ON JUNE 17, the swift ferocity of the Salt and South Fork fires swept into Ruidoso, catching the people of the tight-knit mountain village off guard. “I’ve never seen so much heat and smoke so quickly,” says Logan “Fle” Fleharty, co-owner of Scorpion Tattoos.
That morning, Fleharty was at the Ruidoso Convention Center, cleaning up after a tattoo expo. A small plume of smoke in the upper canyon of the South Fork spelled trouble. As the plume built over the next few hours, word of the evacuation spread. When residents from the upper canyon began filling the exhibit hall, “you saw the panic on people’s faces,” recalls Fleharty.
Fleharty headed to his nearby shop on Sudderth Drive and saw scores of people looking up at the fire, “watching this thing build and build and build,” he says. As the blaze grew closer, the town issued a mandatory evacuation order with the only safe route to exit being NM 48 toward Roswell.
“It became very frantic,” Fleharty says. A cell tower burned, and phones stopped working. Many had no idea if their home had vanished. Still, the Ruidoso native decided to stay and help. “These are my friends, my neighbors,” he explains.
His mission started with his sister, Jazmin Roe, who was in Truth or Consequences when the evacuation began and couldn’t get back home. He checked on her three dogs and realized more people might need assistance with their animals. Traveling back roads to move around safely, Fleharty used his Starlink satellite internet to communicate with people who had evacuated. He also delivered food and water to weary wildfire crews who were working in dangerous conditions.
Fleharty sparked a fundraising effort that raised $200,000 for the Community Foundation of Lincoln County Shelter Fund.
After Fleharty posted videos of his check-ins, people reached out over the next few hours and days, worried about their horses, chickens, dogs, ducks, and even a few lizards. “It was just driving in circles, feeding hundreds of animals per day,” recalls Fleharty, who received a first-responder badge so he could move and work freely. “I felt good doing it.”
Witnessing so much devastation and informing people they’d lost their homes took a toll, but Fleharty added humor to his videos to help lift spirits. “I put in these fake Billy Bob teeth,” Fleharty says, “and just started trying to tell people to stay positive and give them some sort of hope.”
Pam Witte, who’s lived in Ruidoso with her husband for 20 years, lost 17 of their 20 acres to the wildfires. “But our home, business, and animals survived,” she says. Witte is thankful for Fleharty’s efforts to share his own food and procure the donations that fed so many animals. But she says the inspiration in his video updates was just as valuable. “Not only was it hopeful and heartfelt, it was happy,” she says.
Fleharty’s videos eventually turned into fundraising, helping to garner $200,000 for the Community Foundation of Lincoln County Shelter Fund. “His choice was to stay,” Witte says. “In staying, he helped those of us who were unsettled and scared.”
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