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(NEW YORK) — In the aftermath of a mass shooting at an Airbnb rental house that left two 17-year-old boys dead and eight people wounded, neighbor Leonard Verdetto described what he said was “rapid fire” followed by panicked party-goers flooding out of the residence.

The episode erupted early Sunday morning across the street from Verdetto’s Pittsburgh home and was one of three mass shootings in the United States over the Easter weekend, including two in South Carolina at a mall and a restaurant.

The Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation, has tallied 139 mass shootings in the country in the first 107 days of 2022.

“When we heard the bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, we looked out the window and people were running out the door and screaming, yelling, crying,” Verdetto told ABC affiliated station WTAE in Pittsburgh of the shooting that broke at the Airbnb house being used for a party in his East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side.

When Verdetto’s wife went to look out a window to see what the commotion was, he said he yelled, “Get away from the window!”

“I could see the flashing of the shots coming out the windows because we look across at the windows,” Verdetto said. “I said, ‘Holy mackerel, that’s really rapid fire.’ I said, ‘Man, with all that shooting there’s got to be a lot of dead people over there. It was lucky it was only two.”

More than 90 shots were fired, including 50 inside the home, where the Pittsburgh Police Department said more than 200 people were attending a party. Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said at a news conference Sunday that the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight.

Besides the 10 people shot, including the two slain teenagers, another five party-goers suffered broken bones and cuts attempting to escape the gunfire, some by jumping from windows, Schubert said.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown, both 17. No arrests have been made and investigators were working Monday to identify suspects.

“They all come tearing out and they were falling over, crying. There were a lot of young girls,” Verdetto said. He added that prior to the shooting, he noticed mostly young people lined up outside the house.

“There was a long line getting into the building. I said, ‘Wow, where are all them people going?'” Verdetto said. “And then I’d come back again and come back again and the line was still going and going. I said, ‘I don’t know how they get all them people in there.’ And I mean, it was a lot of people in there.”

The owner of the Airbnb rental has not been identified.

The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teen dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.

Airbnb said a statement to ABC News that the person who booked the Pittsburgh house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.

Airbnb said on Monday it is taking legal action against the person who booked the Pittsburgh rental.

“Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence and the tragic loss of life. Yesterday we confirmed the booking guest has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb, and today we can confirm that we plan to pursue affirmative legal action against this individual,” Airbnb said in a new statement on Monday, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.

Following the shooting, Verdetto said his grandson pointed out numerous vehicles in the neighborhood with shattered windows, and walls of nearby homes and businesses pockmarked with bullet holes.

“I’m just glad I’m here,” Verdetto said.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

 

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(NEW YORK) — South Carolina police have arrested a second suspect in the mall shooting that injured more than a dozen people and are continuing a manhunt for a third.

The Columbia Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Amari Sincere-Jamal Smith, Police Chief Skip Holbrook announced in a press briefing Monday afternoon, asking for anyone who sees him or knows of his whereabouts to call 911.

Marquis Love Robinson, 20, was arrested Monday on aggravated assault and attempted murder charges. Both he and Smith live in Columbia, Holbrook said.

At least 15 people ranging in age from 15 to 73 were injured Saturday when gunfire erupted at the Columbiana Centre mall in Columbia, Holbrook said. Nine people sustained gunshot wounds, while six people were injured in another manner, Holbrook said, adding that one victim remains in intensive care.

Investigators do not believe that it was a random act of violence, Holbrook said Saturday.

“We don’t believe this was random,” he said after the shooting. “We believe the individuals who were armed knew each other.”
MORE: 9 injured in shooting at South Carolina restaurant, police say

Jewayne M. Price, 22, was arrested Saturday on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and has since received upgraded charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder, Holbrook said.

Holbrook called on lawmakers to do more work to ensure gun safety in the country, saying the “availability of firearms on the street for people that have illegal intentions or nefarious intentions to use those firearms against others” has gotten out of control.

“Something’s got to change,” he said Monday. “We need our legislators to legislate. We need more accountability for people that illegally carry firearms.”

ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

 

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(OHATCHEE, Ala.) — Before showtime, pots and pans are some of the tools reenactor Tanya Haessly makes the most use of as a camp cook, feeding families and individuals taking part in a Civil War reenactment in Janney Furnace, Alabama.

