RICHLAND, Wash. - A fire was virtually out Friday after scorching nearly half the Hanford nuclear reservation and 20 homes as it crept within two miles of some of the most lethal nuclear waste on Earth.
''There is no active fire at this time,'' Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said at 3:30 a.m., declaring firefighting efforts in a ''mop-up'' phase. He said winds could still kick up embers but ''we believe the area is now safe.''
He also said the fire caused no known air or soil contamination at the nation's largest repository of waste from nuclear weapons.
''There does not appear to be any contamination whatsoever,'' Richardson said. ''We are going to monitor this very carefully.''
Dale Warriner, a spokesman for the interagency firefighting effort, said fire lines had been built around the entire blaze, and some firefighters were expected to be sent home Friday. But he said the fire was technically not entirely contained because crews would have to be prepared for the possibility that hot spots could re-ignite.
Thousands of people fled as the fire blackened 190,000 acres and destroyed more than 70 buildings, including 20 homes. Fifteen people were injured, one seriously.
The fire at sprawling site in southern Washington was sparked Tuesday by a fatal car crash. It burned 45 percent of Hanford's 560 square miles, department spokeswoman Julie Erickson said. About 30,000 scorched acres and all the burned homes are outside the reservation.
Wildfires in the open, arid scablands east of the Cascade Range typically move much faster through tinder-try sagebrush, dead grass and scrub trees than in slower burning fires in dense mountain forests. But also die faster as the wind turns or the fuel is consumed.
The fire burned across three old radioactive waste disposal sites - a trench and two dried up ponds - but federal and state officials said initial surveys showed no elevated radiation levels. It also burned near some excavated drums containing uranium wastes, but firefighters stopped that advance.
Hanford was created by the Manhattan Project during World War II to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. The site contains the nation's biggest volume of radioactive wastes.
The most lethal waste is in 177 storage tanks buried six feet underground that could explode if a spark were introduced inside. But Erickson said the flames got within two miles of the tanks late Thursday.
Strong winds and temperatures around 100 caused the fire to explode Wednesday afternoon from 25,000 acres to 100,000 acres in less than two hours. More than 900 firefighters made progress Thursday when expected 40 mph winds failed to materialize.
It was the second time in two months that wildfire threatened a U.S. nuclear site. In May, a fire set to clear brush near the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico raged out of control, forcing evacuation of more than 20,000 people and destroying more than 200 homes and nearly 40 temporary buildings at the lab.
Richardson said that disaster helped firefighters this week.
''We did learn from several other fires in the 1980s and Los Alamos,'' he said. Hanford firefighters made sure that brush was cleared and gravel was spread at sensitive areas.
Keith Klein, the Energy Department's manager for Hanford, also said officials sought independent experts to check the site for radiation releases and secured classified materials.
Initial samples showed no sign of radiation releases, but more tests are planned on vegetation and air-monitoring filters, said Debra McBaugh, a state Health Department spokeswoman.
Of the injured, 13 were treated for smoke inhalation and a firefighters received a minor leg injury. But the seriously injured man, Robert Pierce, received third-degree burns over 25 percent of his body.
Neighbor Jim Daniels and others saw him appear out of the flames and smoke and collapse.
''I wanted to somehow stop his pain, and I just didn't know how to do it,'' Daniels said. ''He was in so much pain. I would have done anything.''
About 8,000 Hanford workers were told to stay home Thursday and Friday, leaving 400 to 500 at the site. About 7,000 nearby residents evacuated at the height of the blaze Wednesday were allowed back into their homes Thursday afternoon.
Marty Peck, 43, said he watched the fire approach his Benton City house from Rattlesnake Mountain, about two miles away.
''You could see it jetting toward us. It was smoky and you couldn't see the flame until it got right here. And then it exploded on the pasture,'' he said. ''It was just a fireball two or three times taller than our house.''
---
On the Net:
National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov
Hanford: http://www.hanford.gov
