New Mexico’s traditional summertime monsoon rain season has dramatically lowered the risk of wildfires around the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory lately, a federal safety board said in a recent update.
“Recent monsoonal rain events have increased moisture levels and lowered the wildland fire risk,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a regular staff report dated June 24. Triad National Security, which operates the lab for DOE, lowered its fire restrictions on laboratory property from Stage III to the less prohibitive Stage II, on June 23, DNFSB said.
This came a week after the DNFSB reported that the Cerro Pelado wildfire west of the laboratory “is now 100% contained,” and the Los Alamos Emergency Operations Center exited monitoring mode.
At one point there were 1,000 firefighters battling the blaze which started April 22 and came within a couple of miles of laboratory property for a time.
The National Weather Service forecast for Los Alamos County shows at least a chance of scattered thunderstorms for Los Alamos County every day this week.
