Las Conchas Fire, New Mexico
Las Conchas Fire, New Mexico
28 June 2011
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
Caption by Holli Riebeek.
The Las Conchas Fire, burning southwest of Los Alamos, New Mexico, continued to spread on June 27, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite acquired this image at 11:40 a.m. local time. Active fire locations are outlined in red. The fire bathed Los Alamos and the Rio Grande Valley to the east with thick smoke. The large image, which includes a wider area, shows the dense smoke extending northeast over Texas and Kansas.
By the end of the day on June 27, the Las Conchas Fire had burned 43,597 acres (17,643 hectares) since starting around 1:00 p.m. on June 26. The fire burned within about a mile of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, but has not entered the lab. The lab and nearby Bandelier National Monument are closed, and the city of Los Alamos, Cochiti Mesa, and Las Conchas have been evacuated.
Los Alamos Fires Updates:
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Current situation Update: http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/las-conchas-fire-update-june-28-2011-1130-am/
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USA: Thousands flee as fire nears town, Los Alamos nuke lab (published by www.msnbc.msn.com, 28 June 2011)
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USA: Firefighters Beat Back Flames On Nuclear Lab Property (published by www.planetark.org, 28 June 2011)
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USA: Wildfire Closes Los Alamos Lab (published by www.nytimes.com, 27 June 2011)
GFMC information on fires in radioactively contaminated vegetation
