Officials said at noon press conference in Los Alamos said that at least 30 structures, most of them homes, have burned in the Las Conchas wildfire.
The fire is burning within 50 feet of Los Alamos National Laboratory property off N.M. 4. according to fire management and Los Alamos County officials who conducted the briefing. But no mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Los Alamos.
Homes have been lost in the Cochiti Mesa and Tent Rocks areas, they said.
The fire is also burning in Bandelier National Monument, but the visitor center is not threatened. The fire is reported to be in the monument’s Frijoles Canyon and within a half-mile of the part of the canyon with ancient Pueblo Indian ruins and cliff dwellings that is the main feature of the monument.
Officials also said that while the fire did hit Dixon Apple Orchard near the village of Cochiti Lake, apparently the orchard trees survived and it was buildings at the orchard site that burned.
The fire management team said that the fire, which has exploded to burn more than 43,000 acres since it started Sunday, has the potential to double or triple in size.
-- Email the reporter at moswald@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-992-6269
