Michael Jones sits outside of his business as Ruidoso residents filter back into town. (Photo by Courtney Hill / KRWG)
There’s still a significant first responder presence in Ruidoso, with officials providing assistance, clean up and shelter as the South Fork and Salt Fires continue to smolder in the Lincoln National Forest.
According to village officials, the extent of damages to utilities could take weeks to repair, but even so, businesses are opening up, with horse racing at the Ruidoso Downs Race Track slated to resume this weekend.
Michael Jones owns the Picture This Gallery in downtown Ruidoso. Not only is he open for business, but he opted not to evacuate at all.
“I stayed behind to check on people’s homes and their pets. Things like that. There was quite a few of us that stayed behind,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what gets thrown at us, we’re going to get through it. It’s important right now to follow the chain of command, not criticize leadership in any way, do what we’re told, and get the community back on its feet. That’s the number one goal. We have people who have lost their lives. They have lost their homes. And we have to get through that and help them.”
Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford echoed the same sentiment, and urged tourists coming in to be prepared for the lack of amenities and lodging.
“That’s our business, hospitality, tourism. We’ve been doing great over the last [few] years and we’re going to continue to pick it up. But it’s going to be tough. It’s going to take planning. And so we’re going to ask for the public to fully engage because we can’t expect the government to rebuild our community. It’s up to us and we’re going to rebuild our community and get people engaged.”
Additionally, while he didn’t have an exact figure for the number of missing residents, Mayor Crawford said that the number has been dropping.
“I think we’re way down into the single digits. It’s just [about] finding people that have spread out.”
According to village officials, residents who are in need of shelter can find it at White Mountain Relief Center at 687 Hull Road, where Red Cross and FEMA officials will be available for assistance. John Rabin, the assistant administrator for response at FEMA, urged affected residents to register for the agency’s assistance as soon as possible.
“We’ve started bringing some of our assistant staff down here, our disaster survivor assistance teams, to make sure that the individual assistance programs that the state has requested, that at present has been authorized, are going to be able to be provided.”
Affected individuals can find help at DisasterAssistance.gov, or call the FEMA assistance line between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. MST at 800-621-3362.
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