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thewayneThere was an article on the CNN site this morning.
There are two fires threatening/in Ruidoso, the South Fork Fire at 15,000 acres and the Salt Fire on the Mescalero reservation at 5500 acres, almost 21,000 acres involved at this time. In less than 48 hours.
They've shut off electricity in Ruidoso and ordered a complete evacuation of the village and the surrounding areas, people are being told to not attempt to save their properties or possessions. Over 500 buildings, including residences, have been damaged or lost. All roads in/out of Ruidoso except 70 leading to Roswell have been closed. With no power, there's no cell service.
This is basically about 40 miles or so more or less north of us in a straight line, but there's lots of mountain and valley between here and there and it would take a radical wind shift to send it in our direction. The wind is pretty solidly from the west this time of year.
Tomorrow I'm planning on taking water/Gaterade/etc to the reservation as it's accessible. As I left a doctor appointment this morning, I saw a plane flying across the valley, apparently towards the fire. It was towing a black round-appearing object, I believe it was probably a water bucket, I'm guessing they reloaded at the Alamogordo airport. Roswell had an Air Force and missile base back in the '40s, I don't know exactly when it closed down but it's been used as a refill point for water bombers for a number of years now. I expect it's quite busy and Alamogordo's a lot closer than Roswell, though I expect a former Air Force base to be larger than our little municipal.
An old friend of mine texted me to see if we were safe (second such text I received today) and told me about an RV fire that closed the interstate near them: RV had quite a stock of ammunition inside! I think about how many people have guns, how red this state is in the rural areas, and the odds of people stockpiling ammo and the potential danger it could represent to firefighters. *sigh*
There are two fires threatening/in Ruidoso, the South Fork Fire at 15,000 acres and the Salt Fire on the Mescalero reservation at 5500 acres, almost 21,000 acres involved at this time. In less than 48 hours.
They've shut off electricity in Ruidoso and ordered a complete evacuation of the village and the surrounding areas, people are being told to not attempt to save their properties or possessions. Over 500 buildings, including residences, have been damaged or lost. All roads in/out of Ruidoso except 70 leading to Roswell have been closed. With no power, there's no cell service.
This is basically about 40 miles or so more or less north of us in a straight line, but there's lots of mountain and valley between here and there and it would take a radical wind shift to send it in our direction. The wind is pretty solidly from the west this time of year.
Tomorrow I'm planning on taking water/Gaterade/etc to the reservation as it's accessible. As I left a doctor appointment this morning, I saw a plane flying across the valley, apparently towards the fire. It was towing a black round-appearing object, I believe it was probably a water bucket, I'm guessing they reloaded at the Alamogordo airport. Roswell had an Air Force and missile base back in the '40s, I don't know exactly when it closed down but it's been used as a refill point for water bombers for a number of years now. I expect it's quite busy and Alamogordo's a lot closer than Roswell, though I expect a former Air Force base to be larger than our little municipal.
An old friend of mine texted me to see if we were safe (second such text I received today) and told me about an RV fire that closed the interstate near them: RV had quite a stock of ammunition inside! I think about how many people have guns, how red this state is in the rural areas, and the odds of people stockpiling ammo and the potential danger it could represent to firefighters. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 12:03 am (UTC)PLEASE be safe.
That is crazy stupid about all the ammo out there. :o
Hugs, Jon
no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 02:44 am (UTC)I hauled $200 worth of water, Gatorade, and snacks up there after work today. The clouds from the fires and a weather front were quite impressive, as were the number of people sheltering in the gym and the number of cars arriving to drop stuff off. We'll be fine, winds shifting to blow from the north are pretty unheard of.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 05:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-20 07:08 pm (UTC)I drove up there yesterday after work and delivered a whole bunch of water, Gatorade and snacks. Tomorrow I'll be going back with pet food and infant formula. It's a little scary how many people are sheltering in the gym at the tribal offices.
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Date: 2024-06-22 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-22 12:30 am (UTC)Not even remotely. They had to pull the crews yesterday and maybe today because of the risk of flash flooding, they're hoping the rain and higher humidity will slow things down. Two deaths, over 1400 structures damaged or lost. Heavy hail, over 24,000 acres between the two fires, they couldn't do infrared mapping last night because of the cloud cover. I'm not sure how much aerial attack they've been able to do today because of the clouds. I'm running baby formula and pet food up tomorrow, probably some more water if it's readily available. Zero containment, they're pre-burning fuel at the dozer line they've built in hopes that will be a bit of a fire break if the fire reaches that point. It's really, really bad.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-24 05:09 pm (UTC)