Haessly and her kids sleep in a tent near the camp under the shadow of a Confederate flag — one of the many props used in the reenactment. Every morning, she builds up a fire to make breakfast and gets ready to welcome a new audience.

She told ABC News her job is to make sure history is told, and she wants her children to learn about what happened during the Civil War — especially when it comes to the Confederacy.

“Some people think that we’re racist for doing this,” she said. “I had people on the northern side. My mom was from Maine, my father was from the South. And so I had people on the northern side that died. I had people on the southern side that died.

“We’re just trying to portray history, and we have people of all races that fight for both sides because they did. So for me, this is history. I homeschool my children and this is a history lesson for them.”

Civil War battle reenactments have been taking place across the South since the 1960s. But reenactor Billy Pugh told ABC News that recently, they have been seeing a growing number of people interested.

“There were probably about three or four hundred spectators yesterday, so there were a good bit of people,” Pugh said. “They were lined up all the way around the road and up the hill to the flag yesterday.”

Some of these reenactors travel the country to tell the stories of their ancestors, and high school social studies teacher Jason Sumner expects to have a busy summer as the interest grows.

Sumner said the Civil War shaped the nation in many ways, and its ramifications can still be seen today. As an educator, he said the country doesn’t do enough with education to dig deep into the past, and he hopes people will remember the whole history behind the conflict.

“It’s so important that we don’t forget that and it is an offensive history, but it’s like I tell my students, it is well and good that history’s offensive because if it’s not, we will not develop that emotional connection to the past and we won’t learn from it,” Sumner told ABC News.

Along with his co-stars, Sumner will wear his uniform for six more performances in the spring alone. Depending on the battle, participants can portray Confederates one day, Union the next.

For Ron Carpenter, participating in the reenactment is not a hobby, but rather an homage to his ancestors who fought in the battles.

“If we don’t continue this, then my grandchildren and your grandchildren won’t have the option of learning exactly what happened, not the polished version, not the governmental version, but exactly what happened,” Carpenter said. “And that’s not fair to them.”

Pugh, whose son recently graduated school, said the version they show in the reenactments are not displayed in school, which gives him reason to continue spreading the history behind the Confederacy and his ancestors.

The importance of telling and sharing the Civil War history has grown over the past years since the rise of protests after the murder of George Floyd, according to the reenactors.

“When everything happened in 2020, I think what really pushed me to really want to go for the reenactments is to try to better help people understand the history,” Christopher Re, who has begun documenting the reenactments, said.

While they believe recent events have impacted the way people look back on the country’s racial history, many still resent seeing protesters tear down Civil War monuments.

“Not taking anything away from what happened in Minneapolis, I know that was a sad time, but I believe, you know, the monuments being removed and everything else was kind of like a spit in the face,” Re said.

Confederate monuments began being erected throughout the country shortly after the Civil War, but the majority took place around the 1900s during the Jim Crow era. Out of the 800 Confederate monuments and statues erected on public property across the country, 604 were dedicated before 1950 while 28 were built between 1950-1970 and 34 after 2000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s research.

Since the protests took place, 73 Confederate monuments were removed or renamed from public spaces, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, with more than 700 remaining across the country. For many, the monuments represent racism and white supremacy during the Civil War, and when the future of slavery was being decided.

Martin O’Toole is a spokesperson for the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group is suing, in some cases, to stop cities across the country from removing Civil War monuments from public spaces.

He told ABC News it should be acceptable for people in the South to honor and celebrate the Confederacy.

“When we have calls for diversity, it should include diversity of opinion as well,” O’Toole said. “And if people say they don’t like statues, put up their own statues, let all Americans have their say [about] what they want about their ancestors, their history and the like.”

O’Toole said he has been seeing a growing interest in joining the organization over the past few years.

“There’s more passion because they feel like they’re under attack and so that we are being told that they’re the most singularly wicked and evil people that have ever lived on the planet,” O’Toole said.

While the group celebrates and honors the history of the Confederacy, others, like Richard Rose, Atlanta Chapter President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, resent it due to its link to white supremacy.

