RUIDOSO, New Mexico (KTSM) — More than half a year later, the Village of Ruidoso continues to seek normalcy after two major wildfires scorched the area in June 2024.

Together, the South Fork and Salt fires burned nearly 25,000 acres of land in the Ruidoso area. If the flames were not devastating enough, soon after the community was shaken once again by floodwaters brought on by the seasonal monsoon. With hundreds of structures impacted, and thousands of acres of land no longer salvageable, villagers were left to restabilize the best they could. 

“There’s really no playbook that says when you have a catastrophe, this is what you do and because of anti-donation clause, fraud, waste and abuse, issues that have happened in the past, all the hurdles you have to jump slows the process down so it’s not speedy,” said Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford. 

Crawford said his biggest challenge to date remains navigating conversations with different agencies. With local, state and federal organizations involved in the recovery efforts, the road is not as straightforward as he would like. Nevertheless, Crawford said he is grateful for the aid. 

“We still have maybe 150 or more sites that need to be scraped and cleaned off. Floodplain and floodway engineering, hydraulics and hydrology studies that are just about to be complete so people that were damaged in the flood will know if they can rebuild, and if they can rebuild to what standards? And if you can’t rebuild, what do you do?” Crawford said. 

The mayor said his office is currently working with the Lincoln County and state of New Mexico to find funding to purchase people’s homes that do not qualify for building permits. While these conversations are underway, the Village is also in talks with the Ruidoso Forestry Division about fire mitigation. 

“You know right now fire in is put on the suppression here. How do we put the fire out? So, we want to start putting some funds to how do we mitigate, how do we manage, how do we lessen that if there is a fire, the damage that can be done,” Crawford said. 

Ruidoso’s recovery comes amidst multiple wildfires breaking out in the Los Angeles area. The flames claimed the lives of at least 27 people and have sparked national conversations on climate change and the continuous threat of wildfires. 

“Hopefully around here is going to wake up some people (to) do more thinning and controlled burning and cleaning up of the existing forest that is still around us, so we don’t lose that in the future. It’s a hard thing to do,” said local business owner and longtime Ruidoso resident Orin Nutting. 

Nutting and his wife Tish own Ski West, a ski shop near the heart of Midtown. Nutting said he saw the flames reach his neighbor’s home and decided to evacuate to the shop where he and his wife spent the night. When they went to go check on their home afterwards, there was nothing left, only remnants of the house they called home for so many years. Nutting says losing their home opened the door for many options – but leaving Ruidoso was not one of them. 

“It’d be an easy time to move, right? We don’t have anything. You can pick up and you can go anywhere. But of course, we have the business so that wasn’t an option, and this is still a great place,” Nutting said. 

“I don’t think the fire has caused anybody to say, ‘Oh man, I’m leaving. That place is gone.’ Well, it’s not gone. It’s all still here and it’s just a different phase of the forest around us,” he added. 

As Nutting and other villagers hold optimism for what 2025 holds – so does Crawford. The mayor gave a threee-year timeline for forest and infrastructure recovery.