First look at the damage caused by the Ruidoso fire

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

Together, they have burned at least 21,000 acres so far, which is a relatively small size for New Mexico wildfires, but they are incredibly destructive wildfires.

According to the latest update, firefighters 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 falling. Maybe it felt like snow was falling, it was pretty bad. It was scary,” said Karen Sandoval, an evacuee.

Many evacuees only took what they could carry.

“I told my wife, 'Let's take what we need that's important to us, some papers or, you know, some pictures or some clothes and let's go.' We left everything else behind,” said Jérôme Kasero, another evacuee.

He now hopes that everyone has saved what matters most.

“It was difficult because we had never experienced this before. It always makes me laugh, because I know there are other families trying to look for their loved ones,” Kasero said.

Authorities confirmed Tuesday evening that at least one person had been killed by the fires, making it the second deadly wildfire in Ruidoso in two years — following the McBride Fire in 2022.

An emergency management team is expected to be fully operational Wednesday morning.