At least 1 dead in New Mexico wildfire that forced thousands to flee, governor's office says

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Thousands of southern New Mexico residents fled a mountainous village as a wind-whipped wildfire tore through homes and other buildings, and killed at least one person. Officials warned the danger isn't over.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency that covers Ruidoso and neighboring tribal lands and deployed National Guard troops to the area. A top-level fire management team is expected to take over Wednesday, and winds will continue to challenge crews, officials said.

The governor's office confirmed the fatality but said it had no other details.

Christy Hood, a real estate agent in Ruidoso, said the evacuation order Monday came so quickly that she and her husband Richard, only had time to grab their two children and two dogs.

“As we were leaving, there were flames in front of me and to the side of me,” she said. “And all the animals were just running — charging — trying to get out.”

The family headed out of Ruidoso, but heavy traffic turned what should have been a 15-minute drive to leave town into a harrowing two-hour ordeal.

“It looked like the sky was on fire. It was bright orange,” she said. “Honestly, it looked like the apocalypse. It was terrifying and sparks were falling on us.”

More than 500 structures have been destroyed or damaged, but it’s unclear how many were homes. A flyover to provide more accurate mapping and a better assessment of damage was planned Tuesday night, Lujan Grisham said.

“It will really allow us to see inside the fire in a way that we cannot do now because it is too dangerous to be in the heart of the fire,” she said.

The emergency declaration frees up funding and resources to manage the crisis in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation. Lujan Grisham said two fires have together consumed more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers).

Other than the one fatality, no one has been seriously injured, she said.

Nationwide, wildfires have scorched more than 3,280 square miles (8,495 square kilometers) this year — a figure higher than the 10-year averages, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. About 20 wildfires currently burning are considered large and uncontained, including blazes in California and Washington state.

On Tuesday, two wildfires menaced Ruidoso, a high-altitude vacation getaway nestled within the Lincoln National Forest with a casino, golf course and ski resort operated by the Mescalero Apache Tribe nearby. What caused the blazes hasn’t been determined, but the Southwest Coordination Center listed them as human-caused.

New Mexico has grappled in recent years with a devastating series of wildfires, including a 2022 blaze caused by a pair of prescribed fires set by the U.S. Forest Service that merged during drought conditions to become the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history. That year, a separate fire consumed 200 homes in Ruidoso and resulted in two deaths.

This week, Ruidoso officials didn’t mince words as smoke darkened the evening sky Monday and 100-foot (30-meter) flames climbed a ridgeline: “GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately.”

Jacquie and Ernie Escajeda were at church Monday in Ruidoso, located about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Albuquerque, when they heard about a fire about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away. By mid-morning, smoke was rising above a mountain behind their house and the smell filled the air.

The couple started watching their cellphones and turned on the radio for updates. There was no “get ready,” nor “get set” — it was just “go,” Ernie Escajeda said. They grabbed legal documents and other belongings and headed out.

“Within an hour, the police department, the fire department, everybody’s there blocking, barricading the roads to our area and telling everybody to leave,” he said. “Thank God we were ready.”

Earlier Tuesday, they learned the home of their best friends didn’t survive the fire, Jacquie Escajeda said.

“There’s only one home standing in their whole little division that they live in, so there are a lot of structures lost,” she said. “We have no idea if we’re going to have a home to go to.”

Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to wildfire. The Ruidoso Downs that hosts horse races and the Lincoln Medical Center were evacuated later Tuesday.

Amid highway closures, many evacuees had little choice but to flee eastward and into the city of Roswell, 75 miles (121 kilometers) away, where hotels and shelters were set up. A rural gas station along the evacuation route was overrun with people and cars.

“The Walmart parking lot is packed with people in RVs,” said Enrique Moreno, director of Roswell Community Disaster Relief. “Every single hotel in Roswell is filled to capacity right now. ... We go to the gas stations and we see just a bunch of people hanging around their cars.”

Animals and livestock were moved to the state fairgrounds in Roswell, including five horses that arrived Monday night, as well as four llamas, according to Leslie Robertson, the office manager. Robertson said 30 more horses were headed her way Tuesday evening.

Both the South Fork Fire and the smaller Salt Fire started on the Mescalero Apache Reservation where the tribe's president declared a state of emergency.

Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Washington, D.C.; Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; and Rio Yamat and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas; and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.

An air tanker soars through a large plume of smoke over and around wildfire-affected areas in the village of Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

A helicopter flies over smoke from a wildfire seen from the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort in Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A helicopter flies over a wildfire in Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A helicopter flies over a wildfire in Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Residents of the Mescalero Apache Reservation rest while sheltering at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort in Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Residents of the Mescalero Apache Reservation rest while sheltering at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort in Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A helicopter collects water from Mescalero lake near the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort in Ruidoso, N.M., as authorities fight wildfires Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Smoke from a wildfire rises over the mountains of Ruidoso, N.M., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Thousands of residents fled their homes as a wildfire swept into the mountain village of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A fire truck drives on New Mexico State Road 48 towards the South Fork Fire near Ruidoso, N.M., on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. The South Fork Fire has consumed nearly 14,000 acres, according to a New Mexico State Forestry Division news release. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Smoke from the South Fork Fire reflects a pink hue during sunrise Tuesday, June 18, 2024 as law enforcement officers turn drivers away on State Road 48 at State 220 because of wildfires burning near Ruidoso, N.M. The South Fork Fire has consumed nearly 14,000 acres. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

