Authorities in New Mexico said Thursday afternoon they plan to use a controlled burn to give the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding county more protection from the Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Mountains.
A controlled burn is planned along Alamo trail to combat the fire that has burned 29,000 acres and is now about five miles from the lab’s southwestern corner and 10 miles from Los Alamos townsite, according to a press release from the lab, Los Alamos County and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
“This is going to give the Laboratory and the County more protection by widening the defensive space between us and the fire,” Rich Nieto, the laboratory’s Wildland Fire manager, said in the release. “Residents should expect to see a lot of smoke, but it’s not a cause for concern,” aside from poor air quality, Nieto added.
Calmer weather entering the weekend will allow fire crews to continue building fire breaks and also drop water and fire retardant, according to local officials.
“Since the beginning of this fire, every other day or so we’ve had high winds that have made this fire tough to contend with,” Los Alamos Fire Chief Troy Hughes said. “But it looks like we’re going to get a few days in a row of favorable firefighting conditions, which will be a big help.”
The National Weather Service forecast for Los Alamos predicts a daytime high in the 70s this weekend. Friday winds should only be from five to 15 miles per hour, although the Saturday forecast indicates gusts could again reach 35 miles per hour.
Laboratory officials said earlier this week the nuclear-weapons laboratory could revert to more pandemic-style maximum telework in the event the fire moves closer.
So far this blaze appears far less worrisome to the laboratory than the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000 and the Las Conchas Fire in 2011 that threatened Los Alamos property and affected operations at the complex.
The cause of the fire that started April 22 during heavy winds is under investigation, according to the multijurisdictional fire update Facebook page, which said Friday the blaze is 13% contained.
