As residents return back to their burnt down villages in southern New Mexico mountains, for example, the mayor advised them on Monday that some parts of Ruidoso are still off limits as special search and rescue teams go through the charred wreckage along the hardest hit streets.
They are hoping to find remains of people who were last seen during South Fork and Salt fires that tore through the area just days ago, killing at least two people, forcing thousands out of their homes and destroying more than 1,500 buildings.
Mayor Lynn Crawford said they had identified 29 individuals who are missing. On Sunday evening update village officials reported that additional possible fatalities had been detected by search teams but confirmation will be left for investigators to make.
“the search and rescue teams are in there and they’re with canines and so they’re still going property to property,” Crawford said during his monday morning radio address.
With cell service going down during the evacuations last week, it made communication nearly impossible. While service slowly is being restored, some residents said Monday they are still having a difficult time connecting
The list was larger just a day ago, but village officials have been using social media and working with the American Red Cross to mark evacuees as “safe” as soon as they are heard from. The 29 people on this list have not contacted friends or family since last monday.
Authorities have blocked traffic into so-called exclusion zones to ensure these areas remain undisturbed until they are officially cleared. The FBI is also investigating offering up to $10,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions of those responsible for human-caused fires.
First reports came in about flames on June seventeenth. In several hours’ time these blazes passed through especially dry areas of Sacramento Mountains from Mescalero Apache tribal land towards Ruidoso. There were orders to immediately evacuate thousands of houses. Businesses including Ruidoso Downs horse track which resulted congestion of people who had to drop everything and run.
Village officials give figures of several hundred homes as well as other buildings destroyed or damaged. Assessments were continuing Monday as some residents were allowed to return. Images shared on social media showed some homes reduced to ash, only their foundations or fireplaces left standing. Charred vehicles and twisted metal roofs were lying on hillsides where homes once stood
Some properties survived even though the ponderosa pines that once surrounded them had blackened trunks and singed needles.
The village set up temporary housing for about 500 people and food and other supplies were being distributed. Officials have been encouraging those returning monday to bring bottled water and a week’s food supply since not all utilities have been restarted yet.
To assist in this effort, the New Mexico Army and Air National Guard deployed several dozen troops in Ruidoso. Additionally, utility workers are installing new power poles and stringing wires throughout the community. Workers with the New Mexico Environment Department are testing the drinking water system.
Last Thursday President Joe Biden declared a disaster in parts of southern New Mexico. Freeing funding and resources for housing, among other emergency work related to fires.
The two fire outbreaks have consumed around forty square miles, or one hundred and four kilometers squared. Monday saw another day of light rain and higher humidity levels that came to help firefighters beef up their lines at the boundary. Fire officials said that complete containment would not be until July 15.
In addition, officials cautioned locals on the risks of flash floods. If more rain comes down on the mountain slopes that are bare.
Kerry Gladden, spokesperson for the village of Ruidoso acknowledged that wildfires are nothing new to the Sacramento Mountains. But she called this “a whole other level of devastation.”
“It is just breathtaking when you look at it,” she told The Associated Press. “And we are tough people and we will build again and definitely come out from this. However, right now; it’s impossible.”
