More than 200 destroyed

WASHINGTON DC

The director of the National Park Service apologized recently for a fire his agency set that raged out of control and destroyed more than 200 homes in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Bob Stanton told a joint hearing of two House Resource subcommittees that the agency would do "everything in our power to ensure that there is no repeat of this kind of tragedy on National Park Service land."

"I want to express on behalf of the National Park Service our deepest apology to the men and women of Los Alamos and all of New Mexico," he said.

Officials at Bandelier National Monument set the fire May 4 to clear underbrush. High winds whipped the fire out of control and another fire set to control the first became the inferno that burned into the town, forcing the evacuation of 25,000 people and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.