Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs to open up for full-time residents Monday morning

Jun. 22—As residents are poised to return to their homes or properties in the fire-stricken Ruidoso area, the FBI announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible for causing the South Fork and Salt fires.

"We are asking for the public's assistance in identifying the cause of these fires," FBI spokeswoman Margot Cravens said in a news release Saturday evening. Cravens didn't offer any more information, saying, "Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will refrain from commenting on its substance."

There is no information "as of yet, so anything anyone is hearing is speculation and not fact-based," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a news conference Saturday. Earlier in the day, she toured some of the disaster area with Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell.

News of the investigation follows a Saturday morning announcement by the local governments that full-time residents of Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs will be allowed to return to their homes and properties at 8 a.m. Monday.

Two people who will not be coming back to a home are bluesman Dave Millsap and his wife, Carol Boggs, who lost their Alpine Village house.

Millsap said in a phone interview that a friend told him Wednesday that he lost his home along with 10 guitars and amplifiers.

"If you're going to get bad news, it's good to receive it from someone you love," Millsap said.

As of Saturday morning, the South Fork Fire had burned 16,614 acres north of Ruidoso and the Salt Fire, 7,652 acres south of the village, the Southwest Area Incident Management Team said in an update.

The containment of the fires was 26% for the South Fork Fire and 7% for the Salt Fire; 1,019 firefighters remained on the scene, the update said.

Incident management team spokesman David Shell said there have been reports of about 1,400 structures damaged in the fires, but it is not a confirmed number and that number won't be known until the team "walks the ground." Lincoln County Manager Randall Camp said during the news conference that "we are approaching a thousand homes lost."

The management team said that while the rains have helped, "this incident is not over." There are hazards such as downed powerlines, damaged water, sewer and gas lines, localized flooding, fire-weakened trees and other hazards that "pose risks to firefighters and the public." The team said crews will continue building a fire line and monitor for hotspots near the line.

"Residents should remember that while fire behavior has been reduced to smoldering and creeping in heavy duff and dead/down fuels with minimal spread, fire can and will still actively burn across the South Fork and Salt fires, especially with changing weather conditions," the update said.

National Weather Service of Albuquerque meteorologist Matt DeMaria said there will be chances of rain for the next several days.

People are rightly worried about the fire, DeMaria said, but there are a lot of burn scars in the area. "There's a lot of hydrophobic soil," which is not able to absorb water like other types of soil.

"It runs just off the top, and because of that, a small amount of rain could quickly create a stream of water that could culminate in mudslides or debris flows," DeMaria said.

Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford told residents there's ash, gunk, "stuff you don't know how to describe" in the village.

"I want you to be prepared for that," he said.

The Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs Facebook pages listed several "things to know" about Monday's reentry, which is only for full-time residents. They include:

Second homeowners and tourists are asked to refrain from coming to Ruidoso "to give residents time to get back to their properties and survey any needs or damages."People should bring "at least" a week's worth of food and drinking water as grocery stores are not operating at full capacity.There is no child care available.If people are having breathing issues like asthma or COPD, "you may find that you cannot tolerate the ash, smoke and soot that are in the air," the Ruidoso Facebook page states.The village said it has a boil water advisory in place, but "if any of our systems are found to be compromised, there is the possibility for a mandatory" order.

The village said that people may not have gas, electricity or water when they come back. If they don't, they can check the outage maps at PNM.com and ZNGC.com.

Millsap said he admits he is not prepared "to see what's there."

"You have to do it sooner or later," he said. "I'm glad we're going back in."