Local fire officials predicted Tuesday the Las Conchas fire could grow much larger, but they tempered that dim view by saying they felt good about their odds of keeping it from the town of Los Alamos and the national laboratory that bears its name.

“There is so much unburned fuel between here and Bernalillo, I seriously believe it could grow to 100,000 acres," Los Alamos County Fire Chief Doug Tucker said of the Las Conchas blaze, which grew to 60,000 acres Tuesday, during a midday press conference.

The fire is zero percent contained and had run up to the ridge overlooking Los Alamos, but had stopped there except for some spot fires below, Tucker said. Meanwhile, the fire continued to burn on the south and west borders of the lab, at points the only barrier to lab property being a road, Tucker said. "We have fire all around on two sides," the chief said.

“As long as the fire stays where it is, we're in good shape,” Tucker said. “Right now we're feeling pretty good. But we're not into the heat of the day yet.”

Tucker noted the rapidly changing direction of the wind Tuesday. Windiness can help drive a blaze.

The lab’s director, Charles McMillan, told the assembled media that no fires were burning on lab property Tuesday, although a small fire had erupted on a part of the lab Monday. That small blaze was quickly extinguished by aerial water drops.

The lab’s facilities and nuclear materials “are protected and safe,” McMillan said, adding that there had been no release of materials since the blaze started Sunday.

Thousands of barrels of low-level transuranic waste in Area G of the lab are far from the fire, and safe, the director said.

Tucker, the fire chief, estimated the fire was two miles from the barrels.

On Monday evening, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, a nuclear watchdog group, had issued a media alert Monday evening warning about the proximity of the fire to Area G, where transuranic radioactive waste contained in metal containers is housed, awaiting transportation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

About 10,000 of the containers are stored above ground under fabric domes, and 6,000 are "retrievably" buried, a lab official said Monday. The official said the containers have not been tested for their ability to withstand wildfire, but he noted Area G is "relatively barren, most of it is paved and there's not a lot of fuel there."

Tucker, the fire chief, said he was not worried about the fire getting to the barrels.

“A running fire will not get to these barrels. I don't see this as an issue,” Tucker said.

New Mexico’s junior U.S. Senator, Tom Udall, also spoke at Tuesday’s midday press conference, as did New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration will pick up 75 percent of the cost of fighting the Las Conchas fire, Udall said.

Udall also had a message for out-of-state tourists unsure about visiting the state.

If you're looking to come to New Mexico, come, Udall said.

“All of New Mexico is not on fire,” he said.