Two wildfires in Southern New Mexico that destroyed 1,400 structures, consumed over 20,000 acres and forced the evacuations of thousands of people were still burning out of control on Tuesday night as firefighters struggled to contain them, the authorities said.
At least one person has been killed in the fires since they began on Monday, said Michael Coleman, the communications director for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. No additional details were available on Tuesday evening.
The larger blaze, the South Fork fire, was discovered around 9 a.m. on Monday morning in the Mescalero Apache tribal area and grew rapidly, showing “extreme fire behavior,” officials said.
The South Fork fire crossed from the Mescalero Apache Reservation to U.S. Forest Service land and private land. As of Tuesday evening, it had destroyed 1,400 structures and covered roughly 15,000 acres, the New Mexico State Forestry Division said in a statement.
A second blaze, the Salt Fire, was discovered a few miles away on Monday afternoon and was still exclusively on tribal land in mostly inaccessible mountain terrain on Tuesday, covering nearly 5,000 acres.
About 8,000 people had been evacuated from the village of Ruidoso and the surrounding area by Tuesday evening, the New Mexico State Forestry Division said.
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