FW: "historic" Los Alamos lab buildings destroyed by fire..

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

Could anyone please comment on the veracity of the statements concerning the
destruction of the "historic" buildings ?
....this message was forwarded to me by a colleague.

Thank you.

Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ca
<><><><><><><><><><><>

> >From the international abolition listserver.......Bev
> Janet Bloomfield wrote:
> Forest fire razes bomb laboratories
> Julian Borger in Washington
> Tuesday May 16, 2000
> The Guardian
> 
> The birthplace of the atomic bomb succumbed to the forces of nature at
> the weekend when the site of the secret wartime Manhattan Project was
> burned
> 
> down by a forest fire sweeping across New Mexico, it was reported
> yesterday.
> 
> The complex of buildings where US scientists worked on the prototype
> bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was razed as the fire - originally
> started as a "controlled burn" - encroached on the Los Alamos nuclear
> laboratories.
> They had been earmarked by the White House as historic sites under the
> "Save America's Treasures" programme.
> 
> Nearly a third of the 43 sq mile site was affected. According to a
> damage assessment report quoted by Reuters: "The historic V-site complex
> from
> the Manhattan Project has been lost except for the high-bay building where
> the Trinity high explosive assembly was configured."
> 
> The Trinity bomb was the first atomic weapon detonated, on a test site
> in the southern New Mexico desert, on July 16 1945.
> 
> Officials at Los Alamos said firefighters had succeeded in keeping the
> flames away from the current plutonium storage sites and radioactive
> waste dumps. The energy department had assured nearby residents that there
> was
> never any danger of a nuclear accident because the storage sites were
> protected by heavy concrete shells.
> 
> State officials said yesterday that the fire, which has already burned
> 42,000 acres (16,800 hectares) of New Mexico forest, was "28%
> contained", and 7,000 local residents were allowed to return to their
> homes. But
> they said the Los Alamos laboratories were not out of danger, because
> anticipated high winds could fan the fire again.
> 
> The fire began last week as a deliberately set "controlled burn"
> intended to clear dry bush along a cordon to limit the spread of future
> forest
> fires.
> But high temperatures and strong winds fanned the blaze out of control
> in an area suffering its worst drought for more than two centuries.
> 
> The blaze has already caused an estimated $1bn (£625m) in damage,
> destroying 260 homes and sending 20,000 people fleeing for safety. The
> national
> parks official who ordered the "controlled burn" has been sent on leave
> while
> the fire is being investigated.
> 
> Yesterday the fire was reported to be to within half a mile of ancient
> native American cliff dwellings and the small adobe town of Abiquiu, the
> 
> setting and inspiration for many of the paintings of the artist Georgia
> O'Keeffe, who lived there for nearly 40 years.
> 
> Janet Bloomfield
> 25 Farmadine
> Saffron Walden
> Essex
> CB11 3HR
> England
> Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1799 516189
> e-mail: janet@atomicmirror.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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