STORY: :: Pamela L. Bonner

:: One of the 8,000 New Mexico residents who fled

a fast-moving wildfire says she’s seen ‘nothing like this’

:: June 17, 2024

:: June 18, 2024

:: June 19, 2024

:: Pamela L. Bonner, Evacuee

“We’ve seen other fires, but nothing like this. Not even close.”// “…the entire village was told to evacuate. So it just exploded in minutes in hours. It grew from it grew from 200 acres and now it’s almost 14,000 acres in 24 hours.”

:: Pamela L. Bonner

:: Alyssa Verdura

“They have an evacuation center set up here in Roswell at the ENMU (Eastern New Mexico University), the college campus…”// “There are places like in Capitan and other places throughout that have opened their doors to livestock. Places are offering food for animals, shelter for animals. Reaching out if people need a place to go.” // “Hope that everybody got out safely with their pets and they’re in a safe place now. And that’s all you can do is just hope.”

With little time to spare and minimal notice approximately 8,000 residents were forced to evacuate since Monday (June 17) unexpectedly across several counties, including the Mescalero Reservation west of the Village of Ruidoso, local authorities said.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham also declared a state of emergency Tuesday for Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation that added funding and resources to manage the crisis she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.