Fentanyl, meth found at house where New Mexico responders got sick after
answering overdose call
[May 23, 2026]
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MATTHEW BROWN
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found at a
home where first responders became sick after answering a call about
suspected overdoses in a rural county in New Mexico, authorities said
Friday.
Three people found inside the house on Wednesday died. A fourth person
who was in the house and one of the emergency responders who became sick
were still being treated at a hospital Friday.
A doctor who saw the responders exhibiting symptoms — including nausea
and dizziness — said their symptoms most closely resembled fentanyl
exposure. However, the investigation into how the exposure happened and
what caused it was ongoing.
University of New Mexico Hospital Chief Medical Officer Steve McLaughlin
said during a news conference in Albuquerque that authorities were
working “under the assumption” that fentanyl was to blame. He said the
responders' symptoms ranged from mild to slightly more severe.
“It’s probably not absorbed through your skin, but it would be absorbed
through your eyes, nose, mucous membranes, or if you inhale it,”
McLaughlin told The Associated Press.
Meth is notoriously toxic when exposed to it, and fentanyl less so.
Authorities noted during Friday's news conference that the responders
who became ill had directly treated the people found inside the house
east of Albuquerque, in the rural town of Mountainair.
More than a dozen first responders were quarantined and decontaminated
after responding to the scene.
Of the two people still hospitalized Friday, one was a person who was
found unresponsive in the home where three died. Authorities said they
were called to the home by a co-worker of one of the people inside after
they failed to show up to work.
New Mexico State Police Chief Matt Broom said investigators did not
immediately find evidence of drug manufacturing in the house.
State police said early on that there was no threat to the public and
that investigators did not believe the substance that caused the
responders to become sick was airborne.
Two of the victims were identified Friday as Mika Rascon, 51, and
Georgia Rascon, 49. The name of the third person who died has not been
released, and the cause and manner of their deaths has not been
determined.
Audio archives from the Torrance County Fire Dispatch channel on the
site Broadcastify showed that responders went to the home following a
report of a 60-year-old man unconscious but breathing.
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New Mexico State Police respond to home in Mountainair, N.M., where
authorities say several people died Wednesday, May 20, 2026, and
more than a dozen first responders were exposed to an unknown
substance and later treated at a hospital. (AP Photo/Savannah
Peters)
Within minutes, a dispatcher is heard saying there were three other
people at the home, two of whom might not be breathing. Then came a
call for naloxone, the opioid-overdose antidote. One person was
revived using naloxone, authorities said.
Less than an hour after the initial call, the dispatch center
relayed that there were multiple exposures.
Some first responders began coughing, vomiting and experiencing
dizziness, authorities said. Most had no symptoms, hospital
officials said.
The initial responders on the scene did not have protective gear but
followed safety protocols, said Torrance County Fire Chief Gary
Smith. They saw two victims inside, pulled them into the fresh air
and attempted to resuscitate them, he said.
“This did come in as an overdose. There was no indication of any
type of hazmat type scenario,” Smith said.
Debriefings were planned in coming days to determine if there were
any weaknesses in the response, he added.
Scientific evidence shows fentanyl, a potent opioid, does not cause
overdoses through casual skin contact or brief airborne exposure in
typical field scenarios. Experts say overdoses require significant
ingestion, injection or inhalation of the substance.
Residents around Mountainair, a town with fewer than 1,000 people,
have voiced frustration about drug use in the community and
elsewhere.
New Mexico had the fourth-highest rate of drug overdose deaths of
any U.S. state in 2024, with 775 deaths, according to the most
recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
___
Claudia Lauer contributed reporting from Philadelphia.
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