Fire on the Mountain
New Mexico
Fire on the Mountain’s campaign goal: move the radioactive waste at LANL to safer storage at WIPP before the next wildfire threatens it and us. Persuade the governor to use New Mexico’s legal tools to force DOE to move it as promised.
*This image is an artist's conception of a wildfire near waste storage tents.
Fires on the Mountain
In the last 50 years, forest fires have almost reached the waste stored in the tents on the mountainside at LANL four times. Climate change makes fires more likely, and the federal cuts in forest service personnel further reduces our ability to respond to them. LANL acknowledges that the area surrounding the lab experiences repeated reburns, one fire burning into an area already damaged by previous fires.
The Fires on the Mountain
The asterisked fires below are the fires that have burned onto the LANL site.
* La Mesa – 1977
The La Mesa fire in 1977 started on the afternoon of 16 June 1977. Before it was contained a week later, it had burned 15,444 acres of Bandelier National Monument and part of LANL, where it reached two facilities used to fabricate and test chemical explosives.
Dome – 1996
The Dome Fire started from an improperly extinguished campfire on April 26, 1996, and burned consumed 16,516 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest and Bandelier National Monument. It was contained in early May.
Oso Complex – 1998
The Oso Complex Fire started June 20, 1998, burned 5,185 acres in Santa Fe National Forest in the Jemez Mountains, and more than 1,200 acres of Santa Clara Pueblo land. The fire was set by an arsonist and came within 8 miles of Los Alamos. Officials were concerned that the fire would contaminate the main source of water for Santa Clara Pueblo residents.
* Cerro Grande – 2000
The Cerro Grande Fire started as a controlled burn on May 4, 2000, but became uncontrolled due to high winds, drought conditions, and LANL's terrain of mesas and canyons. The mesa where the plutonium is stored above ground in canvas tents is called Area G. The mesa is flanked by two canyons. The Cerro Grande fire burned through both canyons simultaneously, creating extremely high temperatures on the mesa. If this happened again, an official said, the lab would cover the drums with fire blankets but could not move them. They could only hope that the flames subside before the drums overheat and begin a reaction like the one that closed WIPP. More than 400 families in Los Alamos, NM lost their homes in the resulting 58,000-acre fire.
South Fork – 2010
The South Fork Fire, which ignited on June 10, 2010, burned 17,081 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest.
* Las Conchas Fire – 2011
The Las Conchas Fire, started by a downed power line in Santa Fe National Forest, burned more than 150,000 acres, and reached LANL property. It became the largest wildfire in New Mexico state history at the time. Los Alamos was evacuated and closed. The Las Conchas Fire was so hot and experienced such strong winds that the blaze’s front rolled like barrels in 35-foot-high flames. This phenomenon is called a “blowup,” an intense and sudden force, second in power to a nuclear explosion, able to boil stream water, melt dirt, and crack boulders. It would spawn a horrific 45,000-foot furnace of smoke and soot, spin up 400-foot-high fire tornadoes, generate powerful up-and-down-drafting winds, create lightning in the plume, and send embers flying almost 25 miles away.
Thompson Ridge – 2013
The Thompson Ridge Fire was begun by human actions on May 31, 2013, and consumed over 29,903 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest, about 10 miles north of Jemez, NM.
Cerro Pelado – 2022
​The Cerro Pelado Fire was caused by an escaped U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn on April 22, 2022. Extreme fire weather conditions brought it within 5 miles of LANL and filled nearby Santa Fe with smoke. The Cerro Pelado Fire burned 45,605 acres.