First look at damage from Ruidoso fire

RUIDOSO, N.M. – There are two wildfires essentially surrounding Ruidoso, the South Fork Fire on the north side, and the Salt Fire on the south side. 

Together, they’ve scorched at least 21,000 acres so far. They are relatively small in size for New Mexico but they are incredibly destructive wildfires.

According to the most recent update, fire officials estimate at least 1,400 homes or other structures are destroyed.

KOB 4 crews captured some of that destruction on video Tuesday while driving down Gavilan Canyon Road in Ruidoso. 

“It was really scary with the ashes coming down. Maybe it was like snow falling down, it was pretty bad. It was scary,” said Karen Sandoval, an evacuee. 

Many evacuees only took what they could carry.

“I told him to my wife, ‘Let’s grab our, what we need that’s important to us or papers or, you know, pictures or some clothes and let’s get going.’ We left everything else behind,” said Jerome Kasero, another evacuee. 

Now he’s hoping everyone saved what matters most.

“It’s been tough because we’ve never been through this before. I just keep getting cracked up about it, because I know there’s other families that are trying to look for their loved ones,” said Kasero. 

Officials confirmed Tuesday night at least one person was killed by the fires, making this the second deadly wildfire incident in Ruidoso in two years – after the McBride Fire back in 2022.

An emergency management team is expected to be fully up and running Wednesday morning.