The Sandoval County Fire and Rescue Swift Water Team said it has conducted an average of 20 rescues a day while assisting the National Guard and other agencies in Ruidoso.
Last week in Ruidoso the team carried out several water rescues and assisted with evacuations caused by destructive floods from the burn scars of the South Fork and Salt fires. Burn scars can be susceptible to floods and debris flows, and this was the second flash flood to take place in Ruidoso in three weeks.
Sandoval County’s regional swift water rescue team is made up of Sandoval County Fire and Rescue, Rio Rancho Fire and Rescue and Albuquerque Fire Rescue.
Amanda Campos, a Sandoval County firefighter EMT, was assigned as team lead for the Ruidoso flood.
“A majority of our rescue missions take place in low-lying areas where water can actually pull and start flooding residential areas. So there’s a couple of them that they predetermined in Ruidoso,” Campos said.
The swift water team in Ruidoso had been focused on pre-planning in the area due to lower-than-expected rainfall and minimal flooding. Then their role shifted as extreme flooding hit the area. They have been monitoring the weather closely since conditions in New Mexico can change rapidly.
Sandoval County officials recommend people use Code Red, a free community notification system that is available to Sandoval County residents. It is highly effective because it disseminates information to a much larger audience than they could reach door-to-door. To sign up for Code Red visit sandovalcountynm.gov.
“People just have to really pay attention to the weather and the emergency alerts in the Code Red and don’t ignore those, because with flash floods, the weather service can do so much to predict that,” Campos said. “Whenever there is a flash flood warning, please take that seriously.”
Campos said conditions around Ruidoso remain the same. Ruidoso is categorized as currently having hazardous weather conditions and a flood watch is in effect from July 17 to July 18 according to the National Weather Service.