Authorities ordered residents of Los Alamos, New Mexico to evacuate Monday after the fast-spreading 44,000 acre blaze threatened the town.  

In nearby Albuquerque, NM, Rabbi Chaim Schmukler contacted community members to find accommodation for evacuees of Los Alamos, where the Jewish community counts about 60 families.

“We are currently in touch with members of the Los Alamos Jewish community in need of a place to stay,” said Rabbi Schmukler, director of Chabad in New Mexico. In addition, Rabbi Schmukler is organizing a Friday night dinner for any guests in town at the Bais Menachem Chabad Center.

Susan Kron, a retired certified nursing assistant and long time resident of Los Alamos spoke with Lubavitch.com as she was packing her car to head out for Albuquerque.

“The smoke here is really bad, everyone in the neighborhood is leaving,” she said. Rabbi Schmukler will put up Susan Kron and her husband at a family in his community.

Kron will transfer the Torah scrolls from the synagogue in the Los Alamos Jewish Center to Rabbi Schmukler, who will keep them at the Chabad center until they can be returned.