Wildfire Prompted Evacuations from Idaho Nuclear Energy Lab

Some employees were evacuated from the Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho while crews fight a wildfire burning near the nuclear energy research site.

INL officials say non-essential employees were evacuated Tuesday, mainly because of wind changes and smoke from the fire, which was burning on about 10 square miles of desert near the center of the 890-square mile property, away from the buildings that make up the INL complex.

Non-essential employees were evacuated from the advanced test reactor complex, the waste treatment units and other buildings.

The Bureau of Land Management says a lightning strike started the fire Monday evening near INL’s eastern boundary.