Posted on 06/27/2011 5:53:33 AM PDT by nuconvert
SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Voluntary evacuations have been issued for Los Alamos, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is threatened by a fast-moving wildfire that broke out in northern New Mexico on Sunday, authorities said.
The Las Conchas Fire flared early Sunday afternoon around 12 miles southwest of Los Alamos, charring about 3,500 acres and endangering the nation's nuclear weapons laboratory and its surrounding communities, said Lawrence Lujan, a spokesman for the Santa Fe National Forest.
"We have homes and we have the labs, so it's a very, very big concern, not only locally but nationally and globally," Lujan said.
"This fire is very complex. We have a national type one team coming in because of the nature of the fire," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at beta.news.yahoo.com ...
There goes another hard drive to China.
Stepping in for Cedar Dave! NM Ping
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Why don’t they have a fire-free zone around that facility with no vegetation? It has been prone to fire before.
Just what I was thinking....
Ever hear of the Cerro-Grande Fire?
I certainly have. I worked at LANL and had lots of friends there before I moved on in my career (to a non-government, producer job). A very close friend was burned out by the Cerro Grande fire and retired from the lab shortly thereafter. I went back a few months ago and was blown away by how bare the mountainsides looked. Sad and completely preventable.
I was flown in for an interview in 2005 and saw the fire damage in the mountains.
A lot of people had already put steel roofing on by the time I saw Los Alamos.
It’s really beautiful there inspite of the fires.
BTW, I will be coming to NM in a few weeks and at the end of the summer. Anybody want to get together or have any ideas for a revealing photographic expedition? I'm especially into documenting the difference between management and neglect. FReepmail me for contact info. Thanks!
I worked at Bandelier for a couple of summers. Awe-inspiring beauty IMO. Worked under the lady who started the Cerro Grande fire (as a controlled burn), but that was years before even the Dome fire.
Just a note to Algore, Obama and all the other greenie weenies out there. The fires this year have poured more junk into the atmosphere than a dozen years of your electric cars and windmills could ever erase, even if they worked. No point in mentioning volcanoes either as they don’t happen. Luddites arise! You have nothing to lose but your hope.
Yes, know that area pretty well, my mom is from Carlsbad.
I recall a few days in Bandelier where it was mid-90s during the day and would get in the upper 40s at night. We’d setup camp on the top of the mesas, and often work down by the Rio Grande or up near Cerro Grande. Those 1400ft (+/-) of elevation difference had a huge range of temps. From “darn, I need a fleece jacket” to “I think I can squeeze under that juniper for some shade.”
As my dad told me one time when he came to visit “I can’t believe this is your office!”
I'm a Indiana transplant to Roswell...........my wives family has a cabin in Ruidoso. I love it out here,except its been 8.5 months with no measurable rain and we are on day 10 of 100 + temps.
There is a fire burning in every direction I look.
That’s unsettling.
There is a fire burning in every direction I look.
I live outside FT Sumner...heavy smoke coming from southwest, probably Los Alamos. The wind was blowing so hard when I went into town I couldn’t tell smoke from dust.
What direction from Lake Sumner are you?
I’m by Abiquiu, not far from Los Alamos. I guess they are evacuating Los Alamos right now. We don’t have a fire problem where I’m at, but the smoke is like a heavy fog, coming from all directions.
I can’t believe it’s only 93, and no wind after yesterdays blast furnace wind and heat!
Earlier, the smoke was heavy enough to cause overcast, and lower the temp, but it’s clear now.
We’ve had lots of “small” fires throughout the county, but not news worthy. Dry,dry, dry!
As I recall, from visits to the area, the Los Alamos/Bandelier area is VERY WINDY. This cannot be good, given the shortage of rainfall noted by Cedar Dave.
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