Las Conchas fire burns at 90,000 acres Wednesday night

June 30, 2011

to fight the flames. the las conchas fire is now up to about 90-thousand acres .. tonight we're getting a look at some very dramatic video of the smoke plume hovering over the gigantic fire. joe vigil has the very latest details on what the fire is doing. he's live in los alamos. today was described as a make it or break it day. crews took full advantage of the winds and are very pleased tonight about the situation arnd los alamos. but good news here is bad news elsewhere. take a look at the enormous smoke plume. even veteran fire fighters were amazed to see it. minute thumbnail 10:05 pm this is time lapse video we shot of the plume which reaches up to 30-thousand feet. so big we're told it could start to create its own weather system. the plume is basically north of town...away from los alamos homes. crews basically have better containment lines south of los alamos around the lab...and north toward the ski area. 6:14:00 "all they way up to this area here around quemazon it makes me feel really good. it's sad to see the plume behind me but as far as our houses and residents our county our lab we are in the best shape since this thing started." this is video we shot late tonight south of los alamos. the fire is about a half mile to a mile from the closest homes. "we've had no structures threatened, we've had no structures on fire in the county or at the lab. so that's great news for us." now the bad news. about 15-thousand acres of growth--seen here in red-- took place north of los alamos. that black line is the santa clara pueblo. the fire moved a half minute thumbnail 10:06 pm mile north into the pueblo for the first time. "it's made it into the pueblo into the headwaters into their watershed. the value there is not the structures but the value of that watershed to the santa clara, very important for them." the fire also grew on the southern end as well. chief tucker says it's about 10 miles from jemez springs. the chief would like to see people back in their homes on friday---but right now he can't say if that will actually happen. new tonight...