Smoke from the South Fork Fire as seen near Ruidoso on Tuesday. The South Fork and Salt fires, which began Monday and forced the evacuation of Ruidoso on Tuesday, were burning uncontained at more than 20,000 acres combined and had affected 1,400 structures.
Kathy White of Ruidoso said a firefighter informed her that her home had been destroyed in the blazes. “I have no idea what to do,†she said from Capitan High School on Tuesday. “We have lived there since 2008.â€
Eleven-year-old Levi Armendariz, left, and his twin, Cooper Armendariz, listen while a man who just wanted to be identified as Trey offers their father, Rick Armendariz, a place for the family’s horse to stay while the two men were pumping gas in Carrizozo on Tuesday. While Armendariz took his family to El Paso, many Ruidoso residents fled the wildfires to nearby towns.
A New Mexico State Police officer speaks to a resident of Alto at a roadblock on the way to Ruidoso on Tuesday. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency and deployed New Mexico National Guard troops in the area.
Kristin Rohde of Alto feeds her foster child, Sunny, outside of the Red Cross Shelter at Capitan High School on Tuesday. They were evacuated at around 1 a.m.
Smoke from the South Fork Fire as seen near Ruidoso on Tuesday. The South Fork and Salt fires, which began Monday and forced the evacuation of Ruidoso on Tuesday, were burning uncontained at more than 20,000 acres combined and had affected 1,400 structures.
Hot ash had been falling from the sky for hours Monday by the time Nathan and Teeatta Lippert got the call.
The South Fork and Salt fires, which ignited on or near the nearby Mescalero Apache Reservation that morning, were picking up steam when Nathan Lippert’s business partner, a former wildland firefighter, told the couple he thought it was time to leave their home in Alto, which sits about 8 miles north of Ruidoso in Southern New Mexico.
New Mexico's state forester described this week's weather as a good news/bad news scenario for the fast-moving fires.
“He’s the one that called and said, ‘Hey, get your crap and get out,’ †Nathan Lippert said. “When he calls me and says, ‘You gotta go,’ I’m going to believe him.â€
The couple fled their home at about 8 p.m. Monday with everything they thought was important — their two children and a friend of their daughters, the family’s five dogs and two lizards, and Nathan’s tool trailer he uses for his work as a contractor. They headed east to his mother’s property in the San Patricio Valley.
It was the right call. On Tuesday, Teeatta Lippert said, a firefighter friend called and told them the softball fields down the street from their house were on fire. They looked at maps of the fire online.
“Our house is still in the hot zone,†Lippert said, speaking to The New Mexican on Tuesday afternoon from Roswell, where she’d gone to pick up a few supplies. “... We just leave it in God’s hands now. It is what it is.â€
Kathy White of Ruidoso said a firefighter informed her that her home had been destroyed in the blazes. “I have no idea what to do,†she said from Capitan High School on Tuesday. “We have lived there since 2008.â€
The Lipperts were among thousands of Lincoln County residents to evacuate as the two fires raged out of control, killing at least one person and destroying as many as 1,400 homes and other structures in or near the village of Ruidoso, authorities said Tuesday. The South Fork Fire was burning across more than 15,200 acres by Tuesday evening, while the nearby Salt Fire spread across more than 5,500 acres, according to and .
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation and deployed New Mexico National Guard troops to the area as the two wildfires continued to burn out of control. That declaration unlocks extra funding and resources to manage the crisis.
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.
The governor’s spokesman, Michael Coleman, confirmed one person had died in one of the fires this week, but he had no other details.
The entire village of Ruidoso was ordered to evacuate Monday evening as the fast-moving South Fork Fire closed in; by about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Ruidoso Downs residents were ordered to follow suit, Lujan Grisham said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management headquarters in ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe.
Some residents of the Mescalero Apache Reservation were also evacuated, according to Kelton Starr, the tribe’s education director.
Many patients at the Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso were evacuated to another health care facility, while a “limited number†of emergency department patients initially remained, according to a statement from Presbyterian Healthcare Services, which owns the hospital.
The hospital began fully evacuating Tuesday evening.
For many, the flight from home was chaotic.
Eleven-year-old Levi Armendariz, left, and his twin, Cooper Armendariz, listen while a man who just wanted to be identified as Trey offers their father, Rick Armendariz, a place for the family’s horse to stay while the two men were pumping gas in Carrizozo on Tuesday. While Armendariz took his family to El Paso, many Ruidoso residents fled the wildfires to nearby towns.
Nicholas Ogden’s mother and stepfather were out of town Monday, and the 16-year-old was hanging out with his girlfriend when he saw the sky.
“I saw the fire and was like, ‘Dang, I’m gonna go pack a bag just in case,’ †Ogden said.
Ogden had been helping care for his great-grandmother, who recently had surgery, and after packing his own bags went with his older brother to her home nearby.
“We had to get her pictures and we had to pack her clothes and we had to help her get out of the house,†he said.
After helping everyone pack up, Ogden took his girlfriend and three of his family members’ dogs in his truck and headed out around 10 p.m.
“The sky was … like red and black,†he said. “It looked like the end of the world.â€
Kristin Rhode of Alto said she and her family were evacuated from a Ruidoso movie theater. They went back to their home in Alto, but Rhode, who was outside Capitan High School on Tuesday afternoon with her son and foster child, said they lost cellphone service soon after.
“I got nervous at 11 p.m. and we traveled up the hill to find cell service,†Rhode said. “That’s when we saw where the fire was.â€
Rhode went home and packed, and left with her family a little after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
“I think the fire was a couple of miles from our house when we left,†she said.
A New Mexico State Police officer speaks to a resident of Alto at a roadblock on the way to Ruidoso on Tuesday. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency and deployed New Mexico National Guard troops in the area.
Kathy White of Ruidoso, who was also at Capitan High School on Tuesday, said she left in a hurry.
“We got our lockboxes and important papers and a change of clothes, and that’s it,†White said. “When they said go, they meant go.â€
White said she learned from a firefighter the houses on her street, Alpine Meadows Trail, have been destroyed.
“I have no idea what to do,†she said. “We have lived there since 2008.â€
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.â€
Jennings, who visited all the shelters Monday evening, 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.
Residents in communities surrounding Ruidoso have opened up their homes to evacuees as well.
Kristin Rohde of Alto feeds her foster child, Sunny, outside of the Red Cross Shelter at Capitan High School on Tuesday. They were evacuated at around 1 a.m.
“Almost everyone I know in a different town, like Cloudcroft, Roswell, Tularosa, all of them have people in their homes right now,†said Kendra King, a Bent resident who worked in Ruidoso for nearly two decades until January.
King’s parents evacuated Monday evening, landing in Cloudcroft with five dogs and three cats in tow.
King’s 20-year-old daughter and her daughter’s father, meanwhile, also had to flee from his home, ending up in Roswell.
“According to the fire maps, we are pretty sure that they lost their home,†King said. “… They were fortunate enough to get a room.â€
King’s daughter and her father were able to get his animals out, King said.
“Not everybody has been so lucky,†she said.
“We had a report from some friends this morning that the dogs wouldn’t get in the car, and they had to leave.â€
Luis Sánchez Saturno of The New Mexican contributed to this report.
