It has been a veritable ‘summer of fire’ for Arizona and New Mexico as hundreds of thousands of acres have gone up in flames.  A new blaze, started Sunday, now threatens the nation’s premier nuclear laboratory near Los Alamos.

The Las Conchas fire has grown to 60,741 acres in less than 48 hours and has seen no containment.  The blaze has forced the evacuation of the entire population of the city of Los Alamos and threatens the Los Alamos National Laboratory on two sides.

The Natural Disasters Examiner reports that one spot fire did get started on the laboratory grounds but has been quickly extinguished.  Of greatest concern are drums of nuclear waste that are stored at the facility that could cause a release of radioactive material – something which has not happened.

• For a slideshow of images from the blaze, click here.
• To get all the latest, click here to visit the Natural Disasters Examiner.