 |
| Interior takes responsibility |
May 18, 2000 |
| |
Secretary Babbitt said the National Park Service ignored safety rules and weather conditions when it started its controlled burn.
The U.S. Department of Interior today took full responsibility for the devastating Cerro Grande Fire, admitting National Park Service crews
ignored safety rules and weather standards meant
to keep prescribed burns from growing into
wildfires.
U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt broke the news of the Park Service`s mistakes during a
briefing to elected officials in Washington and Santa Fe.
The report, according to its main conclusion, states: "Federal personnel failed to properly plan
and implement . . . the prescribed burn."
"The president has instructed the Interior Department to make sure that all losses are fully
compensated," Babbitt said, according to Deborah Martinez, press aide to Rep. Tom Udall, a Santa Fe Democrat.
"It couldn`t have been worse," Rep. Heather Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican, said after a congressional briefing. "The plan was flawed. They ignored the plan. They didn`t use the checklist."
Wilson said the Park Service even failed to
have resources in place to implement a contingency plan in the event the fire got out of
hand.
"It does two things for me," Wilson said. "It
says to me people are clearly entitled to
compensation because the federal government
screwed up. Second, I have lost confidence in the
agencies to do prescribed burns.
"It was all up and down," she added. "It was
not just a couple of guys on the ground. It couldn`t have been worse."
Babbitt, who is in Santa Fe, planned an afternoon press conference to deliver the news to all New Mexicans.
The Cerro Grande`s cause, according to an
executive report, boiled down to a complete
breakdown by the Park Service.
The Cerro Grande Fire, which destroyed significant sections of Los Alamos and lapped onto
the highly sensitive Los Alamos National
Laboratory, continues to burn in large sections of
northern New Mexico.
The prescribed burn, or planned fire, was set May 4 at the Bandelier National Monument by Park
Service crews. The Department of the Interior
oversees the Park Service.
The burn, aimed at reducing fire risk near the
monument, grew into the worst fire in the history
of New Mexico.
All told, the fire forced 18,000 residents from
Los Alamos and White Rock to evacuate their
homes as flames roared into their community.
Roy Weaver, the parks superintendent who took responsibility for starting the fire, was placed
on paid administrative leave.
After two weeks of terrorizing communities in
north central New Mexico, Cerro Grande is now 60
percent contained, fire officials said this morning.
The U.S. Forest Service at noon said the fire has
burned 47,650 acres.
The fire did not grow significantly in the past
24 hours, fire information officer Joe Pasinato
said, and authorities are preparing to pull some of the resources -- including some of the nearly 1,300 firefighters battling the Cerro Grande -- out of action.
"We will probably see a wind-down process in
operations in the next 24 hours," Pasinato said.
"We`re releasing resources because it`s looking
well for us, but we`ll certainly keep enough here to keep this thing in check."
Air operations are concentrating on the north
side of the fire, where there is the most
movement, Pasinato said.
Crews, he added, are working the west side,
which is "looking good," putting out hot spots.
To date the firefighting effort has cost $7.4
million.
Many Los Alamos residents still have not been
able to return to their homes except for brief visits under National Guard escort.
Other evacuees early this week began returning to their homes in Los Alamos and nearby White Rock, which was also evacuated late last week.
In the fire`s aftermath, victims are demanding
an explanation of the decision to start the
controlled burn that led to the Cerro Grande Fire.
Residents say setting the fire didn`t make
sense given the state`s dry lands and high winds.
On Wednesday, Wilson said the plan required Park Service officials have an updated weather report.
"They either had the report and didn`t pay
attention to it, or they didn`t have the report and shouldn`t have lit the match," Wilson said.
She said the Cerro Grande Fire seems to highlight a "serious problem" with the government`s controlled-burn practices.
"They need to extend the moratorium until they fix the problem," Wilson said. "I don`t see
how they followed their own plan and their own
checklist, and that is a serious, serious problem."
The Clinton administration imposed a 30-day
moratorium on controlled burns from the Great
Plains to the West Coast.
As Babbitt delivered the investigation`s findings, firefighters were back on the fire line
today trying to push past 60 percent containment.
Jim Paxon, the Forest Service`s main fire
information officer, said the fire in the Santa Clara Canyon northeast of Los Alamos hadn`t burned its way out to pose any danger to the nearly 10,200 residents in the nearby Santa Clara Pueblo.
Officials are now focusing on the northeast
corner of the 95,000-acre Baca Ranch. About
1,000 acres of grasslands and juniper trees there
have been burned, Paxon said.
The ranch lies to the northwest of Los Alamos.
Winds from the west, however, on Wednesday were blowing that fire back onto itself.
The weather had officials counting their blesings.
"I just can`t emphasize enough how important
it was that this wind did not hit us yesterday,"
Paxon said, standing outside the Los Alamos Inn
at a press briefing while the wind gusted up to 50
mph at times.
And as those winds picked up intermittently during the day, residents became alarmed that
the fire would return to Los Alamos. Several
stopped by the Forest Service office to ask about
the plumes of smoke -- not seen for at least a day
-- hovering over the hills north of the city.
Paxon said residents shouldn`t be alarmed by what they see.
"Folks are going to see flares for a long time at
night and smoke during the day," he said. "We`ll
be seeing smoke until July." |
|
|
|