Скачать или смотреть Firefighters battle massive wildfire

(17 May 2007) SHOTLIST
Ocean County, New Jersey
1. Burning roadside forest
2. Close up, burning trees
3. Burning scrub
4. Helicopter with water bomb flying overhead
5. Fireman spraying gasoline for controlled burn
6. SOUNDBITE: (English), Maris Gabliks, Chief of New Jersey Forest Fire Service:
"We're actually going to starve the fire of the fuel that it wants to burn."
7. Various, smoke and flames beside road
8. SOUNDBITE: (English), Lieutenant General Glenn Rieth, New Jersey National Guard:
"If the board (of inquiry) identifies that the United States Air Force and the fighter aircraft were at fault the United States Air Force will step up and ensure that they incur all liability for the losses whether these are homes or any other personal property that was lost.
9. Various shots of burning trees
Bernegat, New Jersey
10. Evacuees at shelter, at Russell Brackman School
11. Red Cross worker
12. Women playing cards
13. SOUNDBITE: (English), Tony Citrano, evacuee:
"Everything we have is invested in our houses, we're in a retirement village and this is it. This was our one place to come to."
14. Evacuees at shelter
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joan Torro, evacuee:
"(We) took our money and our jewellery with us and hope that everything will be fine when we get home, I took pictures of my grandkids that I love."
16. Man in wheelchair, with evacuees at shelter
STORYLINE:
Firefighters tackling a wildfire in New Jersey that apparently began when a military jet dropped a flare on a bombing range, were hoping a rainstorm would help them douse the flames.
But their hopes were balanced against fears of more high winds, after a storm that whipped up columns of flame and smoke on Wednesday.
The fire blackened thousands of acres in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a sandy, scrubby area a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
The area is home to numerous retirement communities. Many of their residents moved out to local schools as smoke and flames advanced.
Helicopters were called in to dump water on the fire but firefighters' main weapon was gasoline - used to clear fire-breaks of inflammable brush in the hope of starving the advancing flames.
But the woods were dry despite a rainy spring.
Latest surveys suggested that more than 20 square miles of forest was still ablaze on Thursday.
According to officials, the fire started at a National Guard bombing range about 25 miles north of Atlantic City, apparently touched off by a flare dropped by an Air Force jet during an exercise.
The Air Force has already begun an investigation and a National Guard general has promised compensation if there's proof the USAF was responsible.
Lieutenant General Glenn Rieth, of the New Jersey National Guard, said : "If the board (of inquiry) identifies that the United States Air Force and the fighter aircraft were at fault the United States Air Force will step up and ensure that they incur all liability for the losses."
No deaths or injuries had been attributed to the fire, but at least 13 homes were damaged or destroyed and about 6,000 people were evacuated from 2,500 homes along the borders of Ocean and Burlington counties.
In some cases, people were evacuated, allowed to return, then evacuated again, as the wind shifted the course of the flames and smoke.
"Everything we have is invested in our houses, we're in a retirement village and this is it. This was our one place to come to," said Tony Citrano, taking shelter with his wife in a local school.
About 115 people were still in shelters on Wednesday evening.
Officials said the fire is the state's biggest in years.
Keyword-fire- wildfires

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...