Families who lost everything in fire return to rubble

June 18, 2011

a man saw what's left of his dream home after the fire in ruidoso reduced it to ashes. the fire destroyed eight other homes in that same neighborhood. joe bartels has the story. "i didn't expect it to be burned and nothing but ashes left." t that's all that's left of pat trudeau's dream home. he and his wife were planning to retire here within the next few years. "you're just kind of numb at first because you think how the heck does this happen. i know it's been dry but i didn't expect this." trudeau sifted through the ashes to find anything he could salvage. some scortched christmas decorations and a trunk that contained his sons beloved pictures from texas a and m are the only things he could recognize. "fortunately there's no loss of life any that's a positive." his neighbors across the street were the first to call to tell him that the home he worked a lifetime toward was gone. "i could tell something was wrong because she was very emotional, she said pat, we had a fire up here and your house is to the ground." trudeau says the fire has changed the place he called paradise forever... he says even though there are memories, it's unlikely he will rebuild. "our stove, i guess that's the refrigerator there. this would be the stove here, there's really nothing left." in ruidoso joe bartels kob eyewitness news four. some people were relieved to find their homes still standing today ... after evacuating in a panic yesterday. "we didn't have time. i didn't even have time to grab my cell phone. i didn't have time to grab anything. i grabbed the kids and that was my priority." "my mom kept saying i can replace my toys, but i can't replace my life. so i was terrified that my home was going to be lost." the schmid family tells us the fire left a friend's home in ashes ... and they're very thankful that their home was spared. tonight we also got up close to an area that's been roped off with police tape. crime scene investigators were combing the area throughout the day trying to figure out who could have started the swallow fire behind a motel. we're told the area is frequently used by homeless people.