Single Publication

Southwest Area

Incident Management Team

TEAM 5 – David Gesser – INCIDENT COMMANDER

Firefighters fill 18,000 sandbags to support communities

Daily Update, Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Mescalero Apache Tribe Emergency Operations Center: 575-464-9214 (8am-6pm)

Village of Ruidoso and Lincoln County Emergency Operations Center: 575-258-6900 (7am-10pm)

Fire Information Phone: 575-323-8378 or 575-323-8258 (8am-8pm)

Media Information Phone: 575-323-8053 (8am-8pm)

Email: 2024.southfork@firenet.gov

Acres:  South Fork – 17,569; Salt – 7,939

Start Date: June 17, 2024

Location: South Fork – Ruidoso Area; Salt – 7 mile west of Mescalero, NM

Personnel: 608

Containment: South Fork – 85%; Salt – 84%

Fuels: mixed conifer, grass, pine/juniper                                             

Resources: The South Fork and Salt fires are currently staffed with 13 crews, 1 helicopter, 21 engines, 
2 bulldozers, and 6 water tenders.

Highlights: The fire area saw clearer skies on Monday, allowing firefighters to focus their efforts on supporting flood mitigation operations on the South Fork fire. In total, hotshots and support crews filled 18,000 sandbags in support of these efforts. Additionally, structure assessment crews have successfully triaged over 4,000 structures across the fire area.

Fire Activity: The South Fork and Salt fires received consistent isolated and scattered precipitation for several days. Thanks to this moisture, hot spots on the South Fork remain suppressed and will remain quiet until a drying trend occurs. Remaining heat sources on the South Fork fire are located interior of control lines and do not post a threat to the perimeter.

On the Salt Fire, firefighters have observed a few hot spots on the southeast corner. Fire within this area will continue to smolder and produce small amounts of localized smoke. Smoke with not impact nearby roadways and heat sources are unlikely to grow, nor do they pose a threat to containment lines. 

Weather: After a calmer weather day on Monday, Tuesday will bring an increase in scattered storm activity. Maintain awareness of changing weather conditions and flash flood warnings. 

Closures: A South Fork Fire Emergency Closure Order was issued on June 20, 2024, for national forest lands within the Smokey Bear Ranger District. The identified areas, and roads and trails therein, are closed to public access to allow firefighting personnel to work and through the fire area safely. More information is available at www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/lincoln/alerts-notices/?aid=88199. 

The Mescalero Apache Tribe issued a Class V/Stage II – Extreme Fire Restriction Notice on June 28, 2024. More information is available at https://mescaleroapachetribe.com. 

A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place over the fire area. Public/commercial drone flights are also prohibited within this area. If you fly, we may have to ground our air resources. Visit https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html for more information.

More information:

Inciweb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/nmmea-south-fork-and-salt

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SWIMT5 

Smoke Outlook: https://outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook/430b2c05

Lincoln County Government: www.lincolncountynm.gov

Mescalero Apache Tribe: https://mescaleroapachetribe.com 

Village of Ruidoso: www.ruidoso-nm.gov/south-fork-fire