This photo provided by Brian Chavira shows smoke filling the sky from the wildfires in Ruidoso, N.M. on Monday, June 17, 2024. Residents of the southern New Mexican mountain village have fled their homes under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings as fast-moving wildfires bore down on the town of 7,000 residents. (Brian Chavira via AP)

This photo provided by Brian Chavira shows smoke filling the sky from the wildfires in Ruidoso, N.M. on Monday, June 17, 2024. Residents of the southern New Mexican mountain village have fled their homes under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings as fast-moving wildfires bore down on the town of 7,000 residents. (Brian Chavira via AP)

Smoke from a wildfire rises over Ruidoso, N.M., Monday, June 17, 2024. Residents of the mountain village of about 7,000 residents fled their homes under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings. (Jacquie Escajeda via AP)

Smoke from a wildfire rises over trees in Ruidoso, N.M., Monday, June 17, 2024. Residents of the mountain village of about 7,000 residents fled their homes under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings. (Jacquie Escajeda via AP)

Smoke from a wildfire rises over trees in Ruidoso, N.M., Monday, June 17, 2024. Residents of the mountain village of about 7,000 residents fled their homes under evacuation orders with little time to rescue belongings. (Jacquie Escajeda via AP)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Kenya's president came to power by appealing to the common people, describing himself as a “hustler” and vowing relief from economic pain. But when he was forced to give up on a controversial tax hike that led to deadly chaos in the capital, Nairobi, it was a clear sign that support for him has turned.

Protesters who opposed a law that would have raised taxes stormed parliament on Tuesday, burning part of the building as lawmakers fled. Bodies lay in the streets, and medical workers and watchdogs said police had opened fire. The military was deployed.

President William Ruto pushed the law through parliament despite opposition from the youth-led protest movement, and called protesters “treasonous" after they stormed parliament. But on Wednesday, with troops in the capital's streets and the smell of tear gas lingering in the air, he conceded that the plan had caused “widespread dissatisfaction” and said he would not sign the bill.

Here’s a look at the unrest in East Africa’s most stable democracy and the most serious assault on Kenya's government in decades.

The finance bill was meant to raise or introduce taxes or fees on a range of daily items and services including internet data, fuel, bank transfers and diapers. Some measures were stripped as anger grew. The proposals was part of the Kenyan government’s efforts to raise an extra $2.7 billion in domestic revenue.

The government said the changes were necessary to pay interest on national debt, reduce the budget deficit and keep the government running. Protesters saw them as punitive, since the high cost of living already makes it hard to get by.

A 2023 finance bill signed into law by Ruto was also unpopular, featuring a tax on salaries for housing, but the anger was nothing like this.

Young Kenyans have been organizing on social media, organizing peaceful street demonstrations meant to force authorities to drop this finance bill altogether. The protests started on June 18 after the bill was made public for the first time.

The protests began in Nairobi but have spread to other parts of Kenya, including the Indian Ocean city of Mombasa and even in Eldoret, a town in the Rift Valley region that’s been a bastion of support for the president.

Kenya’s political opposition stormed out of Tuesday session’s in which the bill was passed.

Kenya has seen protests in the past, but activists and others warned the stakes were now more dangerous.

“We are dealing with a new phenomenon and a group of people that is not predictable,” said Herman Manyora, an analyst and professor at the University of Nairobi. “We don’t know whether these people will fear the army.”

Ruto deployed police and soldiers to quell the protests, infuriating demonstrators and escalating the situation. At least 22 people were killed on Tuesday, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission said, and police were accused of some shooting deaths. Chairperson Roseline Odede said 50 people were arrested.

Ruto acknowledged there were deaths, without elaborating, called it an “unfortunate situation” and offered condolences. He also said about 200 people were wounded in the chaos.

Ruto, elected in 2022, has consistently urged all Kenyans to pay their fair share of taxes. Some Kenyans now mock him as “Zakayo,” after the biblical tax collector Zacchaeus. Many see his aggressive stance as a form of dictatorship that’s out of sync with the realities of ordinary people.

In 2023, after the courts blocked some of his tax proposals, the president threatened to disregard court orders. That drew criticism from the Law Society of Kenya, whose leader accused Ruto of seeing himself as above the law.

Pro-democracy activists have warned that Ruto's attacks on the judiciary indicate an authoritarian streak. Some see similarities between Ruto and his mentor Daniel arap Moi, the former president who led Kenya during a long period of one-party rule.

Ruto in his presidential campaign called himself the anti-establishment candidate and vowed to implement policies to put more money in Kenyans' pockets. But the so-called “hustlers” who supported him were dismayed when his government removed crucial fuel and maize flour subsidies. Many Kenyans saw it as a betrayal.

Ruto, now fabulously wealthy, frequently urges Kenyans to tighten their belts. But his state visit to the United States in May created controversy when he chartered a luxury private jet instead of using the presidential jet or Kenya's national carrier. Ruto later said the chartered jet had been paid for by friends he didn’t name.

A protester wearing a graduation gown stands as Kenya police spray water canon during a protest over proposed tax hikes in a finance bill in downtown Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Protesters hide behind a banner as police fire teargas at them during a protest over proposed tax hikes in a finance bill in downtown Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)