tonight a fire in ruidoso is under control -- and people are returning to their homes... at least those who still have homes. the fire erupted this afternoon ... burning eight houses in a matter of hours. joe bartels got a look at the damage and talked to residents tonight ... he's is live on the phone in ruidoso... joe? right after the fire broke out this afternoon viewers started sending us pictures. this picture shows the thick smoke and you can imagine how scary it would be for whoever owns that home that's right in front of it there... another viewer snapped this shot ... you can see the bright red fire retardant falling from the sky ... and this dramatic shot from the ruidoso news shows a pickup truck completely engulfed in flames... the small ten acre fire did a lot of damage this afternoon. 8 homes have been burned to the ground. some people i talked with say they barely had enough time to get out. renee magnusson "the flames were just billowing up the hill and then the bears were running around it was just chaos." the swallow fire raced through the tinder box forest just off of highway 70 around 2-3o this afternoon. residents like ray pinnell say the fire was on top of them before they knew it. ray pinnell "i got my grandchildren and my wife out and said i got to go. i stayed for a second, but the grass was on fire across the way there, across the street. i turned on the fire hydrant and the hoses and got out." ruidoso officials activated their reverse 9-1-1 alert system as well as sounded sirens. 400 people were told to get out of the fires path. ray pinnell "we have some of our valuables that we grabbed and then gout out. but today we didn't get all of them. because we didn't have time." air tankers dumped retardant on homes trying to stop the flames. 150 fire fighters raced to the scene from all over lincoln county and in the end saved more homes than they lost. renee magnusson "it could have been way worse, it could have been my dad's house and i'm glad it wasn't" there are reports that this fire could have been intentionally set-- however officials say the fire remains under investigation. crews will be working through the night and next several days to make sure the fire is completley out and will not flare back up. in ruidoso joe bartels kob eyewitness news four. the last big fire to hit ruidoso was in april. the white fire burned more than 10-thousand acres. five homes and 7 out buildings were destroyed.
