Survivor escapes killer New Mexico wildfire: It was 'absolute sheer terror' 

From The AP:
Belinda Bukovitz was jolted into action by the sound of police outside her home shouting through a loudspeaker: “Go now, go now, go now!”
Realizing this was not like other wildfires that had threatened her mountain village before, she, her husband, son and two cats bundled into three separate cars and fled.
The smoke was at the end of the street when they tore out of the driveway. Panic set in as the usually sleepy two-lane streets of Ruidoso became gridlocked, with cars inching along bumper to bumper, sometimes taking as long as an hour to go a single mile. As they crept forward, smoke from one fire was ahead and smoke from another behind. Bukovitz had no idea where the flames were.
The South Fork and Salt fires that raged in south-central New Mexico this week prompted thousands of people like Bukovitz to flee for their lives and destroyed or damaged an estimated 1,400 structures - about half of them homes, according to Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford.
Officials were still taking stock on Friday as firefighters took advantage of rain and cool temperatures to keep the blazes from growing, but large swaths of some neighborhoods were lost. At least two people died.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham were to tour the disaster area Saturday. A federal disaster declaration has cleared the way for more resources to help start recovery as crews continue to corral the flames.
Some residents smelled smoke when they woke up Monday and poured their first cup of coffee. They didn’t think much of it, assuming the source had to be far off. Some went to work, others walked their dogs.