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Friday, June 13, 2008

LANL Tests Caused Wildfire

By Raam Wong
Journal Staff Writer
    A small wildfire near Bandelier National Monument Wednesday was caused by a malfunction during an equipment test at Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials have determined.
    More than 40 firefighters and two air tankers responded to the 15-acre blaze within Ancho Canyon before it was fully contained Wednesday night.
    The instrument test that ignited the fire came hours after the National Weather Service posted a red-flag warning for much of the state due to high winds and low humidity.
    Lab researchers were testing an apparatus that they hope will one day be sent to Nevada for shockwave experiments. The instrument relies on a propellant similar to gun powder to close a valve instantaneously. But on Wednesday the valve failed and it spewed hot gases that ignited the grass fire.
    Lab personnel nearly extinguished the fire before the high winds caused it to spread, according to spokesman Kevin Roark.
    A multi-agency team of firefighters responded while two U.S. Forest Service air tankers dumped fire-retardant slurry over the area as a precautionary measure.
    While the location of the fire— Technical Area 39— is often used for high-explosives tests, Roark said such detonations were not a factor in Wednesday's fire.
    The lab said no structures were damaged and an environmental and health analysis performed Wednesday night found no health risks to the public.
    The fire stirred memories of the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire that began as a prescribed burn at Bandelier National Monument by the National Park Service— not the lab. The fire burst out of control and raged through parts of Los Alamos, destroying more than 350 homes and torching roughly 43,000 acres.
    Since then, the lab has drawn heat from community activists who fear prescribed burns and high-explosives tests could trigger another catastrophic fire as well as expose the public to decades worth of nuclear contamination. Two detonations scheduled for last month were postponed due to fire danger.
    Roark said Wednesday no one expected the equipment to malfunction as it did. "Hindsight is always 20-20," the spokesman said.
    Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety said the fire raises concerns about soil contaminants being released into the air.
    The state Environment Department plans to deploy two air monitors to Pajarito Acres, a residential housing development, that can test air constituents as well as a hazardous waste team to the burn site if needed. Environment Secretary Ron Curry said he wanted accurate and prompt information from the lab about the incident.
    "We expect the lab to be very open," Curry said.