes, it was. And while those trees were burning, um, again, you're looking at, uh, hundred foot tall trees, and the flame links were probably one and a half times that much. So, it was an incredible sight to see fires, uh, groves of trees burning like that with huge flame links and a tremendous amount of heat coming through.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04:59:27:23] What's a flame link?

MAT FRATUS

Uh, that would be the, the length of the flame from the base of its origin up to the tip of the flame.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Oh right, extraordinary.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

BILL BLAKEMORE

[04;59;43;23] Keep talking about what we're looking at here.

MAT FRATUS

OK, um, one f the problems that we had in the fire was once we got into heavily populated areas like this, uh, the trees burning was one thing, but as we started burning the houses, the, the synthetics, the chairs, the wall coverings, and so forth, they actually burn with about twice the intensity of the natural vegetation. [05:00:05:12] So these became a fuel model all by themselves, so several hundred homes burning at a, at one single time, uh, represented a tremendous amount of heat that just proliferated the fire.

BILL BLAKEMORE

Wow.

MAN

That's great.

[BREAK IN AUDIO]

MAT FRATUS

[05;00;19;04] [AUDIO PICKS UP MID SENTENCE] .big when we started, and now it's, you know, it's this, this was probably-

BILL BLAKEMORE

Fascinating.

MAT FRATUS

You know, this was a multi-story house, so you could have been looking, um, eighteen hundred to two thousand square feet, and you wouldn't ever think it just by looking at this area here, it doesn't look that big.

BILL BLAKEMORE

[05;00;34;22] Wow. Wow. Did you always know you wanted to be a fireman?

MAT FRATUS

Um, you know, I can't say that I did.

BILL BLAKEMORE

We, we met each other when we were paired on a couple of hurricane stories in 2004, and found a mutual interest in nature stories, but global warming especially, and then Clayton came up with this great idea last spring.

[OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]

[END]