Weekly News & Updates From Los Alamos County |
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The next Council meeting is a May 24 regular session
The next Los Alamos County Council meeting is a regular session and will take place on May 24th, at 6 p.m. Note: Due to voting, this meeting will be held remotely only. Participation will be via Zoom.
The full agenda packet and Zoom link to join the meeting are posted online. View the complete agenda packet for this meeting here. |
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Op Ed – rationale for Stage 3 fire restrictions
May 19, 2022
by: LAFD Chief Troy Hughes
To the Los Alamos County community – I fully understand the disappointment the community is experiencing by not being able to enjoy our wonderful outdoor surroundings due to the Stage 3 closures. While sympathizing with the feelings of loss, as someone who primarily gets all his exercise on the local trails, as the Fire Chief, I need to make sound decisions with public safety coming first. The Los Alamos County closure of our trail system only impacts the trails within the Los Alamos and White Rock townsites, including the interior canyons, like Pueblo and Bayo Canyons. The bulk of all available trails in the area are either Santa Fe National Forest or LANL/DOE owned, and subject to closures by those entities. Almost all the trails in the White Rock area are on DOE property, and the trails in Pajarito Acres are privately held and controlled by the homeowner’s association. You can find this ownership data for all trail areas in the County on the Los Alamos County Assessor website under parcel maps.
The trails within the interior canyons of Los Alamos pose the greatest risk to our community. A new fire start in one of these canyons would quickly spread up the canyon walls and involve many homes that lie on the upper edge. I have personally witnessed the utter devastation affecting communities, such as Santa Rosa, CA, when fires quickly move through a developed community like Los Alamos. While our community is very beautiful and historic in nature, it is poorly designed to allow any rapid exodus in the event of a rapidly spreading wildfire. The mesas offer great views, but only one way out for a considerable number of people. Los Alamos has experienced two fires in recent history that were very devastating and required evacuation of the community. Cerro Grande came into the community from the west and burned some residential neighborhoods in the western area and north community. Las Conchas did not burn into the townsite. The canyons on the interior of Los Alamos contain no burn scar and are well stocked with record-setting dry fuel that will fully support a fire that would almost instantly rise up into the crowns of the trees and get beyond what our firefighting resources can control.
Knowing these record-setting extreme fire influencing conditions exist, if I accommodated the requests to drop Los Alamos County out of a Stage 3 configuration, how would I explain my rationale for lifting these restrictions in the event a wildfire broke out and burned a significant portion of the Los Alamos townsite? How could I explain my rationale for dropping the Stage 3 restrictions when Santa Fe National Forest, Cibola National Forest, Carson National Forest, and LANL all retained the Stage 3 restrictions. My only answer would be that I thought the convenience of citizens was more important than the safety of the community as a whole, despite the fire behavior science provided to me by professional fire behavior analysts.
I have and will continue to receive significant criticism for moving our county to Stage 3 fire restrictions, but the criticism, while not pleasant, in no way would compare to the regret I would have if I didn’t use every possible tool available to reduce the threat of wildfire in our community. We only have to glance to the North to the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire to see what is now the largest fire in New Mexico history (double the size of Las Conchas and growing). Fortunately, the citizens in the path of this fire don’t live on top of multiple mesas with only one way out that could lead them directly into the path of a raging fire.
I hope and pray we don’t experience a fire in the coming weeks before we can receive some significant moisture. The first night of the Cerro Pelado fire was in a forested area that was not part of a burn scar. The area was in the process of being logged and was thinned to forest service standards. Even with the thinning, the fuel conditions being so dry, coupled with red flag conditions including 50+ mph canyon winds, this fire almost immediately rose into the crowns of the trees and pushed a spot fire out nearly two miles ahead of the main fire. The Cerro Pelado fire started nearly a month ago when temperatures were much cooler and it had rained a few weeks before the start of the fire. Today, the temperatures are much hotter, and it’s been more than 50 days without any measurable precipitation. We continue to experience red flag days on a regular basis, which support extreme fire behavior and rapid growth. Fire conditions have only gotten worse with time.
I am sorry for the inconvenience Stage 3 causes the community, but public safety must come first and all indications fully support extreme precautions during record-setting, extreme fire potential conditions. I assure you we will immediately lift the restrictions when appropriate to do so. I am an avid outdoor person who has spent a considerable amount of time in our forests. My experience and familiarity with the forest was helpful during the Cerro Pelado fire. I am quite likely just as anxious as you are to return to the forest and continue to explore.
Troy Hughes
LAFD Fire Chief
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County remains “ready”; services open, and asks the community to remain diligent in Stage 3
Los Alamos County officials remind the community that even though the county has moved from “Set” to “Ready” this week, thanks to the thousands of firefighting personnel who have contained 74 percent of the Cerro Pelado fire, Stage 3 fire restrictions remain in place. This is due to unprecedented dry conditions and dangerously high risk of fire.
