The Los Alamos National Laboratory, home to the United States’ primary nuclear research facility, closed Monday as a wildfire raged nearby. The has surpassed 40,000 acres and reached within a mile of the laboratories, which developed the world’s first nuclear weapon in the 1940s. Facility officials have cut gas lines to some buildings as a precaution but say all radioactive and dangerous materials are safe. The fire started Sunday afternoon in the Santa Fe National Forest and exploded out of control within a matter of hours. It is the latest in a string of wildfires across the Southwest, including the , at 500,000 acres the largest fire in Arizona state history. East of the Las Conches Fire, the is still burning outside of Santa Fe, and to the south, a started in the Rio Grande valley on Sunday. Fire experts believe that an unusally , high winds, a buildup of fuel, and even climate change have . Thunderstorms are in New Mexico, but may bring little or no rainfall.
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