Small New Mexico town ravaged by fire and flood is held together by hometown heroes
When wildfires ignited on June 17 in the Sierra Blanca Mountains, Tresa Halbrooks knew things would be different for the town of Ruidoso.
Born and raised there, these fires were closer than any she could remember and in the following weeks, three separate devastating floods have only made her anxieties worse.
“It’s unnerving,” she said. “We're in a disaster area. And it didn’t stop with the fires that happened. Just after that, the flooding. And now every time it rains it's this ‘run-for-your-lives’ kind of feeling.'”
Since two fires broke out in mid June, causing all residents to evacuate, the small mountain resort town has experienced an unrelenting barrage of natural disasters.
Fire and rain can make for a particularly devastating combination. According to Julie Kalansky, deputy director for the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography UC San Diego, after a fire, the burnt soil releases oils that make it less absorbent and high rain rates can then trigger “post-fire debris flows,” meaning nothing can soak up the downpour.
Satellite imagery shows the burn scars left from the mid June fires. Their proximity to Ruidoso, combined with the beginning of the New Mexico monsoon season, have produced the conditions for potentially months of devastating flooding and mudslides.
With the season just starting, Halbrooks knows things will only get worse.
“Every time it rains, they're going to be running for their lives," she said.
Moira Terry moved to Ruidoso with her husband two years ago for the tranquil life that the small town promised.
“I've only been here two years, but families who have been here for generations say ‘I've never seen it like this in my lifetime, and my mother has never seen this in her lifetime,’” Terry told ABC News. “It is certainly not a way to live,” said Halbrooks. “But you know what? The people that live here love this community.”
Since the fires began, several Facebook response and support pages have popped up offering resources and communication between local officials, residents, and tourists. Free meals, erosion control and property cleanup, and local fundraising continue to be offered through each day of devastating rains.
“They love this community, and they are doing their best to be ready and recover and to try to have normalcy as quickly as possible," said Halbrooks.
Halbrooks herself started a page honoring those selflessly offering services to fellow locals.
Meanwhile, Terry has been helping out as well. As a construction project management consultant, she brought in contractors to work directly with insurance companies on behalf of homeowners to assess damage and begin rebuilding.
“This is a community that has a year-round population of less than 8,000 people. To have over 1,500 structures burned is just devastating,” she said.
Logan Fleharty has lived in Ruidoso his entire life and, for over a month, he has been on the front lines of assistance for the people of Ruidoso. He feeds the animals of evacuated residents, provides water and meals to first responders and has fundraised over $150,000 for immediate relief efforts -- all while doing it live on social media.
“The rumors became ‘our entire town burned’, but I had seen it with my own eyes," he told ABC News. "So I started taking videos of the streets to prove it. These stories turned into a wave of new followers, and people just started asking ‘can you check on my dogs and my cats and my horses?’ We saved so many hearts out there by just giving them a little bit of hope.”
The result of Fleharty’s work has been an amplification of support for Ruidoso, both from residents and government officials.
“I've been brought in with the township, our mayor, our Lincoln County representative.," he said. "I got letters from the governor, from the senator ... I have a team of 20 people at the drop of a hat. I can call them and they've got sandbags. I have a team of Humane Society responders. This entire town is my team.”
But, much like Halbrooks, seeing the constant devastation in his town has taken a toll on Fleharty.
“All these cars are totaled," he said. "Businesses are totaled. Mobile home parks are totaled. Our beautiful river community and upper canyons totaled.”
Yet instead of being deterred by the overwhelming amount of destruction, the outcome of the work continues to motivate Fleharty.
“I could never stop. I can't stop and won't stop. I'm driven with a big heart. I have got to make sure people are okay,” he said.
But with the monsoon season just beginning in the state, the road ahead will not be easy for Ruidoso.
“We can't race in and fix it,” Terry said, “but what we can do is work closely with people to come up with a plan and work with the village to devise solutions for the cleanup and the long term success of the entire community.”
