White Rock Town Hall meeting 6-30-11

Here are my notes for those who couldn't pick up the stream of the townhall meeting in White Rock.  It was very hard to hear some of the speakers, unfortunately, but here are the main points I picked up on:
From Fire Chief Tucker:

• Will not end the evacuation until some time after Saturday.
• Los Alamos Canyon is still a problem, and they are doing a back burn there.
• Santa Clara Canyon is a big problem.
• There is a good perimeter around the lab, so no one needs to wer their radiation suits :-)
• The closest points to White Rock is in Frijoles Canyon. and though there is little fuel between the two, this is an active, unpredictable fire.  They will back burn there to provide as much protection as they can.

From the Type 1 Commander of the North part of the fire:

• They burned from 501 through the ski area to provide a fire break.
• They continue to work to flank the fire on east and west sides, using the Cerro Grande burn area on the east.
• They will also be tying Pipeline Road into the perimeter around town.
• The fire ran four miles north yesterday right through Santa Clara and beyond.  They might be able to utilize the South Fork burn area as a break going north.

Sharon Stover announced that TNT Firewroks corp has pulled all firewroks from 500 distributors in the state.

From Police Chief   Torpey:

• They are planning for return specifics.
• Essential support staff (like utilities and hospital staff) will be brought back first, before everyone else, so they will be in place when others return.
• Wait patiently for instructions. They will try to give 24-hour warning before letting general public back.
• Make sure you follow instructions when they come.

The director of Los Alamos Medical Center said:

• They have minimal staff to treat fire-related injuries, but are not open to the public.
• Most doctors are taking calls.  If you have a question, start by calling your primary care doc.
• Remember that there is severe smoke, esp. 10pm to 6am, so take that into consideration when returning.

Russ Gordon announced that the concert for tomorrow (Friday) will be held at 7:00 pm at the Espanola Plaza (across from the old car dealership).  It is a band from Austin, TX.

The lab rep said:

• Any employees who experience personal loss due to the fire should contact the folks at the Emergency Operations Center.
• They are working on making sure the environmental aspects and facilities aspects are safe before people come back.
• Paychecks went out today, except for subcontractors. If you are a subcontractor, contact your employer.  If that doesn't work, contact the EOC.
• They are doing surveillance flights, not real-time, but will at some point post information.
• BC/BS should be called if you are not getting your mail prescriptions.  Mail is delivered to Pojoaque high school, 10-3, daily.

The Chamber of Commerce rep said:

• There are business loans available from LANB at 4% for those needing help during this period.
• They have business interruption insurance and discussions online to discuss things of this sort.
• There are some facilities available to set up temporary work space, one in WR and one in SF, for Chamber members.
• Contact them with questions.

The County Council has info on the county web page: http://www.losalamosnm.us/Pages/default.aspx
Since this is a "normal" disaster, our ability to get recovery funding will be different than under the special circumstances of Cerro Grande. Your best source of recovery is your own insurance company.

That's what I got.