RUIDOSO, NM (AP) – A wind fire engulfed drought -affected mountain communities in southeastern New Mexico, burning at least 150 buildings and forcing schools with 1,700 students to evacuate, officials said. on Wednesday.
The houses were among the buildings burned Tuesday, but officials could not count how many were consumed by the fire, which burned at least 6.4 square miles (16.6 square kilometers) of forest, scrub and grass in the eastern part of the community. . Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, a spokeswoman for Lincoln National Forest.
Rabon said no one was killed or injured in the fire. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Ruidoso High School and High School were evacuated but not burned. Village officials declared a state of emergency for the community and said school classes were canceled on Wednesday because the village was facing power outages due to power lines.
The burnt dwellings were mostly a mixture of caravan and lonely houses, and about 4,000 people were evacuated following the evacuation. Village spokeswoman Carrie Gladen said authorities are looking to investigate as much damage as possible Wednesday afternoon, when a new gust of wind is expected, which will increase the risk of the fire.
“Right now, everyone is gathering around those who need to be evacuated,” Gladden said. “We’re just trying to make sure everyone has a place to rest. Also, our barangay still has no electricity. “Everyone is just trying to get the resources where they need it and everyone is being fed.”
Ruidoso suffered one of the most devastating bushfires in New Mexico history in 2012, when lightning destroyed more than 240 homes and burned nearly 70 square miles (181 square kilometers).
Rabon said the latest fire lasted one night but was not as intense.
However, there is no rain in the forecast and the humidity is low, Rabon said.
“These extremely dry conditions are not in our favor,” he said.
Another fire that broke out in the Lincoln National Forest northwest of Ruidoso burned at least 400 acres (1.6 square kilometers) after it exploded on Tuesday with power lines knocked down by strong winds, Rabon said.
Elsewhere in New Mexico, bushfires broke out in the Rio Grande, south of Albuquerque, in the mountains northwest of the Las Vegas community, and in the meadows near the Peko River near the town of Roswell.
Source: Huffpost
