Las Conchas fire burns out of control on pueblo land

July 01, 2011

by tomorrow morning, the las conchas fire is expected to be the largest wildfire in state history. that's just one piece of new information that came out of a news conference held earlier tonight jeremy jojola was there and is live in los alamos with more on how crews plan to attack the fire going forward... jeremy? we've learned tonight for the first time air tankers will hit this fire at its most aggressive spot..and at this hour, that's to the north on pueblo land. they will fly tomorrow. but for fire activity surrounding los alamos good news for the town ...but bad news for santa clara pueblo. a scare just outside of town as the fire crept into los alamos canyon..... a canyon full of buildings and trees that leads into town. for joe martz of los alamos, who has ignored the mandatory evacuation order, it was a scare. "the first thing i did was contact the fire department to make sure they were aware ..." and they were--fire crews did some controlled burns in the canyon. this evening, concern about the burning canyon wasn't as elevated. fire chief doug tucker sounded optimistic about the fires activity near town. "for los alamos, this has been a great day, everything is holding. the burn operation in los alamos canyon worked." but farther north, the fire burns out of control on santa clara puelbo land. fire fighters had to ll back because of dangerous conditions and sacred sites to the pueblo have been destroyed. "the actions that we took today were the best that we could do given the conditions." unofficially, the fire is the largest on state record--updated numbers tomorrow morning will definately show it grew past tghe 94-thousand record mark, according to fire officials. and it's predicted, the fire will eventually grow beyond 100-thousand acres. those air tankers will hit the fire tomorrow ...they would have flown today...but the plum of smoke was just to big and in the way to effectively attack from the air. tomorrow..day six of the record-breaking las conchas fire. back to you. tonight los alamos officials are urging evacuees to be patient---stressing it might be awhile before people can return to their homes. some county workers---who are being notified by phone--- will be back to work tomorrow to relieve crews that stayed behind..... officials stress there is no timetable whatsoever for when los alamos residents can return home....