Evacuated Resident Distraught as Las Tusas Fire Burns in Northern New Mexico

A wildfire burning in northern New Mexico on Friday, May 12, forced evacuations and damaged several structures, local fire officials said, as efforts to control the blaze continued.

This footage, showing smoke and flames from the Las Tusas fire, was captured by Stormi Miller, who said she filmed it as she was evacuating from Manuelitas to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

“Last year, we lost over 300,000 acres to the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire. The Las Tusas fire has already taken over 1,000 acres and went from a small plume to being in my front yard in less than an hour,” Miller told Storyful.

“We feel our whole state is burning down. These are our homes, our lands, our animals, our way of life that are being threatened, and we deserve our voices to be heard, not ignored,” she added.

By Friday, the fire burned 969 acres and was zero percent contained, according to New Mexico Fire Information. Credit: Stormi Miller via Storyful

Video transcript

STORMI MILLER: --took water for my animals so they didn't die of dehydration this time.

- Yeah. Oh, my God. That truck is down.

STORMI MILLER: So many people have lost their house this year. They didn't think there was anything left to burn.

[MUFFLED CRYING]

Oh, my God. Shit. All my baby pictures. My baby--

[CRYING]

I can't [INAUDIBLE] this. I'm sorry I'm going so slow, but I--

- It's all [MUTED]. It's all right. It's all right.

STORMI MILLER: [INAUDIBLE] the way up. That's not good!

- Oh, my God. Oh.

STORMI MILLER: OK, I can can see now.

[COUGHING]