NEWS RELEASE
Santa Fe writer Tom Ribe has just released the fully revised Inferno by Committee, “A History of the Cerro Grande Fire and the Rise of New Mexico Megafires.”
Originally released in 2010, the updated book includes sections on the Hermit Peak/Calf Canyon Fire and the 2011 Las Conchas Fire as well as an analysis of the role of climate change in the megafires New Mexico is experiencing.
The core of the book is the story of the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000, which burned around 200 homes in Los Alamos and caused a national shift in forest fire policy. Revised from the 2010 edition, the new book includes gripping tales from the firefighters who struggled to keep the escaped prescribed fire out of Los Alamos and out of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Cerro Grande Fire was caused by an escaped prescribed burn in May 2000. In April 2022, another prescribed burn escaped from Forest Service crews near Las Vegas, New Mexico, causing the 320,000-acre Hermit Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. The book details the remarkable similarity of mistakes made by both prescribed fire crews and the failure of the Santa Fe National Forest crew to learn from the Cerro Grande disaster 22 years before.
Published by LuLu, Inferno by Committee is available at
https://bookshop.org/p/books/inferno-by-committee-tom-ribe/21828252?ean=9781446124406
This post was originally published on here
