“It looked like a war zone.” Families work to rebuild after McBride Fire

RUIDOSO, NM – (KTSM) – Rubble and debris is all that’s left of hundreds of homes in Ruidoso, New Mexico after the McBride Fire tore through the mountain-town in April.

“It looked like a war zone to tell you the truth, I couldn’t believe it,” said Mary Blackmon, who lost her home of 22 years which she had bought with her late husband in the McBride Fire.

A quick scan of the homestead’s horizon reveals hardly even a pot or pan salvageable through the rubble. Blackmon shares that she left her home to pick up her grandchild from school when the fire broke out, planning to be gone minutes.

She left, unable to return and take anything with her, including her dogs that were inside the home.

“It did hit me hard about the puppies who died there and well everything else I know that is gone cannot be replaced, but we still have each other,” said Blackmon. “When I first looked at it, it hit me so hard it scared me, but the more I’m here, and, if I could get help in building it I would probably stay here.”

Even though the home is gone, her grandaughter continues to swing in the front yard.

“She knows that everything is gone, and she talks about it even though she’s only two years old. And right now she’s swinging on it, it doesn’t matter to her that it’s burned,” said Blackmon.

Blackmon’s home wasn’t insured but she says if she is able to get enough money to rebuild, her don’t company has offered to do it.

“All the workers who he works with have offered to build my house for free so that has been a Godsend, also, I mean, there have been so many people who have come together here,” said Blackmon.

If you drive down the road where Mary Blackmon lives, almost every home is burned to the ground. A little over a mile from Blackmon’s house, a trailer park can be seen with just the frames of burned trailers stacked on top of one another. One of those burned frames is all that’s left of a local firefighters home.

“I said ‘no, it’s completely gone, it’s a complete loss,'” said Ruidoso resident and local firefighter, Stormee Keaton.

Keaton talking about the phone call she made when she saw her brother Anthony whose also a firefighters home.

“I haven’t ever fought a fire that was this close to home that was this devastating,” said Keaton.

She adds that she and her dad fought the McBride Fire, the same fire that burned her brothers home including all his fire gear while he was out of town.

“A lot of people reached out to me and said they were going to make, like, raffles to sell off some of their things to get him some money so he could get at least fire gear.  And a few people from Colorado and Utah and even Vermont sent down, greens and yellows and even fire boots, what they could,” said Keaton.

Now the battle includes her brother, getting enough gear to be able to go help fight as wildfires tear through Northern New Mexico now.

“Once I gave him all of that gear he went out and just bought what he could from, like, Walmart and stuff. It’s not what he had but it’s enough to get him out there again. He immediately went out to one of the fires up north and he’s currently still on that one,” said Keaton.

The trailer park where her brother lived, is owned by another family of firefighters.

“I called my son and he told me that we already lost everything,” said Robbie Hall, who has worked as a firefighter for over 40 years.

Hall says he and his sons went out and fought the McBride Fire that ripped through their own property.

“It’s gone, it’s gone. There’s no bringing it back so you might as well go to work and see what you can save of somebody else’s,” said Hall.

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