topic Re: McBride Fire 2022 in Community Chat

McBride Fire 2022

On It — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 16:38:16 GMT

I am distraught. The mountain village of Ruidoso, NM is at grave risk. A fire broke out April 12 and was spread by 80-90 mph winds. Resources from across the Southwest have arrived, but I am crying and cannot grasp what has happened to this sleepy mountain paradise. My family has vacationed there for 70+ years. My DH and I lived there for five years on McBride Drive. We currently own property that is clear of the fire, but it is continuing to grow and spread.

I don't care about our property. It can be replaced. I am distraught because two elderly people were found deceased in their home. The fire overtook them while they were trying to evacuate. The firefighters were across the intersection saving 1700 middle school and high school students. There are pictures on Facebook and Twitter. I do not know how to post photos. One particularly disturbing photo shows the flames outside the exit doors of the sixth grade wing. The firefighters fought off the flames until buses could arrive and transport the children to safety.

My message to you is to prepare a go bag no matter where you live. You do not have time or the presence of mind to collect medications, important documents, computers, etc. when you get that knock on the door to leave. (Power was cut to Ruidoso earlier that day, so there was no phone, cell, or internet, and water supply was low.) Police went door to door. Prepare a go bag for pets, too, with their medications, leash, food, water bowl, toys, etc. I hope none of you ever have this experience, but fire, floods, earthquakes, and severe weather can happen anywhere.

Reinforcements have arrived. Huge planes are trying to slow the fire. One was even flown in from Washington. They are trying, but Mother Nature has not cooperated. The winds are supposed to lessen, but lately they seem relentless.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

STYLE — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 16:50:27 GMT

MY PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU

Re: McBride Fire 2022

Cakers3 — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 18:11:02 GMT

@On It I read about the elderly couple.

We have always kept go-bags for years now. Go through them every few months to upgrade any papers and such.

We also have smaller ones in the car in case of being stuck somewhere and cannot get home. Along with some food supplies.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

Kachina624 — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 22:01:30 GMT

@On It I've been following the fire on every newscast. My guess is the elderly couple couple who died moved too slowly and/or tried to gather too much to take. I heard one woman interviewed who said she just had time to grab her pets and cell phone and she was out the door. They just had a few minutes warning.

I can only imagine how sad this is for you. Even if your house survives, many of the beautiful forests in the area will have been destroyed and won't regenerate in our lifetimes.

Do you know if the area around The Museum of the Horse was affected? I took photos of every one of the 1 1/2 X life size horses of different breeds in action poses in the sculpture garden. It would be such a shame if they were destroyed.

As soon as it's safe and utilities restored, I'm guessing you'll be heading there to assess any damage to your house. Hope some guardian angel is looking out for you. At least the wind is down today, although warm weather is setting in.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

On It — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 22:41:49 GMT

@Kachina624 Thank you for your well-wishes. The area around The Museum of the Horse is safe for now. The fire is on the other side of the mountains that run behind it and the race track. It should be well-guarded as the race track facilities are being used as an incident command post for all the firefighters and hot shot teams.

I was very upset when I posted this thread earlier. The fire maps showed the fire came down Moon Mountain across Meander Drive and was within yards of Sudderth Drive, the main commercial street in Ruidoso. Later the information from officials said it did not enter that area. I hope the map was wrong and the officials were correct.

Tomorrow is going to be a bad wind day. 40 mph wind gusts coming from the west.

We will wait until the fire is over, and the locals have had time to regroup before going up there. In the meantime, I am finding the winds reached 91 mph the day the fire broke out. That downed trees and power lines and poles. PNM is having to physically inspect every line and pole in each area before power can be returned. It is a painstakingly slow process. Our power was restored last night, but it was turned off today in the early morning hours. We are without power at this time.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

Kachina624 — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 01:10:44 GMT

@On It I could tell you were very upset and can understand why. Its hard to accept something might drastically change after 70 years of being accustomed to it. Change is never easy and always resisted. Have you noticed with all the changes the past few years, none are for the best?

I hope you're feeling better this evening. They'll keep throwing everything at that fire. We don't want to chase off the honorary New Mexicans from Texas!

Re: McBride Fire 2022

Duckncover — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 02:28:03 GMT

Prayers for you and all those being impacted by this fire right now. Ruidoso is a beautiful place when we visited several years ago. So sad these fires are ravaging the area. Glad to hear the chikdren were evacuated safely. Thank you for the important advice to always have a go bag ready.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

Cakers3 — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:34:01 GMT

@On It I hope you will have news today, and hopefully things will be ok.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

qvcaddition — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 05:08:46 GMT

I lived in fire area the last few years in northern calif. I have to bass in garage next to parked car and smaller ones with a case of water and my dogs food leaches, meds. A make up pouch with my extra meds. A fist aid kit, etc. The only thing I would have to grab is the binder with important papers. Hope it never comes to it.

God bless the poor people in these situation. God be with them.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

just bee — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 14:22:30 GMT

@On It

It's been several years since we rented a cabin in Ruidoso but, after one visit, it became my favorite place in New Mexico.

We were so fond of the people we met there. Everyone was so friendly, so nice.

Then we realized why we liked them so much. They were all Texans!

It breaks my heart to see this beautiful area on fire.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

On It — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 14:39:35 GMT

@just bee Thank you for posting the photo. I agree that Ruidoso is by far my favorite place in New Mexico. Many Texans vacation there every week. A good number of people from Texas have second homes there. The summers are beautiful which is when most of us are there.

For five years we lived full-time on McBride Dr. Our son attended the elementary and the middle school. We have lived a lot of places and owned different homes. That house was by far my favorite. We still do not know if it survived. We are waiting to go up until the locals and the people impacted by the fire can get their thoughts together and start moving toward recovery.

Re: McBride Fire 2022

just bee — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 17:02:50 GMT

@On It wrote:
@just bee Thank you for posting the photo. I agree that Ruidoso is by far my favorite place in New Mexico. Many Texans vacation there every week. A good number of people from Texas have second homes there. The summers are beautiful which is when most of us are there.

For five years we lived full-time on McBride Dr. Our son attended the elementary and the middle school. We have lived a lot of places and owned different homes. That house was by far my favorite. We still do not know if it survived. We are waiting to go up until the locals and the people impacted by the fire can get their thoughts together and start moving toward recovery.

@On It

Our house in Albuquerque burned in 2019 when Better-half's truck exploded in the garage.

Didn't see that one coming.

It's difficult to lose so many of the things we've collected over the years, but I always have to think how much worse it would have been if the truck had exploded at night while we were sleeping. Or if it had exploded while the three of us -- Better-half, our dog and myself -- were sitting in it.