FBI warrant claims couple started New Mexico's devastating Salt Fire
A federal search warrant application filed last week revealed that the FBI believes two people are responsible for igniting the Salt Fire that began June 17 and burned more than 7,000 acres in southeastern New Mexico.
According to the July 11 document signed by an FBI agent, the suspects are a man and woman. The pair, who are boyfriend and girlfriend, are accused of starting five other “suspicious” wildfires occurring on the Mescalero Apache Reservation since early May.
Source New Mexico is not identifying either person because they have not been charged with a crime. The man did not respond to a request for comment Sunday, though he did post on Facebook last month denying any involvement in the fires.
The man claimed to law enforcement and on social media that he is a wildland firefighter, plus posted photos and videos of himself in a firefighter uniform responding to fires in Arizona and Utah, along with a TikTok of himself in a wildland firefighter training exercise.
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The South Fork and Salt fires began within a couple hours of each other on June 17, and quickly grew in size and intensity, ultimately destroying at least 850 homes in and around Ruidoso. Two people died in the aftermath of the South Fork Fire, and flooding continues in the area as a result of the fires. The Salt Fire prompted thousands to flee as it approached Ruidoso Downs.
Investigators concluded that the South Fork Fire began with a lightning strike prior to June 17, though they have since suggested the Salt Fire was human-caused by offering rewards up to $10,000 for information about the “person or persons responsible” for igniting it.
The search warrant application reveals that law enforcement had been investigating a string of suspicious wildfire starts in the area since early May, an investigation that “intensified” when the FBI became involved after the South Fork and Salt fires began, according to the warrant application.
Since May 3, there have been 16 “suspicious” wildfire starts in a 25-square mile area, including the Salt Fire, on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, according to the warrant application.
Among the “suspicious” wildfires are four that occurred between June 16 and 18 near the Salt Fire ignition location and burned less than a quarter-acre.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs confirmed last week to Source New Mexico that the causes of those four other fires, known as the Penn Scott Fire, the 244 Penn Scott Fire, the Carrizo Fire and the Trails Fire, were being investigated along with the Salt Fire.
The warrant application sought a federal judge’s approval to seize a pair of Vans sneakers belonging to the woman that the FBI alleges were worn at the site of one or more of the suspicious wildfires. A judge quickly approved the request, and it was executed days later. The FBI agent who wrote the request noted that the woman voluntarily provided her shoes to law enforcement.
The FBI linked the couple to six of the wildfires after reviewing evidence like tire treads and footprints, and interviewing witnesses who saw a dark-colored Jeep flee the scenes of several fires.
The FBI agent also noted that the Salt Fire, reported just two hours after the South Fork Fire began, drew resources away from the suppression efforts.
‘Animosity building up’: Ruidoso mayor seeks more details about South Fork Fire investigation
Speculation about the causes of the South Fork and Salt fires has built since they began and continued even after investigators concluded lighting started the South Fork Fire. Local officials are calling on the Bureau of Indian Affairs to release more information about its determination that a lightning strike started the South Fork Fire, saying racist rumors directed at the Mescalero Apache tribe are flying in the absence of more information.
Lynn Crawford, Ruidoso’s mayor, in a recent interview called on members of the public not to direct blame against an entire group for the alleged actions of a few.
“I don’t want you to start condemning everybody at the (Mescalero) tribe for what somebody may or may not have done,” he said. “And so, all that we’re asking for is patience. I know that’s hard.”
Mescalero Apache President Thora Padilla did not respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.
Tire tracks and shoe prints
The following investigation into the fires began in early May, according to the search warrant application first reported by the Albuquerque Journal. The application was unsealed July 16.
Around 11 a.m. on May 3, two juveniles told local police they witnessed a dark-colored Jeep flee the area where a small wildfire was reported. Police then contacted dispatch and learned that the man identified in the search warrant application made the first call to dispatchers about the fire.
The officer contacted the man, who claimed he spotted smoke coming from the area and tried to find it and put it out. He told police he was a wildland firefighter and, upon finding the fire, tried to tamp it out with a branch and his fire boots.
“Prior to being asked, (the man) stated that he did not start the fire,” according to the warrant.
On May 7, around noon, another fire at Whitetail Summit was reported to dispatch. The same officer responded to the scene and saw a dark-colored Jeep driving at high speeds away from the fire. Police found a shoe print near the scene belonging to a Vans sneaker.
Around 10 a.m. on May 20, another fire was reported near Salt Well. Nearby homeowners said they saw a Jeep leave the area before police arrived.
The shoe prints found at the site of “suspicious” wildfires on May 3 and June 17, according to the document.
On May 23, the Mescalero Tribe put out a statement noting that “for the past three weeks, the reservation has had a few fires start,” saying that the tribe and the BIA were monitoring the situation and asking for people to call dispatch if they see something “suspicious or peculiar.”
About two weeks later, police responded to another string of suspicious wildfires, including the Salt Fire. The first was June 16 around 7:45 p.m.
Around 8 a.m. the next morning, about three-tenths of a mile from the June 16 fire start, firefighters responded to another fire and noticed a Vans sneaker footprint with the same “tread pattern” as was seen after the fire May 7.
An officer spotted tire tracks later that day at another wildfire start around 12:43 p.m., tracks that he believed to belong to the ones on the dark-colored Jeep that was on police’s radar. The Jeep tires were Firestones, “different than typical stock or street tires,” and had a unique “double dimple” on the edge of the tread, according to the warrant.
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Around 2 p.m. on the 17th, the Salt Fire was reported to dispatchers. Starting just hours after the South Fork Fire, resources, including aircraft, were diverted from the South Fork Fire to assist suppression of the Salt Fire, according to the warrant.
Less than a mile away from the Salt Fire ignition site, police spotted the Jeep on a road leading away from the site and found the man and woman inside, according to the warrant. The FBI agent noted that, unlike the May 3 fire start that the man reported, this time he “never reported this fire or attempted to fight the fire.”
Police questioned the couple again on June 25, and they gave consent for law enforcement to search their phones and to collect the Vans sneakers.
Around 9 p.m. the day before being questioned, the man posted on Facebook denying any involvement in the fires. “I haven’t been charged, nor will I ever,” he wrote. “I’m a wildland firefighter…I would never put my land or people in jeopardy.”
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Shaun Griswold for questions: info@sourcenm.com. Follow Source New Mexico on Facebook and X.