Wildfire Continues to Threaten Us State of New Mexico

Wildfire continues to threaten US state of New Mexico. As the Las Conchas fire continued, consuming some 61,000 acres as of Wednesday, June 29, it was only 3% contained as it continued to burn for the third day. As the wildfire spreads through the Santa Fe National Forest, which surrounds and town of Los Alamos on three sides, and has caused a massive expansion of smoke visible from space, radiation concerns have been raised over the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the atomic bomb was first developed and which remains a major nuclear arms manufacturing facility. The town of Los Alamos, with some 10,000 residents, and the nuclear lab’s approximately 12,000 employees had been evacuated on Monday, and around 12 homes have burned. Some 350 firefighters with five helicopters and 12 trucks are working to extinguish the blaze. They have deliberately set their own fires around the site to prevent the flames from overtaking the lab, where some 20,000 barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste is being stored. The Environmental Protection Agency is deploying dozens of air monitors around the state, although there has thus far been no sign of increased radiation levels. As when fires began in the states of Texas and Arizona in early June, Supreme Master Ching Hai asked that our Association members please check with local officials to see if any assistance is needed, and to go if possible to render support to the affected. She added that emergency funds would be available as necessary. We thank the firefighters courageously working to put out the flames as we also convey our gratefulness for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s loving concern. Our prayers for the protection of those in the affected regions, and that such dangerous situations may soon be alleviated through humanity’s eco-friendly actions