Posted: 6/10/2012 10:13:13 AM EDT
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As many of you know there has been a large fire burning up here in Ruidoso for the last several days. So far, the winds have been pushing the fire up on the ridges to the northeast of us towards Capitan. We have been helping our friends, who are nearby and closer to the fire, get packed up. But we have other friends who are in the path of the fire that we haven't been able to get in contact with and there is no way to reach them by vehicle as the roads to them have been closed.
While the fire is several miles away from us, many of our neighbors have voluntarily evacuated. The lovely bride and I have been packed up and ready to bug out for the last day or so should the wind change. I have nothing but praise for the National Forest Service personnel, all the firefighters and LEO's who are out there doing the best they can to get this fire under control and keeping the residents safe. So I just ask if you all could please keep us in your prayers. Mick ETA: 1700hrs: The winds have now shifted towards town. We are evacuating now to our friend's ranch out in Arabela.... |
| Based off the scanner traffic tonight the crews are holding the fire lines that could threaten town. There has been a precautionary warning for the western edges of town to be on alert for evacuation if things change. This is a massive fire that is next to impossible to fight due to terrain, weather, and houses mixed into the forest. The guys with boots on the ground are doing a fantastic job and have saved a lot of homes and property. Prayers out that your home is safe. We are keeping an ear on the scanner in case things change and we have to get out of town quick. |
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As we were getting ready to bug out, there was a caravan of police cars and some forest service trucks that went up our canyon. I can only assume that they were going to go door to door telling folks to get ready to get out. On one of the fire blogs, another resident of our area posted that she had gotten a reverse 911 notification advising her to get ready to evacuate. I am glad that we had our preps done and we left when we did....
We were finally able to get in contact with our friends who live in Nogal Canyon and they got evacuated out Friday night. We have not been able to contact our friends in Alto at all though. They were right in the main path of the fire. The phones and internet have been on again/off again.... We saw several National Guard vehicles and several pieces of heavy equipment coming into town. The high school is the command post and the main base of operations for the firefighters. It looks like they are using the fields around the school for helicopters.... The last fire map I saw had the fire moving out towards Capitan and Fort Stanton. Hopefully the winds will keep down and allow for the bombers to get back in there. We are praying for rain! God Bless our Firefighters. LEO's, NG troops and Forest Service personnel........Stay safe..... |
We finally got a little bit of good news today.....The fire missed our storage locker up in Alto..... !
We had not been able to get up there at all because of the road closures and had just figured that it was lost, but today we were able to contact the storage complex owner and he said that everything was fine. They are holding the fire line at the tops of Upper Canyon and Cedar Creek canyon which is about 2-3 miles from where our cabin is located. We are hoping the winds keep down today and we are praying for rain..... |
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God bless you and your family Mic. I hope everything turns out ok.
I was hoping to go to Three Rivers this weekend, but thats probably not a good idea at this point. I hope somebody lambasts those idiots who run the forest service for their, last hundred years of no burn policies that have made our forest so unhealthy. God knows that politicians will never admit guilt though. |
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As of this morning, Fire officials are reporting the 224 houses have been destroyed and 10 outbuildings and 36k acres have burned. They have bulldozed a fire line up on the ridges about 2 miles from our place and they are holding the fire there. I am amazed that they were able to do this as the terrain up there is very rough and steep. The rains never materialized, but with the light winds yesterday and today, they have been able to step up the air attack and that has helped a bunch.
I agree, they need to change the "No burn" policy and clean out the fuel in these forests. Ruidoso is a mixture of full-time and part-time residents. I have cut down 20+ trees on my place as a fire break and also to thin out the smaller trees to keep the larger ones healthy. We also rake and mow on a regular basis. The Part-timers don't keep their places cleaned up as well. Most of them don't come up here until the winter time anyway and they don't see the fuels laying all over their yards. They closed the entire Lincoln National Forest up here, so I would imagine that Three Rivers is closed too, but I am not 100% certain of that...... |
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A good source of info if you don't already have it, just updated at 14:30
http://165.221.39.44/ Be safe. |
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Quoted:
A good source of info if you don't already have it, just updated at 14:30 http://165.221.39.44/ Be safe. Thanks! That is a great site......We have been checking it pretty much hourly..... Update 6/14 Great news! We got a call today from a fellow NM ARFCOMER (rwehnau) who is one of the emergency personnel working the fire. He advised that our cabin was safe and sound. You can't believe what a relief that was to hear......Thanks a lot Russ..... !
We ended up going into town today and donating supplies (Towels, blankets, pillows and games) to the Red Cross. We also stopped by WalMart and picked up several cases of Gatorade, some foot powder, soap, lip balm & sunscreen for the firefighters...... While it looks like they are getting the fire under control, the base camp at the high school still was hopping....I am sure mop up operations will take awhile.... Again, thanks rwehnau for giving us the great news and God Bless our firefighters, LEO's and Forest Service Personnel..... 
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| Glad to hear your place was spared. The amount of personnel and equipment they threw at this fire is amazing. Just need to pray for favorable weather conditions so they can get this thing wrapped up over the next couple weeks. One wind storm and we could be right back to square one. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
A good source of info if you don't already have it, just updated at 14:30 http://165.221.39.44/ Be safe. Thanks! That is a great site......We have been checking it pretty much hourly..... Update 6/14 Great news! We got a call today from a fellow NM ARFCOMER (rwehnau) who is one of the emergency personnel working the fire. He advised that our cabin was safe and sound. You can't believe what a relief that was to hear......Thanks a lot Russ..... !
We ended up going into town today and donating supplies (Towels, blankets, pillows and games) to the Red Cross. We also stopped by WalMart and picked up several cases of Gatorade, some foot powder, soap, lip balm & sunscreen for the firefighters...... While it looks like they are getting the fire under control, the base camp at the high school still was hopping....I am sure mop up operations will take awhile.... Again, thanks rwehnau for giving us the great news and God Bless our firefighters, LEO's and Forest Service Personnel.....
Aw schucks  All in a days work and was just glad to finally pass out some good news for a change.
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