Brush Fires New Mexico

It grew, secretly, from the desert to house the creators of the atomic bomb. But today--at least before fire ate hundreds of its homes--Los Alamos is a company town like any surrounding an automobile factory or a textile mill. The founding fathers of Los Alamos--physicists from the University of California--arrived from Berkeley soon after the government selected the secluded and idyllic site 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe in 1942.

Sandy Gilmore kicked through the charred remains Monday of what was once her mobile home, reduced by a mountain fire to steel girders on a cinder block foundation. "All the clothes are gone, but the hangers are lined up on the ground," said Gilmore, 46, sorting through the blackened debris that was her closet.

Tony Tomei heard the explosion the same time the firefighters did, from somewhere up the canyon away from the flames that were threatening his neighborhood. The firefighters raced off in their trucks to deal with whatever had blown up. Tomei stayed. Four days later, he was still there. "I just got caught up in it," said Tomei, an engineer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Even in a region numbingly accustomed to wildfires and rapid evacuations, this one swept in with awful suddenness and incinerated 28 homes with wind-whipped speed. For most residents of these piney mountains in southern New Mexico, it was another bright Saturday. Two modest fires were burning in adjacent forests, but in the newly built subdivisions known as Kokopelli, canny locals were not overly concerned.

A wildfire repeatedly threatened critical nuclear weapon facilities inside the Los Alamos National Laboratory over the last three days and was far more harrowing than officials previously had acknowledged, a tour of the still-smoking site revealed Saturday. Nearly 100 firefighters battled most of Friday night, for example, in a fierce struggle to protect a complex where scientists test highly radioactive materials to study how nuclear explosions occur.

A fire set by the National Park Service to clear underbrush at a national monument got out of control, burning 3,044 acres in Los Alamos, N.M. The blaze forced the closure of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the evacuation of 500 homes. A separate fire 200 miles southeast near Ruidoso burned 5,400 acres and led to the evacuation of at least 200 homes. Gov. Gary Johnson declared a state of emergency.

National Park Service officials who deliberately ignited the fire that ravaged Los Alamos, N.M., did not follow proper procedures and failed to ensure that enough firefighters were available to control the blaze, according to a preliminary report by the Interior Department. An investigative team appointed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt concluded Thursday that Park Service officials "failed to properly plan and implement" established procedures for a controlled burn.

Most of the town of Los Alamos, evacuated ahead of a raging wildfire last week, was reopened for residents Monday. But the worst-hit neighborhoods and the biggest U.S. nuclear weapon lab remained closed indefinitely, officials said. As firefighters continued to battle the northern spread of the blaze that has consumed more than 44,300 acres, officials decided its southern flank was contained well enough to allow people back into the town that adjoins Los Alamos National Laboratory.

A fire near the Los Alamos National Laboratory continued to rage out of control Tuesday as nearly 1,000 firefighters from around the West converged on the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico. Gov. Gary Johnson surveyed the wind-driven fires from a helicopter and declared a state of emergency, calling the heavily forested area a "tinder box." Winds subsided somewhat and allowed fire crews to begin setting backfires on the northern flank of the Cerro Grande blaze.

Two raging wildfires in the southwestern United States--one in New Mexico and the other in Arizona--that were started by government-ordered controlled burns and turned into roaring monsters appeared to be coming under control Friday. New Mexico's worst wildfire was slowing down and should be entirely contained by Monday after raging for nearly two weeks, devastating the town of Los Alamos and scorching the largest U.S. nuclear weapon lab, officials said.

Wind-whipped grass fires pushed into affluent residential areas in the pine-studded southern New Mexico mountains Saturday, burning at least 32 homes and forcing more than 1,300 residents to evacuate. Two fires consumed at least 3,400 acres, including 1,000 acres in the Kokopelli Fire, named after a subdivision where the homes burned, firefighters said.

Firefighters ordered the evacuation of hundreds of homes in four subdivisions Saturday as a 700-acre wildfire grew quickly in whipping winds. About 100 National Guard troops from Roswell were placed on emergency active duty Saturday to provide security, water and electric generators in the fire-besieged community, Guard spokesman Tom Koch said. "Their primary function is to provide security," Koch said.

The first bills are arriving for the massive wildfire that ravaged Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding community in New Mexico last month, and the cost to taxpayers already is steep: More than $660 million to repair damage and settle claims in the aftermath of a government-started blaze that spun out of control. That total was included in an $11.2-billion spending accord reached this week by key lawmakers that the House approved Thursday, 306 to 110.

Two raging wildfires in the southwestern United States--one in New Mexico and the other in Arizona--that were started by government-ordered controlled burns and turned into roaring monsters appeared to be coming under control Friday. New Mexico's worst wildfire was slowing down and should be entirely contained by Monday after raging for nearly two weeks, devastating the town of Los Alamos and scorching the largest U.S. nuclear weapon lab, officials said.

National Park Service officials who deliberately ignited the fire that ravaged Los Alamos, N.M., did not follow proper procedures and failed to ensure that enough firefighters were available to control the blaze, according to a preliminary report by the Interior Department. An investigative team appointed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt concluded Thursday that Park Service officials "failed to properly plan and implement" established procedures for a controlled burn.

Most of the town of Los Alamos, evacuated ahead of a raging wildfire last week, was reopened for residents Monday. But the worst-hit neighborhoods and the biggest U.S. nuclear weapon lab remained closed indefinitely, officials said. As firefighters continued to battle the northern spread of the blaze that has consumed more than 44,300 acres, officials decided its southern flank was contained well enough to allow people back into the town that adjoins Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The handful of volunteers remaining at the cavernous Santa Fe Food Depot had worked themselves to exhaustion by 3 a.m. Friday. As they looked around for a place to nap for a few hours, yet another tractor-trailer truck arrived filled with donated food. "Many of us had been up for three days," said Christy Torricelli, executive director of the food bank.

Federal and state authorities rushed Wednesday to evacuate 14,000 people from Los Alamos, home of the nation's premier nuclear weapons laboratory, shortly before a nightmarish forest fire roared into town and began burning at least 200 homes. More than 800 weary firefighters were forced to retreat from the fast-moving Cerro Grande blaze as fierce winds whipped the inferno into a firestorm that threatened to engulf a hospital, a high school and other residential areas. At 10:30 p.m.

A wildfire repeatedly threatened critical nuclear weapon facilities inside the Los Alamos National Laboratory over the last three days and was far more harrowing than officials previously had acknowledged, a tour of the still-smoking site revealed Saturday. Nearly 100 firefighters battled most of Friday night, for example, in a fierce struggle to protect a complex where scientists test highly radioactive materials to study how nuclear explosions occur.

Tony Tomei heard the explosion the same time the firefighters did, from somewhere up the canyon away from the flames that were threatening his neighborhood. The firefighters raced off in their trucks to deal with whatever had blown up. Tomei stayed. Four days later, he was still there. "I just got caught up in it," said Tomei, an engineer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.