Rose told ABC News, some people across the south are still fighting the Civil War since it ended more than 150 years ago.

“The bottom line is, obviously, the Civil War was fought on the premise that Blacks, in theory, are subservient to whites. And so every reenactment, every celebration continues to send that message,” Rose said.

He’s among Black leaders trying to remove the giant carvings of three Confederate generals at Stone Mountain in Atlanta.

“They should be completely covered and destroyed. They’re not works of art, and they are not historical,” Rose said.

But Abraham Mosley, the chairman at Stone Mountain, who is also African American, said the idea to destroy the carvings is a bad idea — and one very unlikely to happen.

“I have no problem with the carving. I have no problem at all,” Mosley told ABC News. “Removing that carving will not change people. The only thing that will change people is a change of heart.”

For Rose, monuments and reenactments honoring the confederacy are not a way to represent history.

“What country celebrates the failed insurrection against itself? And that’s what all of these … reenactments do,” Rose said.

But in the midst of the scalding sun in Alabama, in a field where rifles and cannons fire blank bullets and canisters for an audience, Haessly believes, regardless of the result of the war, it should be told.

“It’s still history. Win or lose, it’s still history. It’s still things that we need to remember,” she said.

 

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(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.

The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.

The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.

Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.

Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.

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(PITTSBURGH) — Two teenagers were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.

The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teen dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.

The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded Sunday around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, according to the Pittsburgh Police Department.

Cellphone video taken from inside the packed house and obtained by ABC News captured the screams and panic of party-goers rushing to get out of the residence, some tripping and falling down a staircase.

In the footage, someone is heard shouting: “He’s got a gun!” and “We got to go!” As apparent gunfire sounded, someone yelled: “They’re shooting!” The shouts were followed by screams.

Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.

A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain teenagers, police said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown, both 17.

Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to police.

Police said a preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage.”

“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” police said in a statement Sunday. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”

No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.

During a press conference Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.

“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert told reporters.

He noted that the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.

“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” he added. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”

Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.

“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb told ABC News in a statement Sunday. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”

Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.

“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.

Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”

The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.

According to Gainey, the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city.  He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.

“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at 412-323-7161.

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(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.

The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.

The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.

Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.

Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.

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(NEW YORK) — The 130-ton Ever Forward cargo ship that has been mired in the mud of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland for more than a month was dislodged and refloated early Sunday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 1,095-foot cargo ship, which ran aground in shallow water 36 days ago, was yanked from a mound of mud by seven tugboats working in tandem around 7 a.m., the Coast Guard said.

The ship was extricated after crews spent the last week using two large cranes on barges to offload around 500 of the nearly 4,900 containers aboard to make the vessel buoyant enough for the tugboats to pry it loose, officials said.

The Ever Forward, which is owned by Evergreen Marine Corp., was being towed by five tugboats to a ship parking area near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Hong Kong-flagged ship will eventually head back to the Seagirt marine terminal in Baltimore to pick up the containers that were taken off before resuming its voyage to Norfolk, Virginia, officials said.

Two previous attempts to free the vessel were not successful. Crews had tried to move the fully loaded ship with multiple tugboats, but it wouldn’t budge. Crews also attempted dredging around the hull of the big boat, but that effort was in vain as well.

The refloating situation had gone so badly that the Evergreen Marine notified anyone with a container on board that they would need to share in the cost of freeing the ship under the law of general average, a principal of maritime law dating back to 1890.

An estimated cost of extracting the ship has not been made public.

The Coast Guard said the Ever Forward got stuck on March 13 in about 23 feet of water off Downs Park in Pasadena, Maryland, about 20 miles south of Baltimore. The ship had just departed the Seagirt marine terminal and, for reasons that remain under investigation, was traveling outside of the deep-water shipping channel when it ran aground, the Coast Guard said.

No one was injured, and inspections showed that no fuel or pollution leaked from the ship into the Chesapeake Bay, according to the Coast Guard.

The ship did not block the shipping channel, officials said.

Evergreen is the same company that owns the Ever Given cargo ship that got stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking the world-famous waterway for six days and causing massive delays in global shipping.

