San Diego

Los Alamos labs get protection during the blaze. Credit: AP

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was reported this week as being out of fire danger, following a blaze that burned 43 square miles of nearby forest.

The homes of 216 laboratory employees — including many scientists — in nearby communities were destroyed in the fire. Officials say the blaze was started as a controlled burn by forestry agents, but that it then got out of control.

Laboratory employees began returning to work on Monday, after the facility had been closed and largely evacuated for nearly a week, leading to about $3.5 million a day in operational losses. Although there was no damage to any facilities housing nuclear material, two old, isolated structures from the Manhattan Project were destroyed.