I want to thank a good friend of mine who sent me an article (dated July 19th) about the Salt and South Fork Wildfires that started on Monday, July 17th on Mescalero Apache tribal land. I learned from this article from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal with photos that the State Police had found the bodies of two individuals who had died in the fires, that 1,400 homes in and around Ruidoso have been destroyed, there was a mandatory evacuation order in nearby Ruidoso, and that some residents were unaccounted for. Heavy rainfall has lead to other problems, most notably debris flows. I then went to Wildfire Today and saw that Kelly Andersson wrote about the Salt and South Fork Fires on June 18th.
I went to Inciweb a short time ago to find more information, their page on the Salt and South Fork Fires may be found here. I have shared their latest below. The current Incident Commander is Dave Gesser of The Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5. As I write this, the South Fork Fire has burned 16,349 acres and the Salt Fire has burned 7,652 acres. Both fires are at 0 percent containment. The State of New Mexico has similar information about these fires that I found here, please note that I suspect that this page is updated so depending on when you are reading this article you may see something different.
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| Obtained on June 21, 2024 at 2 PM from the South Fork and Salt Fires Inciweb Map page |
Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Governor of New Mexico, declared a State of Emergency on June 20th authorizing $5.25 million for relief efforts. Also on June 20th, President Biden declared a Major Disaster Declaration to support relief efforts. KRWG Public Media out of New Mexico has June 20th article on their website reporting on a Thursday night public meeting with a discussion on the effects of heavy rain on Wednesday night leading to flash flooding and the dangers of debris flows. Evacuation orders are still in place.
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