Well, hell, here we go — we’ve had a few warm-up fires this season, but looks like the main event just kicked off at Ruidoso, where everyone has been advised to git while the gitting is good.
“We were getting ready to sit down to a meal and the alert came on: Evacuate now, don’t take anything or plan to pack anything, just evacuate,” Mary Lou Minic told KOB-TV. “And within three to five minutes, we were in the car, leaving.”
Here’s the latest from New Mexico Fire Information. Ruidoso News has a story, updated last night. The Las Cruces Sun News trotted out a backgrounder from 2019.
Mad Blog Media 
Just when I thought maybe we will make it to the monsoon. Maybe it’s time I put our grab and go bags back together. I figured we didn’t need them after we moved to our currents digs.
That “one way in, one way out” shit gives me The Fear. That was our situation on that windswept rockpile outside of Weirdcliffe: a milelong bobsled run that dropped 430 vertical feet through the timber.
I’ve mentioned the time I scouted a back way off the hill, back when the fires were getting a little too close for comfort. We might have been able to work our way over to Operation Uplift and down to County Roads 260/271, but it woulda been a thrilla, even in low-range 4WD.
During the 2011 Monument Fire here, we had 3 roads we could evacuate on. Two were blocked by the fire, so only one way out. Took us 45 minutes to go a 1/2 mile. And, we are in town. These wildfires move and spot fire so fast. Hope they all do well there.
Begging forgiveness in advance, this does remind me of a great song.
There was one road out of Dodge in 2011 when Las Conchas brewed up west of us. Everything had to go off the Hill on NM 502. It went amazingly well considering how badly people drive.
The fire had brewed up the day before and by nightfall, we were watching it burn on a ridge that was visible from our house, so we were madly packing critical paperwork, dog and cat supplies, and a suitcase each. The fire raced across the Jemez in just a few hours. Sure enough, the next morning it was time to hightail it off The Hill.
This stuff is not fun.
That Waldo Canyon fire back in 2012 was one nasty sonofabitch. Never got to our little corner of Bibleburg, but it got a lot closer than we liked.
Locals were bitchin about the 4 inches of rain that fell yesterday. Think I’ll send them that picture of the fire and line of cars and a note. “Sure your basement has some water in it but damnit, you still have an intact house over it!!”
Point taken. We had 4+ inches in next to no time from Tropical Storm Gaston a few years ago. A pain, but a damnsight better than fire, for sure. I’ve seen fire tracks in Va. mountains that burned through heavy forest clean down to bedrock. I’ll take a little bailing/treading water any day. Makes me glad to live on a major river – plenty of drinking water & too far from the coast for tsunami’s. Most of the potential disasters are people related and could be dealt with by a good supply of smoke poles and ammo.
Best wishes to all out there in the all-too-literal line of fire. May your supply of luck exceed your supply of troubles.
I should knock on wood here (knock knock knock), but to date I’ve always been on the periphery of natural disasters. Tornadoes, volcanoes, tsunamis, fires, floods, what have you. We’ve never had to grab the cats and computers and run for our lives. Thank Cthulhu for small favors, hey? May Its tentacles grow ever longer.
Looks bad. From the New Mexican:
“As many as 500 structures may be damaged or destroyed in the village of Ruidoso as the South Fork Fire, which reached nearly 14,000 acres Tuesday morning, continues to burn unchecked, according to the New Mexico State Forestry Division.”
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/south-fork-fire-burns-estimated-500-structures-in-ruidoso-area/article_0ad268b2-2d80-11ef-bf12-03c61cf9d7ca.html
Now it seems that the Salt Fire is making a run at Ruidoso Downs, and residents of that town are told to beat feet. Hijo, madre.
From the Village of Riudoso government.
https://www.ruidoso-nm.gov/south-fork-fire
Anybody know how well a stucco coated hay bale house with a metal style (or other lesser flammable roof) does in a wild fire?
It’s sad that all of us are only a statistic away from some type of environmental disaster.
As the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere goes up, increasing amounts of shit will come down on all of us everywhere.
In other sad news…
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/18/sports/willie-mays-dead.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240618&instance_id=126617&nl=from-the-times®i_id=1196256&segment_id=169956&te=1&user_id=5385de87e3db72b13db5742f658c24ba