Fires in Ruidoso, New Mexico: At least one dead reported in two wildfires near communities, officials say

CNN
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At least one person has died in the rapidly spreading wildfires still raging in New Mexico, authorities said on Tuesday.

The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management told CNN it had received reports of one death but had no further information.

The wildfires are raging in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation and are approaching the village of Ruidoso “like a pair of pincers” and have forced thousands of residents to evacuate, according to authorities. An evacuation order was also issued for the neighboring community of Ruidoso Downs on Tuesday.

At least two people were injured during the wildfires, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a press conference Tuesday evening. They were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Grisham said at least 500 buildings were damaged by the wildfires. The governor had previously declared a state of emergency in the county and the reservation.

A wall of smoke filled the sky over the village of Ruidoso on Monday evening as a motorcade drove out of the community. An estimated 5,000 residents were ordered to evacuate the village area because of the approaching South Fork Fire, New Mexico Forestry spokesman George Ducker told CNN.

The South Fork Fire began Monday morning on Mescalero Apache tribal land and had spread to at least 3,000 acres by nightfall, Ducker said. Authorities said the fire exploded in size overnight. The fire has burned 5,200 hectares without any containment, the municipality of Ruidoso said early Tuesday. Although the fire has subsided, authorities are concerned about stronger winds.

A second fire, the Salt Fire, is also raging on tribal land south of Ruidoso and has burned 4,800 acres as of Tuesday morning.

Both fires act like “a pair of pincers, and Ruidoso is in the middle of it,” Ducker said.

Eric Moro and his family were among those who had to leave their home in Ruidoso on Monday. The evacuation was sudden and his family had little time to prepare. He described the sky as orange and said they could hardly breathe because of the smoke.

“There’s no turning back at this point. They’re trying to get everyone out, and we’re not expecting any rain until Friday,” Moro told CNN. “We’re at pretty high risk of losing our home.” Moro’s family had only moved into their home in March, and he said he wasn’t sure what they would do now.

Since Tuesday evening, an evacuation order has also been in effect for Ruidoso Downs – a town of about 2,600 residents directly east of the village of Ruidoso – due to the salt fire, according to a post on the town’s Facebook page.

“If you are in Ruidoso Downs, please leave the area immediately. Do not attempt to gather your belongings or rescue your property,” the post said.

CNN has requested further information from city and Lincoln County authorities.

Evacuation orders also apply to parts of the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation south of Ruidoso, including the Snow Springs, Fence Canyon, Whitetail, Chihuahua Well, Fantasy Lane, the Summit area and Botella Road, the tribe said.

State Forester Laura McCarthy of the New Mexico State Forestry Division expressed concern about the changing weather conditions on Tuesday.

“The wind is shifting. Since the fire started, there has been a steady southwest wind, and now we’re seeing a wind shift, the wind is coming from the west,” McCarthy said. “The wind from the west could affect more homes.”

Conditions are expected to improve for firefighters on the South Fork Fire as rain chances increase starting Wednesday afternoon, with heavier precipitation expected Thursday and Friday.

The Ruidoso area could see 1 to 3 inches of rain and a precipitation rate of over 1 inch per hour, according to the National Weather Service. This could help with firefighting, but heavy rains could also cause flash flooding and mudslides over fresh burn scars.

The explosive spread of the wildfires was aided by very dry air and high temperatures. The conditions prompted the Storm Prediction Center to issue an enhanced fire risk warning for most of New Mexico, meaning the winds and low humidity could lead to an increased fire danger.

Much of the region has been suffering from extreme drought for nearly a year, and southeastern New Mexico is the only part of the United States experiencing “exceptional drought.”

Although Ruidoso is home to only about 8,000 permanent residents, the area’s winding hiking trails, vast parks and wilderness attract many recreational tourists. The village estimates that about 60% of the homes are vacation homes.

Rebecca Dennis, who was vacationing with her family in Ruidoso, could smell the smoke Monday morning and proactively packed the family’s bags as the fire appeared to be getting closer. When the village was ordered to evacuate, the family jumped in the car to drive back home to Oklahoma.

“I can’t imagine the chaos if we hadn’t been prepared. I really feel for the residents and everyone else. But it was… horrible to see the fires around us,” Dennis wrote on Facebook.

By Monday evening, there were few routes out of Ruidoso after both Highway 48 and Highway 70 at Apache Summit were closed due to the South Fork Fire, the village said on Facebook: “The only evacuation route is through Sudderth to Highway 70 and on to Roswell.”

The city of Roswell – about 70 miles east of Ruidoso – moved quickly Monday to accommodate the evacuees, including clearing hospital space for patients being transferred from the hospital in Ruidoso and setting up emergency shelters for people and livestock.

An emergency shelter has been set up at Eastern New Mexico University. Evacuees with RVs or large animals can also keep their animals at the Eastern New Mexico State Fairgrounds, the city of Roswell said.

People from across New Mexico and even Texas helped bring horses to safety at the Ruidoso Downs horse track and casino on Tuesday.

Justyn Brynn, who runs a racehorse rehabilitation centre and a horse riding holiday company, said she helped rescue three horse trailers after the evacuation alert was issued.

“We’re hoping we can go back and get more. We were only able to get 10 out,” Brynn told CNN. “The stable we were working with had about 40 horses that needed to be moved.”

At the request of emergency responders, power was turned off in parts of Ruidoso, power company PNM said.

“Public safety is our highest priority and we do not take this decision lightly, but are doing everything we can to work in lockstep with our first responders who are helping the affected communities,” PNM said in a Facebook post.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are currently 29 active major fires in the United States, ten of which have been reported in California.

The Post Fire in Los Angeles County has burned over 6,100 hectares of land and the area is about 31% contained. Over 1,600 firefighters are working to fight the fire.

Further north in the state, the Sites Fire in Colusa County has grown to 10,000 acres and is zero percent contained, and the Point Fire in Sonoma County has burned more than 1,200 acres and is about 20 percent contained.

The Aero Fire has expanded to 5,249 acres in Calaveras County, with 20% of the fires contained and 3,690 structures threatened. The fires have required evacuations in some surrounding areas.

Cal Fire Captain Marco Rodriguez said firefighters were battling winds of 50 to 60 miles per hour and that the fire danger could worsen due to expected heat over the weekend.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, nearly 19,000 wildfires have burned nearly 2,100,000 acres of land nationwide this year. That’s well above the 10-year average of area burned so far, which is about 1,400,000 acres.

This is a developing story and will be updated.