Once we got back into our houses, and the power was restored, apparently the fire had circled around behind our subdivision and helicopters and a huge tanker were dipping into Alto Lake, Grindstone Lake, and even the lake on the golf course, to put out the fire……all day Saturday was helicopters flying overhead….

Pictures of the McBride fire…..

 

McBride fire

 Watching the smoke was a little unnerving, but we were not told to evacuate, until about 4:30. Then, it was a panic situation, the firemen were banging on the door,  telling us to get out, immediately!

I didn’t have time to think, or pack…so, I took 2 bottles of water, a pillow, blanket, phone charger….(which was worthless, since all the power in town was out), 3 dogs, a cat and a cockatoo! I loaded the cat and bird in the Jeep, which was in the motorhome garage, then realized I couldn’t open the door, with no power! The door was 15 feet tall, so I couldn’t reach the pull cord.

Soooooo, I moved over to the regular car garage, pulled the cord, and it broke! Great, I’m trapped! I called Jimmy, in Shreveport, for ideas…he told me to get the snowplow pick-up and load it up. I was in the process when a fireman started hollering at me to hurry up,…I told him that I was trying, but was having a hard time. He asked what the problem was, I told him, so he said he had climbing equipment….yup, he climbed up the inside of my garage door and got it unhooked, so I got the jeep out! Hooray!

I called the Swiss Chalet (hotel) and they told me that they couldn’t rent me a room, because all their rooms had electronic keys and wouldn’t work without power. (Crazy, huh?)

Anyway, I ended up calling the Days Inn, and she had a room for me and my critters! They had no power either, but she had rooms! Ended up with several of my neighbors (and their dogs) getting a room, too!

We evacuated on Tuesday, and were not allowed back until Saturday. A couple of us came home Friday afternoon, since the fire had passed….

 

McBride fire in Ruidoso, New Mexico. April 12 2022

 Well, this is a random post, because I need to go back and fill in many dates, but I was encouraged to start posting again, even though we don’t travel like we used to.

June, is notoriously the hottest, driest month of the year, here, And is very prone to fires. April is in the middle of hurricane strength wind months, so it was a little unusual to have fires, already…….The entire state has been in a drought, and we are all praying for rain! 

April 12th, our power went out at about 1:30 in the afternoon. No a real concern, it happens in this small village, now and then….so I went out on the back patio and took a video of what was apparently a fire, just over the ridge from us.

No electricity, so I could not go up to the roof,  in the elevator, to see the extent of it.