Destructive wildfires rage in New Mexico, Colorado

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and PAUL DAVENPORT

Firefighters scouted the drought-stricken mountainsides around a New Mexico village as they looked for opportunities to slow a wind-driven wildfire that a day earlier had burned at least 150 homes and other structures while displacing thousands of residents and forcing the evacuation of two schools.

Homes were among the structures that had burned, but officials on Wednesday did not have a count of how many were destroyed in the blaze that torched at least 6.4 square miles (16.6 square kilometers) of forest, brush and grass on the east side of the community of Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest.

Rabon announced emergency evacuations of a more densely populated area during a briefing Wednesday afternoon as the fire jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line. She told people to get in their cars and go.

New Mexico State Police released a statement late Wednesday saying two people have been found dead in a residence. Their identities will not be released until the Office of the Medical Examiner can positively identify them.



Fire burns along a hillside in the Village of Ruidoso, N.M., on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-new-mexico-colorado-evacuations-mountains-94b92d64438b27e5af940f195306913c

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. Tragic. Such a beautiful area, known also for horses and horse racing.

[CrispyQ]

2. It's not going to get better.

We've had two devastating fires in less than six months. December 31 is not wildfire season yet the Marshall fire took out an entire subdivision & several businesses in one afternoon because the area hadn't had any moisture since July. That's unheard of. We're Colorado, where it snows. We (humans) are not doing nearly enough to stave off disaster. The insurance companies know climate change is happening. The Pentagon knows. Why isn't there any political will to do anything about it?

[Kaleva]

4. People know too but there's no mass movement out of the region.

The best people can do is try to adapt to what's coming. Moving out of areas that are predicted to be submerged under the sea; hit by hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and tornados would be prudent.

[Mickju]

3. This is very sad.

I spent every summer in Ruidoso from 1948 until I graduated from high school in 1962. My parents retired there in 1979 and my mother lived there until the late 80s after my father had died there. It was my second home for many years. We would spend the summers in Ruidoso to escape the heat in Dallas.