BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: First though, "CNN 20" on this Thursday morning.</s>JEFF HAGER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the air, cutting through smoke-filled clouds, you can see the charred path of the wildfire, meandering its way through the Apalachicola National Forest in North Florida. From the ground, visibility is cut in half, as firefighters from as far away as Arkansas, try to wall in the blaze.</s>GENE MADDEN, FORESTRY SERVICE SPOKESMAN: Report is, about 1,100 acres, there's no fatalities.</s>HAGER: Gene Madden of the U.S. Forestry Service says by the time firefighters responded to initial reports of smoke on Memorial Day, the wildfire had turned portions of the forest into an inferno.</s>MADDEN: About 20 minutes later when the first units got on the scene, it was already up to about 25 acres and about 3 1/2, four hours later we were about 1,000 acres.</s>HAGER (on camera): Madden says the blaze is far too widespread, and this heat far too intense for firefighters to effectively battle it on the ground. He calls this condition the "tinderbox effect." And that's because this underbrush is serving as dry kindling for some of the biggest wildfires Florida has seen in more than a decade. (voice-over): Already wildfires have consumed an estimated 10,000 acres throughout Florida this year. And firefighters are hoping for a natural ally in the form of rain if they're to keep other fires from breaking out putting more property and lives in harm's way.
CNN 20: Fires Strike Florida, May 25, 1998