Hanford Fire Out; No Signs of Radiation

RICHLAND, Wash. — The wildfire that raced across nearly half of the Hanford nuclear complex was all but extinguished Friday, and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson gave assurances that the flames did not spread radiation.

The 190,000-acre blaze, which was ignited by sparks from an auto wreck Tuesday and exploded into a 30 mph inferno in less than a day, was the second fire to sweep a federal nuclear weapon installation in two months.

The fire also raised questions about why it became such a huge inferno.

Richardson and others near the fire lines blamed unpredictable winds, dry conditions and 100-degree temperatures. But critics said the blaze showed that the government was not properly prepared to protect the site that holds the nation’s largest volume of radioactive waste from nuclear weapons.

Hanford was the chief producer of plutonium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal for 40 years and is now the storage site for some of the most lethal wastes on the planet.

By the time Richardson declared the fire contained early Friday, it had burned 45% of the 560-square-mile reservation, plus 20 homes in and around the towns of Benton City and West Richland, just south of Hanford’s boundaries.

Fifteen people were injured, most suffering smoke inhalation. One man was seriously burned as he tried in vain to save his home.

Richardson said his agency would start a fire-recovery fund for those who lost homes and property here.

“There does not appear to be any contamination whatsoever,” Richardson said. When asked whether he was absolutely certain, Richardson replied: “I never say ‘absolutely’ anymore. We are satisfied at this time there are no radiation releases.”

David Lochbaum, nuclear safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., said he did not doubt Richardson’s claims. Lochbaum said that early monitoring would have turned up any “tremendous concentrations.”

The fire burned across three old radioactive-waste disposal sites--a trench and two dried-up ponds. It also burned near some excavated drums containing uranium wastes but was diverted by firefighters.

The most lethal waste is in 177 storage tanks buried 6 feet underground that could explode if a spark were introduced inside. Flames got within two miles of the tanks, Energy Department spokeswoman Julie Erickson said.

State tests taken on and off the Hanford complex, and at the three old disposal sites, all showed no sign of radiation releases, said Debra McBaugh, a Washington Health Department spokeswoman. The EPA is also setting up nine monitors around the perimeter of the nuclear complex.

High wind fanned the flames through dry sagebrush, grass and scrub trees. About 7,000 people were evacuated Wednesday but were allowed back Thursday.

“There’s going to be a lot of time to try to second-guess,” Hanford site manager Keith Klein said Friday.

Richardson said firefighters did everything they could to try to control the fire, adding: “I believe the Department of Energy acted effectively and rapidly.”

But Gerald Pollet, director of the Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group Heart of America Northwest, called the Energy Department’s fire-contingency plans “totally inadequate.”

Those plans spell out when Hanford firefighters should seek outside help and how to protect contaminated areas, said Michael Minette, spokesman for the Hanford Joint Information Center. Fires of varying sizes break out most years on the reservation’s arid grasslands, and the plans are revised to reflect lessons learned after each one.

This blaze died out in part because winds eased Thursday and Friday.

“The fact that the winds died down meant it wasn’t impossible to stop the blaze, like it was on Wednesday when it was out of control,” Minette said. “But without the firefighters, this fire would still be burning.”

Pollet questioned why more firefighters weren’t called in immediately.

Minette referred that question to Hanford fire officials, who did not return calls.

The fire began Tuesday afternoon near the reservation’s western boundary after a head-on collision on Washington 24.

Phyllis Arnold, 67, was killed when her car collided with a tractor-trailer rig, which caught fire, and flames ignited roadside grass and sagebrush.

State Trooper Dave Leary reached the remote site about 20 minutes later, and three or four trucks from Hanford’s 120-member firefighter force were already spraying water on the blaze--by then 200 yards wide, Leary said. County firefighters also responded.

High winds thwarted that initial effort.

The fire “just basically took off,” Leary said. “It’s easy for these fires to get away in this kind of terrain and the dry conditions.”

Federal law intended to protect the fragile ecosystem restricts firefighters’ use of bulldozers and the heaviest firefighting trucks. But officials insist those restrictions did not hamper firefighting.