Albuquerque, New Mexico — Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found at a home where first responders fell ill after responding to a call about suspected overdoses in a rural New Mexico county, authorities said Friday.
Three people found inside the house on Wednesday died. The fourth person who was in the home and one of the emergency responders who became ill were still being treated at the hospital on Friday.
The doctor who saw responders exhibit symptoms — including nausea and dizziness — said their symptoms closely resembled exposure to fentanyl. However, investigation into how and why exposure occurred is still ongoing.
Authorities are working “on the assumption” that fentanyl is the cause, Steve McLaughlin, chief medical officer at the University of New Mexico Hospital, said during a news conference in Albuquerque. Respondents’ symptoms ranged from mild to slightly more serious, he said.
“It probably won’t be absorbed through your skin, but it will be absorbed through your eyes, your nose, your mucous membranes, or if you inhale it,” McLaughlin told the Associated Press.
Methamphetamine is very toxic when exposed to it, and fentanyl is less toxic. Authorities indicated during Friday’s press conference that first responders who became ill directly treated people who were found inside the home east of Albuquerque, in the rural town of Mountaineer.
More than a dozen first responders were isolated and decontaminated after responding to the scene.
Of the two people still hospitalized Friday, one was a person found unconscious at the home where three died. Authorities said they were summoned home by a co-worker after they failed to show up for work.
New Mexico State Police Chief Matt Broome said investigators did not immediately find evidence of drug manufacturing at the home.
State Police said early on that there was no threat to the public and that investigators did not believe the substance that made responders sick was airborne.
Two of the victims were identified Friday as Micah Rascon, 51, and Georgia Rascon, 49. The name of the third person who died was not revealed, and the cause and manner of their death were not determined.
Audio archives from Torrance County Fire Dispatch on Broadcastify showed that responders went to the home after a report of a 60-year-old man unconscious but breathing.
Within minutes, a dispatcher was heard saying there were three other people in the home, two of whom might not be breathing. Then came the call for the use of naloxone, the antidote to opioid overdoses. One person was revived using naloxone, authorities said.
Less than an hour after the initial call, the dispatch center reported there had been multiple exposures.
Some first responders began coughing, vomiting and dizziness, authorities said. Hospital officials said most of them did not show any symptoms.
Torrance County Fire Chief Gary Smith said initial responders at the scene did not have protective gear but followed safety protocols. He added that they saw two victims inside, so they pulled them out into the open air and tried to revive them.
“This came off as an overdose. There was no indication of any type of dangerous scenario,” Smith said.
He added that debriefing sessions are scheduled to be held in the coming days to determine whether there are any weaknesses in the response.
Scientific evidence suggests that fentanyl, a powerful opioid, does not cause overdoses through casual skin contact or brief exposure to air in typical field scenarios. Experts say that overdoses require ingesting, injecting or inhaling a large amount of the substance.
Residents around Mountaineer, a town of fewer than 1,000 people, have expressed frustration about drug use in the community and elsewhere.
New Mexico had the fourth-highest drug overdose death rate of any U.S. state in 2024, with 775 deaths, according to the latest data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Claudia Lauer contributed reporting from Philadelphia.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.