Park Service blamed for wildfire

Hundreds of houses have been destroyed in Los Alamos

US federal officials made "critical mistakes" in setting a New Mexico brush fire that raged out of control last week and devastated the town of Los Alamos, according to a preliminary inquiry.

US Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, presented the report by government wildfire experts investigating how a National Park Service "controlled burn" erupted into New Mexico's worst wildfire.

Basically, the Park Service screwed up bad, and I don't know how it could be worse

US Representative Heather Wilson

The investigation says the mistakes included not having enough firefighters on hand initially to stop a "slopover" when the prescribed fire spread out of bounds the day after it was set.

The Park Service also underestimated the risks of the controlled burn, failed to get wind forecasts for the days following the start of the burn and did not stick to the latest federal guidelines for wildfire management.

The controlled burn was aimed at reducing wildfire danger by burning brush and dried timber on 1,000 acres in a remote corner of Bandelier National Monument park.

Firefighters achieved 60% containment of the fire

However, the fire burned over 200 homes in Los Alamos and more than 47,000 acres.

It also threatened the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory and destroyed the historic sites where the world's first atomic bomb was built.

Responsability

The investigators stopped short of specifying who exactly was accountable for the wildfire.

They left it to a four-member review board of federal and state forestry experts who are scheduled to give their findings to Mr Babbitt by 26 May.

Bandelier National Monument superintendent Roy Weaver, who last week took responsibility for the decision to set the controlled burn, was put on paid leave pending an investigation.

Blaze continues

"Basically, the Park Service screwed up bad, and I don't know how it could be worse," US Representative Heather Wilson said.

The fire continued to burn on Thursday but firefighters reported major progress in containing it.

Most of Los Alamos's 11,000 residents have returned to the town after evacuating it on 10 May, but the fire left more than 400 people homeless.