Jun. 19—Authorities found unidentified charred remains within a burned car Tuesday in an area where the South Fork and Salt fires are raging.

The death is the second linked to the wildfires that have destroyed 1,400 homes and other structures and forced thousands of people to evacuate the village of Ruidoso and surrounding communities.

The burned remains are unidentified because they are skeletal, with no distinguishing physical features, and there were no documents intact within the vehicle on Ranier Road that can identify the victim, New Mexico State Police wrote in an email.

Police were able to identify another casualty: Patrick Pearson, 60, who was found dead Tuesday on the roadside near the Swiss Chalet Motel. He had suffered extensive severe burns.

The deaths give forest managers more reason to hope for rain as crews battle the wildfires devouring forest land on the Mescalero Apache Reservation and in Ruidoso.

Thousands of Lincoln County residents have fled their homes, some going to temporary shelters and others staying at motels or with relatives and friends.

The South Fork Fire grew to 16,335 acres and the Salt Fire had scorched 7,071 acres as of early Wednesday as the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5 took command of the battle against the blazes.

The weather was shaping up to be a bit more favorable in the firefighting effort, with winds forecast to be a moderate 10 mph to 15 mph, and a 30% chance of scattered rain and thunderstorms by late afternoon.

“It is dry and windy,” said Amanda Fry, a Lincoln National Forest spokeswoman. “There is hope for rain. It is monsoon season. Any moisture is definitely is always welcome.”

The cause of the blazes, which ignited on tribal land, was still not known Wednesday.

More than 250 personnel are fighting the wildfires, with heavy equipment, fire engines, helicopters and air tankers aiding the effort, which was proving a challenge. By midafternoon the fires were still at 0% containment.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has asked the White House to declare the fires a major disaster so the burned area can qualify for federal assistance.

“Our first responders are heroes, but they need more resources to combat this disaster and keep our people safe,” the governor said in a statement. “New Mexico has faced disaster before, but the scale of this emergency requires immediate federal intervention.”

At the same time, the state Department of Workforce Solutions seeks federal approval to offer disaster unemployment aid to workers affected by the fires. The workers can apply for regular jobless benefits as a first step.

Impending rainfall, while possibly helping to douse or slow the flames, also brings hazards.

Heavy rain can cause flooding on hillsides that earlier wildfires had blackened and stripped bare of trees and vegetation, most recently the Blue 2 Fire said George Drucker, state Forestry Division spokesman, referring to a wildfire that charred more than 7,500 acres north of Ruidoso.

For that reason, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning Wednesday in areas around the Blue 2 and McBride fires’ burn scars. The McBride Fire burned more than 6,000 acres in 2022, causing two deaths and destroying 107 structures.

In response to the flood warning, the Ruidoso Office of Emergency Management halted operations in eight areas, according to the village’s Facebook page.

The affected areas are Upper Canyon, Eagle Drive, Sleepy Hollow, Country Club, Lower Gavilan, Lower Paradise Canyon, Two Rivers and Carrizo Canyon.

Lightning, which can spark more fires, remains a concern throughout the forest, Fry said.

“The weather can bring with it, good or bad,” Fry said.

Drucker said rain is generally helpful in extinguishing wildfires, as long as it’s not torrential.

“A perfect rain is a mild to moderate rain,” he said. “Anything above that can be become problematic.”

For instance, thunderstorms will ground air crews, he added.

Winds also can be beneficial or harmful, depending on their direction, Drucker said.

Late in the day, the winds shifted toward the northwest, he said, noting that earlier they were blowing toward the southwest.

That helps parts of Ruidoso because it moves the fire away from those residential areas toward the Blue 2 burn scar, he said. But on the flip side, it could push the Salt Fire toward communities north of town, such as ones near Ruidoso Downs.

It also could further threaten the Downs itself, where horse trainers and owners are trying to remove hundreds of racehorses.

State Insurance Superintendent Alice Kane has ordered insurers to take it easy on fire-affected customers. Companies that write home, car and health insurance policies are ordered to offer four-month grace periods for paying premiums, and to offer payment plans of at least six months for those who can’t catch up at the end of those 120 days.

Among other provisions, home insurers that cover additional living expenses are also being ordered to promptly issue advanced payments of $5,000 to customers.

The order will stay in effect for the next four months.

New Mexican reporter Gabrielle Porter contributed to this story.

This is a developing story. Check back for more details.