By MICHAEL SMITH
El Rito Media
The South Fork Fire now spans Otero and Lincoln counties, is moving fast and an immediate evacuation has been ordered for the entire Village of Ruidoso, according to a news release.
By 8:15 p.m. the fire had grown to more than 3,380 acres according to reports.
An emergency Go evacuation was issued from Sudderth and Mechem to Freedom Bloom at Big O Tire, noted the release.
“Both (New Mexico) Highway 48 and (U.S.) Highway 70 at Apache Summit are closed, so the only route for evacuation is on Sudderth to Highway 70 and out to Roswell,” the release stated.
Evacuees should use U.S. 70 heading east towards Roswell.
U.S. 70 was closed with the intersection of New Mexico State Road 244, four miles east of Mescalero to nearly two miles east of Carrizo.
Longtime Ruidoso-area resident Tim Keithley was in the long line of vehicles leaving on highway 48.
Around 7:10 p.m. Monday, he said Midtown Ruidoso “looks like a ghost town.”
Later, around 7:35 p.m., he added, “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
An Emergency Operations Center is now operational. People can call 575-258-6900.
The New Mexico State Forestry Division said the fire was discovered around 9 a.m. Monday on Mescalero Apache Tribal Land along the Rio Ruidoso.
“Currently, the fire is being managed by Mescalero Apache Fire Rescue, but the fire will be transferred tomorrow to a Complex Incident Management Team. Air resources have been performing drops throughout the afternoon. Multiple resources are responding to the nearby neighborhoods to perform structure protection,” read a statement from State Forestry.
In a press release late Monday evening, the City of Alamogordo offered assistance to the community of Ruidoso. Alamogordo emergency operations manager, Fire Chief Jerry Ramirez, has been actively coordinating with Otero County, Lincoln County and the Village of Ruidoso personnel to offer support and assistance.
Chief Ramirez, accompanied by a team of Alamogordo firefighters, will be deploying to Ruidoso to aid in addressing the loss of structures. Additionally, the Alamogordo Police Department has been mobilized to potentially assist with traffic control efforts.
In preparation, the staff at the Alamogordo Civic Center has been placed on standby and is ready to open the facility as needed.