Evacuees of South Fork and Salt fires await news on their homes, businesses
CAPITAN, N.M. — Crews continue to battle the fires in southern New Mexico. Businesses and homes have been lost as firefighters continue to push through every obstacle thrown in their way. The South Fork and Salt fires have destroyed 1,400 structures and burned 23,000 acres – and there’s still no containment. Two people have also lost their lives.
The state has launched a new Wildfire Dashboard for the South Fork and Salt fires to help keep residents informed on evacuations, fire activity, and other important updates.
Now, it’s still unknown how many of the 1,400 buildings that have burned are homes. Officials say that they will have a better idea once the weather clears.
Many residents have evacuated to Capitan and are feeling fatigued at this point. While it’s been four days, they say it feels like it’s been a month. But at the same time, many are staying positive.
“I’m kind of at peace that my house burned down, I can rebuild,” said Robert White, who has been at Capitan High School since Monday night.
White said that several of his neighbors went on Facebook and verified that their entire neighborhood had been reduced to ash. He has lived in Ruidoso for his entire life.
“I feel like it’s kind of one of those things having been born and raised in Ruidoso, I always kind of felt that wasn’t a matter of if this is going to happen,” he said. “My friends, my family, and my animals are all safe. I’ve been able to reach out to my family in other states who saw this on national news and tell them, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, we’re OK.’ We’re just having to regroup a little bit, but we’ll be back, better than ever.”
While White is used to fires in Ruidoso, he says he believes this is the first time the entire town had to evacuate. He had just a short time to react when the alert came down.
“Mixture of scary, dazed, and confused, because this is, I’ve had the alerts to evacuate before – this is the first time I was in an area that had to be,” White said. “We had our important papers in two lock boxes, so we’re gonna grab those and put them in the trunk of our car. We had to pick up some new clothes once we got here. Because you only had what was on our back and two small plastic bags full.”
White also emphasized that the staff at the evacuation center has been incredibly helpful. The American Red Cross is in charge of the shelter. They are also accepting monetary donations online, but if you’re in the community, you can drop off sealed, packaged items. If it’s not sealed or packaged, they have to turn it away.
There are some exceptions for donations of clothes. In Capitan, KOB 4 was told they have enough clothes but they do need more men’s and women’s underwear. More ways to help are available here.
The evacuation center is also close to the Capitan Fairgrounds, where they are providing shelter for both pets and livestock. They are also accepting food donations for animals.
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