Los Alamos residents made an orderly exit from the community Monday afternoon under a mandatory evacuation as the Las Conchas Fire swept across more than 50,000 acres of the Jemez Mountains nearby.

In one day, the fire burned across more acres than the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire did in two weeks. The fire was first reported at 1 p.m. Sunday at about 100 acres on private land near mile marker 35 of N.M. 4. It had grown to 43,000 acres by Monday at dawn, driven by winds of up to 60 miles per hour and plentiful dry forest fuels.

By Monday night, the fire had crossed into the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. Fire managers were concerned about the blaze entering Pajarito Canyon, only a few miles from the community of Los Alamos. The fire also was burning three miles from Area G, where barrels of radioactive waste are stored in preparation for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad.

The fire's cause remains under investigation, but officials said it may have been sparked by a downed power line.

So far, the fire has leveled an estimated 30 structures, most of them homes, in the small communities of Las Conchas and Cochiti Mesa. "They had only minutes to leave," said Los Alamos County Fire Chief Doug Tucker, who flew over the fire earlier in the day. "They had no time to pack. They lost everything."

It burned into Frijoles Canyon, closing Bandelier National Monument, and spotted into Los Alamos National Laboratory property around 2 p.m. Monday near Technical Area 49 on the lab's far southwest side. The small fire was quickly controlled, but the lab remains closed today.

Firefighters backburned to prevent the fire from moving toward Los Alamos. "We are putting fire on the ground," Tucker said. "It is dangerous, but it is an important tool."

Leaving home

Those who endured the Cerro Grande Fire, which destroyed 235 homes, seemed to handle this one calmly.

"I'm expecting this place to go," said Darren Naud as he and his children loaded up belongings in front of the family's home on 35th Street.

The Nauds lost a home in the Cerro Grande Fire. They began packing Sunday the minute the town was placed on a voluntary evacuation notice. "We're experts at this," joked Naud, a former explosives chemist with Los Alamos National Laboratory who now co-owns a theatrical pyrotechnics business.

The mandatory evacuation for Los Alamos came around noon. White Rock remained on a voluntary evacuation. The evacuation was handled in stages, with neighborhoods receiving Reverse 911 calls and text messages alerting them when it was time to leave. A long stream of vehicles, RVs and trailers were soon lined up on Trinity Drive to get out of town.

On Arizona Avenue, on the Los Alamos perimeter near the old Cerro Grande burn, Clark deNevers was frantically tossing flammable materials into the backyard away from the house where the family had recently moved his father-in-law. "We didn't take this seriously enough. We only started moving things away from the house half an hour ago," he said.

His next-door neighbor, Craig Martin, was busy watering around his home and sawing off a few low branches on pine trees. Martin directs the Los Alamos County Open Space and Trails Program. He coordinated massive reseeding and rehabilitation projects on the Cerro Grande burn. In the last few years, he's worked with county and Santa Fe National Forest fire crews to thin trees and conduct prescribed burns within the community. "We're in a lot better position than we were 10 years ago (to protect the town from fire)," he said.

Martin said if Las Conchas reaches the old Cerro Grande burn, it will hit grass. "It won't burn with the intensity of Cerro Grande, but it will move fast. It is good they ordered the evacuation early."

"This fire is exactly what was predicted five years ago, burning right where they said it would, in Frijoles Canyon," Martin added. "I just didn't think it would come this soon."

The Jones family from across the street stopped by. They were packed up and ready to go. But Dave Jones was having a hard time driving away. "I don't feel like leaving yet," he said. "It is not like the flames are right here."

During Cerro Grande, the Jones family evacuated and spent two weeks thinking their two-story house had burned after it appeared on a list of destroyed properties. A propane tank blew over onto their neighbor's house, and burned it down. It turned out their home was fine, but the waiting "was miserable," Dawn Jones said.

At the Los Alamos Stables, most of the horses had been evacuated by owners, but not all. Judy Luna, a White Rock resident, had managed to move two of her five horses to the Santa Fe Horse Park, which was providing free stable space. But two balked at getting in the trailer. One ended up getting a front leg caught in a rope and was injured. Luna had to leave him at the stable with the other two. Neighbors who are staying will take care of the three until the evacuation is over.