Read the full press release here.
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Aquatic Center front desk operations move to Municipal Building temporarily
The Los Alamos County Aquatic Center front desk operations will be shifted to the Municipal Building, 1000 Central Ave., room 200 during the Aquatic Center closure, May 23 – 27, 2022. Office hours will be from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.
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Eco Station and Overlook Collection Center announce holiday closures
The Eco Station and Overlook Collection Center will be closed on May 30, 2022 in observance of Memorial Day. Additionally, there will be no residential or commercial trash and recycling collection service provided on Monday, May 30. If the observed date falls on your normal collection day, place your materials out on Wednesday, June 1.
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Late fees to be waived for missing utility bills
Billing specialists for the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities (DPU) discovered a bill file sent to DPU’s printing contractor was inadvertently skipped over in the printing and mailing process. The error affects customers on Cycle 23 who get hard-copy bills through the mail.
The missing bills are dated April 21 and copies are being mailed out. DPU will not charge cycle 23 customers with late fees on these bills. Cycle 23 customers will see their next bills shortly after the April bills arrive. Any customers with concerns about paying the two bills closely together may call the Customer Care Center at 505-662-8333 to set up payment arrangements.
Cycle 23 covers Elk Ridge and areas near Los Alamos High School. Payments for customers on autopay were drafted before the error was discovered.
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From the Library
June 6 through July 30. Free to participate.
Read books, write reviews, and complete fun activities to earn digital tickets that can be applied toward any of six different prize packages. This year's prizes include a $200 gift certificate for George R.R. Martin's Sky Railway Adventure Train, Kindle Fire HD 10 with a trifold case, Outdoor Adventurer's Package, Book Lover's package, New Mexico Foodie's Package, Art Lover's Package, and local gift certificates! Prize drawings will be held the first week of August. The winner will be notified.
All reading and program activities are logged online through Beanstack. Click here to sign in or to create an account. Once in Beanstack, click Challenges and then select Adult Summer Reading to get started. Do you need help or would you like more information? Just stop by a library service desk!
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Be bear aware
Tips on how to keep bears out of your trash!
A Message from the *Zero Waste Team
Zero Waste Tip: A Fed Bear is A Dead Bear!
Keep food waste out of your trash roll cart until collection day. One option is to store food waste like meat scraps, wrappers that smell of food, cheese, fats, fruit, desserts, and other appealing food wastes in your freezer. This not only protects wildlife, it greatly reduces unpleasant odors for whoever has to take out the trash!
Paying attention to how we manage our trash can help keep bears and other wildlife safe, protect the environment, and conserve valuable resources. Here are some tips:
- Store your trash roll cart inside a garage, shed, or other sturdy structure, until the morning of trash pick-up.
- Keep food waste out of your trash roll cart until collection day. One option is to store food waste like meat scraps, cheese, fats, fruit, desserts, and other appealing food wastes in your freezer. This not only protects wildlife, it greatly reduces unpleasant odors for whoever has to take out the trash!
- Gently rinse your recyclables before putting them in the blue recycle cart, to remove food odors.
- Properly compost your vegetable scraps at home:
- Never backyard compost meat, fish, oil, eggs, dairy products, sweets or large amounts of fruit because they can attract wildlife including rodents and bears.
- Locate compost well away from the house.
- Keep your compost pile odor-free by turning often and including brown material (dry leaves, grass, etc.)
- Consider indoor composting with worms.
- If you don’t have space for composting, see if a neighbor might be interested in your food scraps!
- Keep your trashcan clean by using bags to contain your waste.
- If you have fruit trees, pick fruit as it ripens. Remove fallen fruit from your yard. If you don’t want to pick yourself, advertise on Facebook to have others come pick or post a Pick Me sign in your front yard to allow others to pick fruit.
- Use washable/reusable storage and serving containers and utensils instead of disposable materials such as Styrofoam, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, etc., to keep food smells out of the trash.
- Clean grills immediately after use.
- Collect cooking oil and grease in a glass, plastic, or metal container with a lid. When ready to dispose of it, transfer it to a plastic bag, seal the bag tightly and place in the trash on the morning of pickup.
- Bring in dog food bowls and bird feeders to avoid attracting bears to your property.
- Never feed a bear! A fed bear is a dead bear.
These are just a few of the ways our Zero Waste Team has found to cohabitate safely with bears and other wildlife. Reducing human-bear interactions not only keeps you safe but bears too.
For more information, check out the Los Alamos County Environmental Services webpage at www.losalamosnm.us/gogreen. For those with questions or concerns, please contact Environmental Services at 505-662-8163 or solidwaste@lacnm.us
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