'The goodness in people:' Ruidoso evacuees appreciate support they've received since fire evacuations

ROSWELL — Dave Millsap said he was standing outside his home above Cedar Creek in Alpine Village north of Ruidoso when the fires began Monday.

With fire getting closer to his home in the afternoon, he knew it was time to go as hot ashes started falling like snow, he said.

"I am almost 70 years old and always wondered what it would be like to leave with nothing but what was on my back," Millsap said. "And that's what we did."

Millsap took his wife, Carol Boggs, and their two feral cats, Missy and Tiger, got in the Jeep and left.

The Village of Ruidoso shortly after sent social media posts and notices telling people to evacuate. While not everyone evacuated, Village of Ruidoso spokeswoman Kerry Glidden said Tuesday, about 8,000 evacuation notices were sent out as the South Fork and Salt fires progressed north and south of town, respectively.

As of Tuesday afternoon, they had combined to burn more than 18,000 acres.

Millsap said he and his wife evacuated twice. The first time they tried going to Alto, but residents there were evacuating, too. They then headed to Roswell. When Millsap and his wife got there, hotels were booked. So, they went west.

"We just blindly drove through Capitan late last night," he said.

They reached Carrizozo, where a woman at a gas station told them of an evacuation center at a local high school. When they arrived about 10:45 p.m., they received food, cots and blankets — "everything you need to feel good," Millsap said.

"When a disaster goes down, you don't realize the goodness in people," he said.

A few blocks away outside the Lincoln County administration building, Alan and Linda Todd of Alto and Kyle and Sarah Wickware of Ruidoso were discussing their evacuation experiences with a reporter and their limited amount of clothing they had brought with them.

"Let's have a little contest," Alan said.

"To see who looks the best after a week," Sarah said.

"Who gets to be the stinkiest after five days," Alan replied.

Other evacuees like Mike Dvorak, his wife Deb Dvorak and their daughter Kelsy Bagron decided to stop at an evacuation shelter in Roswell.

They evacuated late Monday afternoon after the fire got within two miles of their home. They drove west through bumper-to-bumper traffic along U.S. 70 to Roswell before making it to the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell gym, which is serving as one of several evacuation centers in the city.

ENMU-Roswell spokeswoman Martha Staab said evacuees started coming in around 10 p.m. Monday and can remain inside the facility for "as long as they need to."

Sitting on one of the evacuation center's cots, Mike Dvorak said he appreciates how much the people of Roswell and the university have helped the evacuees.

The Dvorak family, like others who evacuated, is unsure whether their homes are still standing.

"That is kind of hard to deal with," Mike said, but "the biggest deal is, we're safe."

The Dvoraks and Millsap will settle in and wait as the fires continue to burn, but Millsap said on Tuesday night he plans to stay in a motel in Alamogordo so his cats can "sit back and watch TV."

The Dvoraks said they will remain at the evacuation shelter and continue monitoring their home through a security camera connected through an app on their phones. As of Tuesday afternoon, the camera showed their home was still standing, Mike Dvorak said.

"We're OK, so far," he said. "(But) things could change easily."

Here are all of our photos of the South Fork Fire that's burned thousands of acres around Ruidoso