Forest fires in New Mexico: Governor declares state of emergency, at least one dead

SANTA FE, NM (AP) — Thousands of residents in southern New Mexico have fled a mountain town as a wind-fueled wildfire ravaged homes and other structures and killed at least one person, but officials warned the danger is not over.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared a state of emergency for Ruidoso and neighboring tribal lands and deployed National Guard troops to the area. A high-level firefighting team is scheduled to take over Wednesday, and winds will continue to pose challenges for crews, officials said.

The governor’s office confirmed the death but said it did not have further details.

Christy Hood, a real estate agent in Ruidoso, said the evacuation order came so quickly on Monday that she and her husband, Richard, barely had time to get their two children and two dogs.

“As we were leaving, there were flames in front of me and beside me,” she said. “And all the animals were just running – charging – trying to get out.”

The family set out from Ruidoso, but heavy traffic turned what should have been a 15-minute drive out of town into a two-hour ordeal.

“It looked like the sky was on fire. It was bright orange,” she said. “Honestly, it looked like the apocalypse. It was terrifying and sparks were falling on us.”

More than 500 buildings were destroyed or damaged, but it is unclear how many of them were residential. A flyover is planned for Tuesday evening to create more accurate maps and better assess the damage, said Lujan Grisham.

“This will allow us to actually see inside the fire, which we cannot do now because it is too dangerous to be in the heart of the fire,” she said.

The emergency declaration frees up funds and resources to address the crisis in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation. Lujan Grisham said the two fires combined have burned more than 30 square miles.

Apart from the one death, no one was seriously injured, she said.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, wildfires have burned more than 8,495 square kilometers nationwide this year – a figure that is higher than the average for the past decade. About 20 wildfires currently raging are considered large and uncontrolled, including fires in California and the state of Washington.

On Tuesday, two wildfires raged in Ruidoso, a high-elevation resort town in the Lincoln National Forest near a casino, golf course and ski resort run by the Mescalero Apache tribe. The cause of the fires has not yet been determined, but the Southwest Coordination Center has ruled them human-caused.

New Mexico has struggled with a devastating series of wildfires in recent years, including a fire in 2022 caused by a pair of controlled fires by the US Forest Service, which became the largest wildfire in the state’s history during the drought. This year there was a separate fire consumed 200 houses in Ruidoso and resulted in two deaths.

This week, Ruidoso authorities minced their words as smoke darkened the evening sky and 100-foot flames licked up a mountain ridge on Monday: “LEAVE IMMEDIATELY: Do not attempt to recover your valuables or protect your home. Evacuate immediately.”

Jacquie and Ernie Escajeda were at church in Ruidoso, about 130 miles southeast of Albuquerque, on Monday when they heard of a fire about 20 miles away. By mid-morning, smoke was rising from a mountain behind their house and the smell filled the air.

The couple checked their cell phones and turned on the radio for updates. There was no “get ready” or “get your marks,” just “go,” Ernie Escajeda said. They grabbed legal documents and other belongings and set out.

“Within an hour, police and firefighters were there, all blocking and barricading the roads to our area and telling everyone to leave,” he said. “Thank God we were ready.”

Early Tuesday, they learned that their best friend’s house had not survived the fire, Jacquie Escajeda said.

“In their whole little district where they live, there’s only one house left standing, so a lot of the buildings are destroyed,” she said. “We don’t know if we’ll ever have a home to go to again.”

The Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to a wildfire. The horse races at Ruidoso Downs and Lincoln Medical Center were evacuated later Tuesday.

With highways closed, many evacuees had little choice but to flee east to the city of Roswell, 75 miles away, where hotels and emergency shelters were set up. A gas station in the countryside along the evacuation route was overrun by people and cars.

“The Walmart parking lot is full of people in RVs,” said Enrique Moreno, director of Roswell Community Disaster Relief. “Every single hotel in Roswell is full right now. … We go to the gas stations and just see a bunch of people hanging out by their cars.”

Animals and livestock were brought to the state fairgrounds in Roswell, including five horses that arrived Monday evening and four llamas, according to Leslie Robertson, the office manager. Robertson said 30 more horses were on their way to her Tuesday evening.

Both the South Fork Fire and the smaller Salt Fire broke out on the Mescalero Apache reservation, where the tribe’s president declared a state of emergency.

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Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Washington, D.C.; Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; and Rio Yamat and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.