![Over 23,000 structures have been affected by the South Fork and Salt fires. File Photo](/images/news/2024/483_jul05/17.jpg)
Twenty-nine people still missing
RUIDOSO, New Mexico — The South Fork and Salt fires are still burning, but residents were allowed to return to their homes starting at 8 am on June 24, a week after the fires reportedly started.
Two deaths have been reported, and over 23,00 structures have been affected. Over 8,000 people were displaced from their homes.
In a weekly radio program that was broadcast on June 24, Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said that 29 people were still unaccounted for.
Searchers were going into “exclusion zones,” areas where homes have burned and which have been badly damaged, and were “looking for individuals,” Crawford said. Search and rescue teams used...