Friday, April 25, 1997
Dome Fire anniversary Saturday; organizations unite to prevent similar fires
"Remember the Dome Fire," is the Laboratory's version of the slogan "Remember the Alamo." It could happen again.
"It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when," according to the Laboratory's wildland fire specialist Patrick Valerio.
The Dome Fire exploded on April 26, 1996, ravaging lands decimated by drought. The fire flared up from an improperly extinguished campfire and destroyed more than 16,000 acres of juniper, piñon and ponderosa pine, and mixed conifers in the Jemez Mountains, just south of Los Alamos. Valerio said that in some areas there was complete vegetation conversion turning forested areas into a grassland-shrub area.
Before last year's fire, agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Los Alamos County Fire Department were working independently on fire prevention and fire protection strategies. The Laboratory had its own minimal fire management plan. As a result of the Dome Fire, federal agencies, the Laboratory, Los Alamos Fire Department and San Ildefonso Pueblo have joined forces, working together to combine resources and prevent future fires from being so devastating. An interim fire management team was established during and after the Dome Fire and continues to meet on a regular basis.
There are many examples of interagency cooperation, according to Laboratory Deputy Group Leader for Emergency Management and Response Ed Nettles.
The Laboratory conducted its first-ever controlled burn last fall with the help of the Park Service, Forest Service and LAFD. Forest Service and Park Service personnel assisted in training county fire fighters in wildland prescribed fires.
The Park Service and Forest Service are borrowing a Laboratory wood chipper to treat dense brush and trees in areas unsuitable for prescribed burning on agency lands. The chipper is an alternative to burning when conditions or locations are not conducive to burning such as in housing areas or near highways.
Forest Service crews are helping the Laboratory's Ecology Group mark trees for removal along West Jemez Road and near critical facilities to create a stronger fuel break in order to protect the Laboratory from the adjoining Forest Service lands.
During last year's fire season, the Laboratory offered equipment and support to other governmental agencies that asked for help. The Laboratory prepared an emergency heli-pad for Forest Service helicopters; provided four portable buildings for use as offices or temporary housing; provided mechanics on standby to repair any broken vehicles; provided water and water tenders; and established a joint information center with phones, computers, and copy machines.
For the 7,500-acre Hondo Fire north of Taos that burned the community of Lama, the Laboratory provided two portable buildings and offered water tenders and people to repair vehicles if needed.
From last year's fire season, Laboratory officials learned a valuable lesson.
"Los Alamos National Laboratory is situated in a Ponderosa Pine ecosystem, and should be managed as such," Valerio said. "We had forgotten about the effects the La Mesa Fire had on the Laboratory and the Dome Fire was another wake-up call for all of us. We've been doing great nuclear, chemical and material science, but we need to start doing ecosystem management or else Mother Nature will shut us down."
Valerio says portions of the Laboratory and the townsite are at high risk from wildfire damage because of the abundance of natural fuels such as trees and brush. Trees need thinning, fuels need to be reduced and fire roads need annual maintenance, but funding has been slow in coming.
At the regular meetings of the Interagency Fire Management Team, the interagency group openly discusses such problems.
"The IFMT is one of the greatest success stories coming out of the Dome Fire," Diana Webb, group leader for the Ecology Group at the Laboratory said. "We cut through the red tape, discuss our problems in a collegial, interagency atmosphere and get things done."
"We will always have wildfires in this area; it's part of the natural ecology of the plateau," Webb said. "With that recognition comes added responsibility."
That responsibility entails better placement of transportable buildings, active forest management and clearing and grading of fire roads and fire breaks and getting rid of the "it's-not-my-job" attitude, Webb said.
This year won't be much better for fire danger, according to fire specialists.
"Although we received a lot of snowpack this year," Forest Service Española District Fire Management Officer Robert Remillard said, "we haven't recovered the fuel moisture."
Although fuel moisture varies daily, generally fine fuels, like grasses, shrubs and twigs smaller than one quarter of an inch are at about the same level as they were last year at this time. Because of a dry and windy March, fire officials say this year's fire season promises to be an interesting one.
-- Kathy DeLucas
Children join parents at work
More than 1,500 children joined their parents at the Lab Thursday for Take Our Children to Work Day. For the first time, children were seen throughout the Lab, as employees who work in secure or restricted areas, such TA-55, were able to showcase some of their work site. The young Lab visitors were treated to demonstrations, tours and "fun stuff" at locations around the Lab, including the Bradbury Science Museum, the Otowi Building, the Research Library and LANSCE. And thanks to Julie Jenson and Gregg Woodfin in Analytical Quality and Chemical Information Management (CST-3), children visiting the Lab were able to create their own homepages using Netscape from a Lab computer. What did children think about spending the day with their folks at work? Based on comments left on the kids' Web page, it wasn't bad.
Cathy Miller of HR-Staffing shows daughters Cheryl, middle, and Megan the color-coded filing system in the Center for Nonlinear Studies. Photos by Fred Rick |
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Dedee McInroy of Materials Management (BUS-4) helps her son, Travis, build a Web page using a computer at the Research Library. |
Anna Zurek, right, of Materials Research and Processing Science (MST-5) demonstrates an alignment laser (red spot) in a 80-mm gas gun for her son, Max, left, and daughter, Nesia. |
Jan Frigo of Space and Atmospheric Sciences (NIS-1) demonstrates the mechanics of a robot at the Otowi Building, as some young Lab guests look on in fascination. |
Two Lab employees finish Boston Marathon
Laboratory employees Jerry Martinez of Media (CIC-17) and Tim Gallegos of Facilities Management (NMT-8) both ran in and completed the 101st Boston Marathon Monday in Boston.
Martinez finished the 26-mile, 385-yard marathon in 2 hours, 41 minutes and 56 seconds, according to results provided to the Associated Press.
Martinez's time was about 14 minutes off his personal best. Martinez, of Velarde, finished 144th out of the nearly 10,000 runners who started the Boston Marathon. Martinez also had the second highest finish of marathoners from New Mexico who competed Monday.
Jose Moreira of Albuquerque finished 44th in a time of 2:29:30, according to the Associated Press.
Lameck Aguta of Kenya won the men's division of the Boston Marathon in 2:10:34.
Martinez has worked at the Lab 21 years and has run long distance since 1983. Monday's marathon was Martinez's first in Boston. He has run other marathons in Las Vegas and Minnesota. Martinez said he finished 37th out of more than 2,000 runners at the Las Vegas Marathon in February.
Gallegos, an area work supervisor at Technical Area 55, finished Monday's marathon in 3:22:35, about 11 minutes off his personal best marathon. Gallegos was the 2,722nd runner to finish Monday's run.
Gallegos ran a personal best 3:11 at the Las Vegas marathon in February, he said, and completed a half-marathon -- 13 miles, 193 yards -- in 1:28 in Los Angeles in January.
--Steve Sandoval
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Newsbulletin Comments - Copyright © UC 1996 - Disclaimer - 25 April 1997
Garry Franklin of the Bradbury Science Museum watches as April
Baird "gets a feel" for static electricity during a demonstration
at the museum.
