DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The federal government will likely be taking some heat of its own today as officials try to explain how a controlled wildfire in New Mexico got out of control. The fire is now 60 percent contained. It was set by the Parks Department to clear brush and it was supposed to burn less than 1,000 acres. So far, though, it has charred more than 47,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 homes. A preliminary report on the fire will be released later today. Residents are hoping it will shed some light on what went wrong. Our Jim Hill joins us this morning. He is in Los Alamos, New Mexico with the latest. Jim, good morning.</s>JIM HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This is a much-awaited report for people in Los Alamos where, as you say, more than 200 homes were destroyed by the fire. But this preliminary report, as its being called, was drawn up by a 20-member interagency advisory committee set up by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. We've been told this interagency committee has been meeting twice a day this week interviewing people involved in that controlled or prescribed burn by the National Park Service, as well as people involved in the initial firefighting efforts from the resulting wildfire. The committee has also been looking over all available documents that pertained to this situation. Ironically, a prescribed burn is designed to eliminate underbrush and, therefore, reduce the overall fire hazard, which is considerable right now in northern New Mexico because it's been a very dry winter here. So just exactly why this got out of control is of great interest to the people who suffered in this fire, and a number of them are expected to be at the news conference, at which time the preliminary report will be released. I'm Jill Hill, reporting live from Los Alamos, New Mexico.</s>KAGAN: Jim, thank you. CNN will bring you live coverage as that preliminary report on the fire is released. Our coverage of the release and the report from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
Government to Release Preliminary Report on New Mexico Fires Today