By midafternoon Monday, the town looked empty. The hospital had been closed and patients evacuated, according to Los Alamos officials. Most gas stations, restaurants and other businesses also were closed.

For Tucker, the scene was all too familiar. He was fire chief during the Cerro Grande Fire and evacuations. "I saw those flames (from Las Conchas) and thought, 'Oh my god, here we go again,' " Tucker said during a news conference at the Los Alamos County Airport.

Winds had shifted out of the south and southwest by Monday evening. "No wind would help us. Rain would really help us," Tucker said.

A few hours later, a light rain did fall on the town as a thunderstorm moved in.

Helping hands

Gov. Susana Martinez sent the Army National Guard to Los Alamos to help. About 85 guardsmen were helping direct traffic and driving around neighborhoods Monday afternoon, reminding residents of the evacuations. Another 100 were on their way, and about 1,000 are available if needed, according to Adjutant General Kenny Montoya. Two Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters also are on standby.

Members of the Southwest Area Type I Incident Management Team, coming off Arizona's half-million-acre Wallow Fire, arrived Monday to help coordinate the fight against the Las Conchas blaze. The team was activated due, in part, to the fire's scorching rate of growth, said Brad Pitassi, the team's public information officer.

A Type I team is called in for the most complicated fires when resources are needed "that kind of go a little further than what the states can provide," Pitassi said. "We can bring in aerial services from all over the country; firefighters from all over the country."

"We should see a big influx in the next couple of days," Pitassi said. "As resources are needed, we will go out and order those crews as necessary."

The growth of the Las Conchas Fire and its proximity to the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the community of Los Alamos caused enough concern that U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., stopped by the lab's emergency operations center Monday morning.

"The first thing I wanted to do is talk to the director" of the labs to ask if there are any federal issues that needed his involvement "in terms of giving additional federal support," Udall said.

The fire "is experiencing some pretty extreme wind behavior, and that is known to drive a fire," Pitassi said, describing one situation that concerns his team members: "spot fires."

That occurs when the fire reaches the tops of trees, then jumps, throwing up embers into the air. "With this fire behavior, they have had half-a-mile spotting, which can create some extreme fire behavior," Pitassi said. In other words, the embers are being thrown half a mile away.

Team members on the incident management team include a meteorologist and a fire behaviorist.

A fire behaviorist tries to predict what a fire will do next based on certain factors, Pitassi said.

"A fire is a science," Pitassi said. "The way a fire behaves and the different fuel sources — the alpines, the Douglas firs, the mixed conifers, the grasses and brushes — all has relatively predictable behavior."

The fire behaviorist "will fly over the fire, he will hike out to it, assess what fuels it's getting into," Pitassi said. "They will take samples of the trees to see how dry they are."

"Every fire has its own personality," Pitassi said.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com. New Mexican reporter Trip Jennings contributed to this report.

GIVING AND FINDING HELP

Monetary aid

Donations can be made at the offices of the following organizations:

• Red Cross, 1213 Mercantile Road B, 424-1611

• The Salvation Army, 525 W. Alameda St., 988-8054

• Española Valley Humane Society's animal shelter, 108 Hamm Parkway in Española, 753-8662

• The Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society, 100 Caja del Rio Road, 983-4309

Animals

• The Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society is prepared to take in dogs, cats and other small household pets for those evacuating from fire-affected areas. Animals brought to the shelter should be in carriers or otherwise contained — even pillowcases for cats and belts or ropes as leashes for dogs will work. Evacuees should help with the feeding, walking and care of their animals as much as possible.

• Check the Española Valley Humane Society's Facebook page for information on volunteering if the shelter experiences an influx of animals in response to the fire.

• Evacuees with horses or livestock should call the Santa Fe Horse Park at 946-7676 or 500-2342, or the New Mexico Horsemen's Association at the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds, 471-6654.


Dry weather continues

The weather over the next few days isn't likely to help stifle the Las Conchas Fire burning near Los Alamos. A few thunderstorms are in the forecast for Northern New Mexico, but with little chance of fire-dampening rain. A 10 percent chance of rain is expected daily through the week.

The winds are predicted to remain light, 15 to 20 mph around Los Alamos through Wednesday. Highs will hover around the 80s in Los Alamos and 90s in Santa Fe. Smoke from both the Pacheco and Las Conchas fires will continue to impact air quality around Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos and Los Alamos counties.