At least one dead in New Mexico village from wildfire that forced thousands flee their homes
At least one person has died as wildfires swept into a village in southern New Mexico, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
People left Ruidoso under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings as huge flames destroyed or damaged more than 500 structures, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said.
Her office confirmed the fire had killed one person, but not share any details.
She previously said that the village’s entire population of 7,000 people had been evacuated.
A message on the local government website for Rudioso read: “GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately.”
Mrs Grisham declared a state of emergency in the south of New Mexico and deployed additional National Guard troops to the area.
The magnitude of the fires is beyond local control and requires immediate state intervention to protect public health, safety and welfare, the governor said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
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One of the wildfires, named the South Fork Fire, started on Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, where the tribal president issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency. It was burning on tribal and US Forest Service land within areas surrounding Ruidoso.
A second fire, called the Salt Fire, also was burning on the Mescalero reservation and southwest of Ruidoso. It was more than 7.6 square miles (19.6 square kilometres) as of Tuesday morning with no containment, the forestry division said.
“The horrific South Fork Fire and Salt Fire have ravaged our lands and property, and forced thousands to flee their homes,” Mrs Grisham said. “We are deploying every available resource to control these fires.”
Thousands have to flee Rudioso. Pic: Reuters
Accountant Steve Jones said he and his wife fled overnight as emergency crews arrived at their doorstep and dense smoke filled the Ruidoso valley, making it difficult to breathe.
“We had a 40mph wind that was taking this fire all along the ridge, we could literally see 100ft flames,” said Mr Jones, who relocated in a camper. “That’s why it consumed so much acreage.”
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A burned out car is seen after wildfire swept through parts of southern New Mexico. Pic: Reuters
He said mobile and internet service failed with the evacuation underway, while villagers tuned into AM radio for updates, packed up belongings and drove from Ruidoso, which is about 130 miles south east of Albuquerque.
“The traffic became bumper-to-bumper, slow-moving, and people’s nerves became a little jangled,” he said.
Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to the fire, which was estimated to be about 22 square miles (56 square kilometres) with 0% containment, forestry and village officials said on Tuesday morning.
The state forestry division said multiple structures were threatened and a number have been lost. A portion of US Highway 70 was closed south of the village.
A firefighter tackles a wildfire in California. Pic: Reuters
The Village of Ruidoso is about 75 miles (121 kilometres) west of Roswell, where several evacuation centres were set up.
An air quality alert was issued for very unhealthy air in Ruidoso and surrounding areas due to smoke.
It comes as tens of millions of people were affected by stifling heat across the United States on Tuesday.
Extreme heat alerts stretched from Iowa to Ohio and even into the upper reaches of Michigan, with the National Weather Service saying a dangerous heat wave was expected to make its way across the country and into Maine until at least Friday.
In California, wildfires erupted east of San Francisco in the state’s historic Gold Country region and in the mountains of northern Los Angeles County after what had been a quiet start to fire season.
Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies.
Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.
He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.
Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.
Read more: Donald Trump’s deportations explained
Pic: AP
People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.
People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
Pic: AP
Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.
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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
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