NEWS AND VIEWS: Fires in Los Alamos: a resident's reflections (08/13/00)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Fires in Los Alamos: a resident's reflections

by Anna Chopek

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - The most frightening chapter in the history of Los Alamos began when a National Park Service "prescribed fire" - aimed at reducing the fire risk to Los Alamos National Laboratory - went awry during the second week of May. Some 260 buildings were destroyed; 48,000 acres of land as well as 9,000 acres of the National Laboratory land were consumed.

The fire spread rapidly due to days of unceasing winds of 65 mph. Flames shot up the high ponderosa trees, and then spread from treetop to treetop. It became impossible to fight the fire from the ground, and helicopters and planes could not help because of the winds.

Los Alamos is located on two mesas, one 7,300 feet above sea level and the other, called White Rock, about 1,000 feet lower. The population is 17,000 inhabitants. I live in the western area of the upper mesa, and we were the first group of people to be relocated when evacuations began on May 10. The rest of the town was evacuated a couple of days later.

What do you take when you are told you must leave immediately? I took some financial papers, my income tax returns, a half-packed suitcase for a planned trip to a convention of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and filled another suitcase with the good clothes I would need at the convention.

I looked at my collection of Ukrainian artifacts and embroideries, hanging on my walls and strewn all over my house. There was no time to decide what to take - besides no one realized how bad it would get - so I took nothing else.

We were told later: if you can buy it, don't take it. It was an orderly evacuation - bumper to bumper, but there was no panic. We could see flames shooting up in the air in the distance, and there was a lot of smoke.

There were eight members of our family in Los Alamos, plus four dogs, three cats and some hamsters. We ended up in Santa Fe (about an hour's drive from Los Alamos). I have two nephews living in Santa Fe, so we split up between them.

For one week we were glued to our TV sets. All regular TV programming had been canceled, and all we watched were the media reporters, reports of the firefighters and aerial photos of the fire. It was nerve-wracking. Finally, at the end of a week, a list of all the houses that were totally destroyed was published. To our great relief, none of our family, houses were on the list.

Those whose houses were completely destroyed were allowed to look at the devastation. They were taken in buses, along with psychiatrists and doctors, to view their lots. They were not allowed to get off the bus - all they could do was look. What an ordeal that must have been!

The rest of us were told that it would be some time before we would be allowed to return to our houses, so on May 15 I took off to the AARP convention in Florida. As I was packing I discovered that, with all the confusion of moving suitcases from my car to my sisters', the suitcase with all my good clothes had been left behind in Los Alamos. So, I had to do some shopping to replenish my wardrobe.

Coming up to Los Alamos on June 18 I didn't see any dramatic changes. The mountains didn't look as green as they once did; there were large black areas. Trees in the forests looked like blackened sticks. Coming into the center of the town, there were no visible changes. Stores, banks, credit unions, the library, post office, police station - all were open and doing business as usual. The schools and churches were not affected.

Los Alamos is surrounded by mountains and forests, and it was these forests that burned furiously. The houses close to the forest were totally destroyed as the wind blew the fire down the streets leading from the forest. There are many canyons throughout Los Alamos, and the fires spread quickly in the canyons, coming up to burn the houses built along the edges.

I arrived at my house - nothing had changed. I went inside - no damage. The food in my freezer and refrigerator had spoiled, but my sister had cleaned that up, so I had no problem moving right in. We drove slowly up my road, Trinity Drive, and only 12 houses from mine I saw an empty lot with only a chimney on it, and much rubble. There had been a beautiful two-story wooden house standing there before the fire. The owner had been working on it for about a year, and had just about finished all his work. It was all gone. All around there were other lots, with chimneys and rubble where houses once stood. How fortunate I was that my house escaped.

As I rode by some of these lots, I saw a woman searching through the ashes. I heard later that one woman found a diamond from her ring in the ashes of her house. I was told that at another house there was a row of nails evenly placed in a line on the scorched ground, exactly as they had been set in a wooden beam that was now ashes.

Everywhere I went the first words of a conversation were: Did your house survive the fire? Where did you end up during the evacuation?

There was great concern that there will be floods when the rainy season begins. Water will be coming down from the mountains and there is nothing in the ground to hold it back. National Forest Service and other workers have begun erosion and flood control rehabilitation. Projects have included contour raking, straw bale placement and hazardous tree removal. Five helicopters and five fixed-wing aircraft are doing the reseeding. Some 3,500 pounds of seed are dropped over the burned areas during each flight. Volunteers are climbing over the burned areas stomping down the seeds that have been dropped. They are hoping the seeds will sprout, and that the special grasses will take hold and keep the land from washing away with the rains.

The people of Los Alamos and the state of New Mexico have been very generous. Donations of money, clothing and food have been outstanding. Those who have lost everything can go to various churches and other organizations to pick up clothing and other necessities free of charge. One company, Johnson Controls, which does contract work for the National Laboratory, presented $5,000 to each of their 11 employees who had been burned out.

The government has cleared a large area of land for 114 trailers. So far, 43 trailers have been occupied. They are furnished with beds, tables, chairs, cabinets, refrigerators. People must furnish their own bedding and other necessities. A committee of women want the people to feel welcome in their new homes. So, they persuaded companies to donate wine, bread and salt. Each occupant will be delivered a bottle of wine, bread and salt. If they had no insurance, they can live rent free. If they did have insurance, they must pay $700 a month rent, as they will be reimbursed by the insurance companies.

The town is arranging for the clearing of the land. The government will reimburse the town. There are fire insurance adjusters everywhere. Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives are taking in claims. People are waiting for the settlement of their claims, for the land to be cleared so that they may proceed with rebuilding their homes.

Life goes on ... and thus the city of Los Alamos will survive.

Anna Chopek is the president of the UNA Seniors.

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