Governor: One dead in Ruidoso fires

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared a state of emergency in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation and deployed additional National Guard to the area in response to the South Fork and Salt fires that began Monday outside Ruidoso.

The Governor's Office said at least one person has died in the fires, but didn't have any additional details.

Residents of Ruidoso remained under an evacuation order Wednesday, as wildfires continued to threaten property and buildings in the southern New Mexico resort community.

The South Fork Fire had blackened 20,000 acres and remained zero-percent contained, Lujan Grisham said at a news conference at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The village of Ruidoso reported Tuesday night that 1,400 structures had been “lost” to the fire. The governor said there was no information readily available about what structures burned, because, "It's too dangerous to be in the heart of the fire."

About 800 firefighting personnel from 17 agencies, including 13 wildfire hotshot crews, were on the ground Tuesday, she said.

"These are very serious fires," Lujan Grisham said.

Officials had not published maps of the wildfires because of their dynamic movement, she said. "I rejected having a map that would give New Mexicans a sense that if you live, or have a family member, in another area that you're safe."

Lujan Grisham batted down suggestions circulating on social media that the fires were intentionally set. A six-member team of investigators led by the federal Bureau of Land Management will begin determining the cause when they are able to enter the fire-stricken areas, she said.

"I don't want to minimize any information but it really is just speculation today," she said.

Lujan Grisham said the purpose of the emergency declaration was to unlock additional funding and resources to manage the fires.

"The magnitude of the fires is beyond local control and requires immediate state intervention to protect public health, safety and welfare," according to a statement issued about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday by Lujan Grisham's office.

The emergency declaration calls for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to coordinate all requests for assistance.

"The horrific South Fork Fire and Salt Fire have ravaged our lands and property, and forced thousands to flee their homes," Lujan Grisham said in the statement.

"We are deploying every available resource to control these wildfires, and to provide support to the Village of Ruidoso, the Mescalero Reservation and surrounding areas," she said.

Martha Staab, spokeswoman for the Roswell campus of Eastern New Mexico University, said about 150 people took refuge Monday night at the school's gymnasium, where staff and students set up about 200 cots in preparation for fire evacuees.

Assistance came from a variety of organizations, including the Red Cross, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Eastern New Mexico Medical Center and the Roswell Fire Department.

The state has set up a fire-information hotline where the public can obtain information about the fires or the whereabouts of family members. That number is 833-663-4736.

As of Tuesday evening, 51 New Mexico State Police officers were in Ruidoso, staffing checkpoints and patrolling streets "to keep an eye out for suspicious activity," said Wilson Silver, an NMSP spokesman.

New Mexico has had several devastating wildfires in recent years, including the historic Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in Northern New Mexico and the McBride Fire near Ruidoso, both in 2022. The McBride Fire killed two residents of the community.

Ruidoso is home to about 8,000 people. Lujan Grisham said in the briefing Tuesday officials believe about 5,000 people were evacuated, noting many residents don't live in the community year-round.

As those people flooded out Monday evening, they jammed roads and overflowed into neighboring towns, especially Roswell.

"In Roswell every hotel is full," Mayor Tim Jennings said Tuesday. "Restaurants are full. ... We've got people in the convention center sleeping. We got people at Church on the Move sleeping. We got people at the university sleeping."

Jennings, who has visited all the shelters, said people reported running out of gas near Hondo because some gas stations along the way either weren't working or were out of gas.

"It's just a mess," he said.

Gabrielle Porter of The Santa Fe New Mexican contributed to this report.