'Wildfire 2001' meeting set for Thursday in Fuller Lodge

Contact: Fran Talley, flt@lanl.gov, (505) 667-5225

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M.,April 23, 2001 -- The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Interagency Wildfire Management Team will co-host its third public meeting, "Wildfire 2001: Protecting Our Communities," from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday (April 26) in Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos.

The meeting focuses on cooperative efforts to mitigate wildfire risks to the region, updates on post-Cerro Grande Fire recovery efforts, flood control, and revisions to the county emergency evacuation plan.

Moderated by Los Alamos County Public Information Officer Julie Habiger, the panel will include Interagency Wildfire Management Team members Jim Whittington, Kevin Joseph and Christa Loper of the Forest Service; Steve Coburn, Los Alamos County Fire Marshal; Dennis Vasquez, superintendent, Dean Clark and Dale Miracle, in fire management, at Bandelier National Monument; Jerome Jenkins, Bureau of Indian Affairs; Robert Repass, Los Alamos County Emergency Manager; and Ken Mullen of Los Alamos’ Water Quality and Hydrology Group.

Interagency exhibits will be on display from 6 to 7 p.m. A video presentation, "Los Alamos and the Cerro Grande Fire" will be shown at 6:45 p.m. in the Pajarito Room.

The interagency team was formed in 1996 to address recovery issues in the wake of the Dome Fire. "However, we quickly found out that the team provided a much needed forum for addressing wildfire and forestry management issues on an integrated basis," said IWMT co-founder and chair Diana Webb of the Laboratory’s Ecology Group. "The IWMT has brought us together to communicate, coordinate and implement wildfire mitigation tools, but the most important thing that the team has done is to build a spirit of interagency trust. It was this knowledge of one another and trust that carried us through the crisis days of the Cerro Grande."

"The value of the work of the IWMT was proven in a real ‘trial by fire’ during the Cerro Grande wildfire. The tree thinning along the western part of the Laboratory and in parts of the community held the fire or slowed its approach and bought precious time for firefighters to fight the fire," said Webb.

"The IWMT remains vitally important to our ability to fight wildfire and to the future health of the Laboratory's forest," said Webb. "Although we experienced a severe wildfire over a quarter of the Laboratory last year, there are many areas that the Cerro Grande Fire did not touch, or burned only lightly. These areas remain at risk for carrying wildfire," Webb said.

Interagency Wildfire Management Team meetings are held biweekly and are open to the public. To learn more about the IWMT, call Webb at 667-0730.

For more information about the Wildfire 2001 meeting, contact Fran Talley of the Laboratory’s Public Affairs Office at 667-5225.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Additional news releases from the Environment, Safety and Health (ESH) Division