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(NEW YORK) — The threat of severe weather is continuing after nearly a week of strong systems wreaking havoc on much of the country.

The North is bracing for another round of winter weather in the middle of spring after receiving several feet of snow last week.

Blizzard conditions with up to 3 feet of snow is expected in North Dakota, where temperatures reached as low as zero degrees on Saturday. Blowing snow will also be an issue in the northern plains and upper Midwest, as wind advisories are in effect for much of North and South Dakota.

That storm will move into the Great Lakes and into the Northeast on Monday and Tuesday, delivering snow to the Appalachians and upstate New York and rain in the major cities.

A cold front is sweeping through the North through Tuesday, with Chicago topping out around 40 degrees and New York in the 50s on Sunday. Unseasonably low temperatures are expected to continue into Monday.

Severe thunderstorms are expected to flare up in the South on Sunday afternoon, with large hail and damaging winds likely across states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even as far east as the Florida panhandle. Isolated tornadoes are possible as well but are not expected to be as abundant as they were last week.

Problematic weather occurred all over the country at the start of the weekend as well.

In Baltimore, hail interrupted the Yankees vs. Orioles game at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon, and late-season snow blanketed California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

Damage from large hail was reported in northeastern Arkansas on Friday night after thunderstorms rolled through Arkansas to southwestern Alabama.

Conditions ripe for the formation of tornadoes has persisted since last month, which broke the record for the most tornadoes to ever occur in the U.S. in March.

At least three people died last week as a result of a tornado in Arkansas and the McBride Fire in New Mexico.

The severe weather threat is expected to subside early next week with no organized threat forecast for Monday.

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(PITTSBURGH) — Two juveniles were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.

The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teenager dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.

The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, the Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement.

More gunshots were being fired as officers arrived at the scene and saw several young people running away and others fleeing in vehicles, according to the statement.

Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.

A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain juveniles, police said. Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to authorities.

A preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage,” according to the police statement.

“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” according to the police statement. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”

No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said at a news conference Sunday that the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.

“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert said.

He said the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.

“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” Schubert said. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”

Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.

“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb said Sunday in a statement to ABC News. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”

Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.

“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.

Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”

The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement on Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.

Gainey said the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city.  He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.

“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said in his statement. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at (412) 323-7161.

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(RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M.) — High fire danger continues in New Mexico, as very dry weather and gusty winds are leading to an increased risk while firefighters continue to battle a deadly blaze.

For days, hundreds of firefighters have been battling the McBride Fire in the village of Ruidoso in central New Mexico.

As of Saturday morning, the McBride Fire has burned through 6,195 acres in the Gavilan Canyon within Ruidoso and remains 0% contained, according to fire officials. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Fueled by timber downed by a significant wind storm, as well as brush and dry grasses on an arid landscape, the wildfire has burned 207 primary structures and multiple outbuildings since sparking Tuesday, officials said.

The bodies of two people were found in a home in Ruidoso on Wednesday, a day after the McBride Fire scorched the area, according to authorities. First responders located the bodies after family members noted that an elderly couple attempting to evacuate had been unaccounted for, police said. The couple has not yet been publicly identified.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is “very proud” as residents have been reaching out to see what they can do to help amid the destruction.

“But there are no words to express — that’s a total loss,” she told the Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT. “Can you live back there again, where will you go?”

She said the state will be an “active partner” in the recovery process.

A second, smaller fire in Nogal Canyon north of Ruidoso has burned 433 acres as of Saturday morning since sparking Tuesday and is 4% contained, fire officials said.

Fire officials were optimistic Saturday about containment efforts with both fires, after being challenged by warm weather and high winds the previous day.

“Currently, you know, we’re 4% on Nogal, 0% on McBride, but you’ll see those numbers increasing today,” Dave Bales, incident commander for the McBride and Nogal Canyon fires, said during a briefing Saturday. “Today we expect a real successful day.”

Dangerous fire conditions persist Saturday for portions of western and central New Mexico up into the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, with a red flag warning in effect due to strong winds and low relative humidity. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are forecasted.

A voluntary evacuation order also has been issued in Larimer County in northern Colorado, as a wildfire has burned 114 acres and is 30% contained as of Saturday morning.

ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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