Two wildfires continued to burn Thursday in southern New Mexico despite heavy rains the day before, forcing firefighters in the mountains around the village of Ruidoso to contend with a disorienting mix of raging flames and rushing floods.
These rapid fires killed two people, burned hundreds of homes and prompted thousands of evacuations. More rain was expected Thursday evening, and while it helped control the fires, it also introduced a new danger: flash flooding from overflowing streams.
Already, much of the land around Ruidoso has been either saturated by rain or scarred by fire, making flooding worse, sending muddy water, heavy with forest debris, rushing across the landscape.
“It only takes one severe storm over a burn scar to produce this kind of catastrophic flooding,” Andrew Mangham, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said Thursday.
The wildfires, called the South Fork and Salt fires, started in sweltering temperatures this week and were completely out of control as of midday Thursday. Together they burned more than 23,000 acres. The South Fork Fire, the larger of the two, has burned more than 16,000 acres and destroyed 1,400 structures, according to local officials.
About 500 of those structures are believed to be homes, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said at a news conference Wednesday evening, adding that the damage has made the fires among the most devastating in the world. history of the state.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what our landscape looks like after a fire burns through it,” Kerry Gladden, Ruidoso spokeswoman, said Thursday. “A thing of such beauty now has entire mountain sides covered in charred trees.”
She added that debris-filled floodwaters from nearby mountains could pose a significant risk if they flow into the village, because “they can hit bridges and build up and bridges can give way.”
The two deceased people were found Tuesday in or near Ruidoso, according to New Mexico State Police. A 60-year-old man was found burned on the side of a road near a motel, police said. The other victim was found in the driver’s seat of a burned-out vehicle on a road.
Three rescue operations also took place and several people remain missing, said Ms. Lujan Grisham, who previously declared a state of emergency in Lincoln County, which includes Ruidoso, and the Mescalero Apache Reservation due to the fires.
Ruidoso, a popular resort surrounded by forested slopes, typically attracts tens of thousands of visitors during peak season. But on Thursday, downtown streets were eerily empty and most of the traffic came from local authorities. There were wisps of smoke in some areas and the smell of scorched wood in the air.
About 8,000 residents were evacuated, according to the New Mexico Forestry Division. Damage from the fire destroyed communications infrastructure in Ruidoso, city officials said, and emergency services had to work from a hub at a local fire station.
The situation remains unpredictable and the fires could still reach the city center. “With the change in wind,” said Ms. Gladden, Ruidoso’s spokeswoman, “anything can happen.”
Firefighters’ main concerns Thursday were protecting structures and preventing flames from reaching the village, said David Shell, a spokesman for fire officials. He added that it could be a week or more before evacuated residents can safely return.
Residents described frantic evacuations earlier in the week. Steven Jongeward, 55, a business owner in Ruidoso, found shelter at the La Quinta Hotel after fleeing his home Monday with his mother and a neighbor. He said he saw the flames in the distance, pointing to a nearby mountain peak. “It was desperate that day,” he said. “The scene was chaos.”
On Thursday, Mr. Jongeward observed the yellow state flag fluttering in the wind outside the hotel. “That flag over there lets me know when the wind turns,” he said. “Right now, I’m happy to see that the wind is pretty calm. But as soon as that flag flies and points towards the hotel, it’s not good.
Gabrielle Antoine, 34, an office manager at La Quinta, said she decided to stay behind to help keep the hotel open for firefighters and others in need of shelter. But she said she was worried about running out of gas and other supplies. “There is no food to be found in stores,” she said Wednesday.
Temperatures had reached the 80s and 90s in southern New Mexico on Wednesday before a storm dumped torrential rain in the Ruidoso area in the afternoon, with some areas receiving 2.5 inches of rain in one half hour. according to the weather servicewho declared a flash flood emergency during the downpour.
This prompted authorities in Ruidoso to suspend operations in some areas near the fire. “As units and crews leave these areas,” officials said on social media“They will evacuate to higher ground all those who are still in the area.” Earlier, firefighters aboard air tankers and helicopters dropped water and retardant on the flames, while firefighters on the ground constructed fire lines.
The Red Cross said Wednesday that more than 528 people had taken shelter in nine emergency shelters and that hundreds of meals and snacks had been provided to them. The organization said it was also providing emotional support, relief and health services, and that more rescuers were on the way.
The South Fork Fire was discovered around 9 a.m. Monday in the Mescalero Apache Tribal Area. The Salt Fire was discovered a few miles away in the afternoon and has since burned more than 7,000 acres of tribal land in mostly inaccessible mountainous areas.
The report was provided by Derrick Bryson Taylor, Victor Mather And Aimee Ortiz.
