Chaos unfolded in the village of Ruidoso when some residents returned home after the Lincoln County Sheriff opened a main county road on Sunday, June 23, a day earlier than the village had planned to allow reentry because of nearby wildfires, Ruisodo Mayor Lynn Crawford said.

“At the crack of dawn, people started coming in,” Crawford said. “It became an issue because we were not ready. It created a cluster.”

An advisory was initially posted on Facebook by Sheriff Michael Wood on Saturday, June 22, announcing Highway 70 would reopen in Ruidoso Downs on Sunday morning.

Opening the highway at Ruidoso Downs would effectively allow people access to the village, Crawford said.

“There’s no stopping them,” Crawford said. “We had everything planned; it did not need to be this chaotic.”

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Upon learning the road would reopen, Crawford said a decision was quickly made to rescind the sheriff’s order; however, Highway 70 was still open by deputies on Sunday morning.

Wood took to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page to express his frustration with government officials for rescinding his order.

“You don’t jerk people around like this,” Wood said in the post. “That was not cool, and I’m upset. That was done without my consent and my deputies will be down there at the village city limits of Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, to wave at you and welcome you home. I apologize for this and I’m going to take care of it.”

Many people did get through to the village through Ruidoso Downs, Crawford said. Some drove through streets as utility vehicles worked to restore power, stopping to take photos of the devastation, even illegally flying drones.

“It adds to the confusion,” the mayor said. “I got people going into the forest into their houses where they are still actively putting out hotspots. That’s creating stress on our firefighters.”

The two wildfires that ravaged parts of the resort mountain community — the South Fork Fire and the Salt Fire — were reported on Monday, June 17. Twenty-four hours later, residents were ordered to evacuate, and the fires destroyed more than 1,000 structures.

Search teams with cadaver dogs are also still combing through rubble for bodies, and detections have been made in debris. Those areas were still being blocked off as active crime scenes for further investigation, he said.

“We just needed one more day,” Crawford said. “We could have had it more secured. He’s put the state police, our police, in jeopardy.”

El Paso Times reached out to Woods for comment but did not hear back.

“It is critical that we’re all on the same page,” Crawford said. “We don’t want the public to lose confidence. It’s not irreparable but it was hiccup that did cause stress on the public.”

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Ruidoso mayor: Early road opening causes chaos amidst wildfires