We're seeing fire behaviour we've never seen down here, and it's really aggressive
Posted by
JAC on 7/1/2011, 7:57 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCYl7HFmCzE
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008649/Los-Alamos-wildfire-Residents-flee-firefighters-battle-blaze-near-nuclear-complex.html#ixzz1Qq6m7aLN
We're seeing fire behaviour we've never seen down here, and it's really aggressive,' Los Alamos County Fire Chief Douglas Tucker said, adding that earlier hopes of lifting evacuations in the area by this weekend had been dashed.
The proximity of some 20,000 metal barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste, such as old, tainted clothing and equipment, stored on a corner of the complex, to the edge of the fire has been a cause for concern.
Lab officials say most of the low-level radioactive waste is kept on pavement and the 55-gallon sealed drums are built to withstand heat three times the temperature of a wildfire.
Still, crews worked on Thursday to clear a wider area around the storage site of vegetation, using industrial-sized mowers and large grinding machines to reduce grass, shrubs and small trees to mulch.
Similar measures were being taken in several other areas around the complex, including a power-line corridor near a radioactive liquid waste treatment facility and the lab's explosive materials firing site. |
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In this thread:
Fire at Los Alamos National Lab -
JAC,
6/28/2011, 6:39 am- Evacuation order for city - JAC, 7/1/2011, 7:45 am
- 12K people rushed out of town fearing mutant offspring - JAC, 6/30/2011, 10:59 am
- Crews Make Progress On Fire Near Los Alamos - JAC, 6/30/2011, 6:26 am
- The Taxpayer Shouldn't be Burned Again in LANL's Inadequate Fire Protection Program - ArgosyTn, 6/29/2011, 1:17 pm
- Fire Chief thinking 100K acres - JAC, 6/29/2011, 12:28 pm
- Potential is high for a major calamity - JAC, 6/29/2011, 10:58 am
- CIMSS: Record Heat and Los Alamos Fire - JAC, 6/29/2011, 8:21 am
- Fire has potential to double or triple in size - JAC, 6/29/2011, 5:52 am
- NASA overflight shows wildfire spreading to north and east in the direction of Los Alamos - JAC, 6/28/2011, 12:15 pm
- Hoping for the best - JAC, 6/28/2011, 11:22 am
- Due to high winds, all aircraft have been grounded - JAC, 6/28/2011, 6:44 am
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