Las Conchas fire highest priority fire in the nation

July 02, 2011

it's now the largest in new mexico history at more than 103- thousand acres. our team coverage starts right now. we have new information tonight on where the fire has spread and what it has destroyed. let's head straight to los alamos where jeremy jojola is standing by live with the very latest. jeremy. fire actity continues west of los alalmos today....as you can see in the ridges behind me.. but this monster is still growing, and far more destructive up north ... the state's largest fire on record continues to grow out of control to the north-west of los alamos burning through santa clara pueblo land. 12-hundered fire fighters are now on the fire, with even more on the way. a costly fire fight. "thus far, calculations at 2.8 million dollars spent. it will go up exponentially just because every day dollars are being added to that. it's the number one priority in the country." the fire has destroyed half of bandalier national park where buildings are still inact. the ski area a few miles from town lost a chair lift. but as for los alamos, fire officials remain confident the town is safe from fire.. but its still too smokey to let people come back home, according to firefighters. "but for all practical purposes, we're looking pretty good, we've got some good anchors..." the fire has destroyed sacred sites on santa clara pueblo, including its water-shed as it moves north into rio arriba county. back in mostly empty los alamos... 12:17:30 "all the carrots, celery will go to meal operations today." co-op manager steve watts has a lot of perishable food on his hands...some of it spoiling. "we are gonna loose some fruit because it just rined so quick ...but for the most part i wld say 90 percent of our perishable product is going to be able to go to meal operations." fire figherts have moved resources to the north end of the fire...and are attacking with air tankers... coming up at six ..a focus on the devestation in the cochiti mesa area..a lot of homes lost in that area...we have some heart breaking grown images coming up. live in los alamos.... jeremy jojola, kob eyewitness news 4. los alamos national lab is working to help ease evacuees' concerns by releasing fly- over images of homes near the las conchas fire. these pictures were taken yesterday. the goal is to have a place where people can get an up to date view of their home. the images will allow zooming similar to a google earth picture. lanl has set up a website... you can find a link to it by logging on to kob dot com and clicking 4 links.