Wildfire in New Mexico, May 4 to 31, 2000

The hot and dry weather throughout the spring culminated in a series of dastivating wildfires that sorched nearly 90,000 acres of forest and ravaged Los Alamos and the adjacent Los Alamos National Labratory (LANL). Wildfire also threatened eastern areas of Ruidoso.A prescribed burn which was ignited May 4 on property of the Bandilier National Monument quickly escaped its project area and then was fanned by gusty winds on May 6 and May 7 into a wildfire known as the Cerro Grande Fire. Despite containment efforts on May 8 and May 9, gusty winds and hot temperatures the afternoon and evening of May 10 caused the Cerro Grande Fire to rage into a fast moving fire storm which swept into western Los Alamos and LANL property. Officials had earlier evacuated over 11,000 people from Los Alamos and the Lab. About 250 homes and Lab buildings were lost to the fire. Another 10,000 people, included some already evacuated from Los Alamos, were later evacuated from White Rock as the Cerro Grande Fire threatened to move east May 12 through May 14. The fire which eventually consumed nearly 48,000 acres, abated in cooler and more humid weather about May 17, but was not fully contained at month's end. The human caused Cree Fire also intensified and spread quickly on May 7 near Ruidoso destroying about 8,000 acres of forest and over a dozen homes in rural neighborhoods of northeast Ruidoso. The fire was contained about May 12.