Roberto E. Rosales / AP

The Las Conchas fire near the town of Los Alamos is still smoldering the distance Sunday, July 4 on what was supposed to be a festive Fourth of July. Pictured in the foreground is a fire fighting helicopter grounded at the Los Alamos airport . There were no fireworks for this community on that night. Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Las Conchas fire smolders, puts damper on Fourth of July festivities

By Rich Shulman

The evacuation order was lifted Sunday, and residents returned to the city. Slideshow.

As Reuters reported:

Firefighters battling New Mexico's monster Las Conchas wildfire fought on Tuesday to beat the blaze back from around the sacred Chicoma Mountain, a peak considered the spiritual center for a nearby Indian tribe.

The fire, which last week lapped at the edges of the Los Alamos nuclear complex and forced its closure, has already consumed nearly 15,000 acres on the Santa Clara Indian reservation since Sunday as it spread northward.

Brad Pitassi, a spokesman for a multi-agency fire command team, said the wildfire, New Mexico's largest, had seen "very little growth" on the reservation since Monday. A fireline drawn to protect the pueblo continued to hold, and no homes or other buildings were in immediate danger.


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