Fire Crews Block Blaze From Nuclear Lab
Wed., May 1, 1996
Hundreds of firefighters torched brush ahead of an approaching wildfire Tuesday, managing to keep flames from shooting toward a laboratory where radioactive materials are stored.
About 750 firefighters working the Dome Fire in New Mexico were buoyed Tuesday by their brush “burnout,” which helped turn the forest fire back upon itself. Firefighters declared the blaze 40 percent contained.
The burnout helped them keep the blaze from jumping into heavily forested Frijoles Canyon, the heart of Bandelier National Monument, with its ancient Indian ruins - and away from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the atomic bomb.
Local journalism is essential.
Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds.
Subscribe to the Coronavirus newsletter
Get the day’s latest Coronavirus news delivered to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
