Congress appropriates $1.45B more for wildfire recovery
With the passage of the federal fiscal budget last Friday (Dec. 23), New Mexico’s Democratic congressional delegation secured an additional $1.45 billion in disaster relief for victims of the historic Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak wildfire.
In total, the additional funding will provide $3.95 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it creates the disaster compensation program mandated by the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act, the footprint of which includes Taos County. The appropriations bill also includes language to allow for the repairs and replacement of the municipal water treatment facility in Las Vegas to ensure the community has ongoing access to clean drinking water.
FEMA will hold two additional in-person public meetings to solicit public feedback about the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance interim final rule, according to information published in the Federal Register. “FEMA is issuing this public meeting notification to inform the public
that FEMA is seeking input on the procedures for claimants to seek compensation for injury or loss of property resulting from the [Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak] Fire.”
The comment period extends through Jan. 13. A public meeting will be held Jan. 4 from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Peñasco Independent School District campus, 13 School Rd. in Peñasco; and on Jan. 9 at 1 First National Place in Angel Fire from 5:30-7 p.m. An already-scheduled meeting is set to take place at Mora High School, 10 Ranger Rd., between 5 and 7 p.m. on Jan. 5.
Despite the billions of dollars, many Northern New Mexicans are skeptical the federal government will make them or their communities whole. Angostura resident Stephen Barr’s hospitality-based business and income was catastrophically disrupted when the wildfire burned across the landscape just north and immediately south of El Lodge, where, in a normal winter, the cabins and titular lodge would be booked solid.
Because El Lodge — the lodge and cabin rental business he operates along NM 518 in Taos County — is on the Taos County side of the
Taos County–Mora County border, he doesn’t qualify for emergency relief from the federal government, which did not include Taos County in its disaster declaration. He may qualify for the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act funding, which is designed to help everyone who was impacted by the wildfire, but fears it will be too little, too late.
“I’m hurting bad and paying utility bills on the disconnect days,” Barr said, adding that “the only person who has contacted me [to offer assistance] is Jill Cline, the Episcopal priest. She’s been great and is going to pay some utilities for me out of an emergency fund the church has.
“She trusts FEMA and I don’t,” Barr continued. “The bottom line is that I have lost the majority of my revenue now since May and am now missing out on my busy season with Sipapu [Ski and Summer Resort] open. And I have drained my personal IRA down to zero — it was at $118,000 at the start — and maxed out five credit cards — and now I’m unable to even keep up with those minimum payments. My FICO [credit score] has dropped from 647 down to 499.”
The 341,735-acre wildfire, the largest in New Mexico’s history, was sparked by two out-of-control U.S. Forest Service prescribed burns that merged on April 22. It swept across San Miguel County and Mora County, growing by 30,000 acres a day at times. It burned into a portion of southeast Taos County in May, but firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading north or east toward Taos.
Earlier this year, New Mexico’s Congressional Democrats successfully passed the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act to deliver $2.5 billion for New Mexico families and businesses impacted by wildfire, including those who do not qualify for regular FEMA emergency assistance. The legislation was modeled after the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act, which was designed to bolster recovery efforts following the devastating Cerro Grande Fire — which also stemmed from an out-of-control prescribed burn and destroyed hundreds of homes and structures in Los
Alamos in 2000.
The legislation was sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, and co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury.
“Today, after long negotiations, we can announce an additional $1.45 billion to compensate New Mexicans who lost so much during the Hermits Peak–Calf Canyon Fire, bringing the total funding for Hermits Peak–Calf Canyon to $3.95 billion,” Leger Fernandez said in a Dec. 23 press release. “We knew that our communities needed more than the earlier $2.5 billion to recover from the devastating wildfires and floods that have ravaged our beautiful communities, forests and acequias. It will also pay to replace the damaged Las Vegas water treatment facility and make sure residents of my hometown have access to clean water.”
The $1.7-trillion federal omnibus spending bill also includes $925 million in separate supplemental funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program, as well as $27 million for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program. The USDA funding will be available nationwide, but is expected to cover the majority of anticipated program needs in New Mexico, with a 100-percent federal cost share for projects within the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire recovery area, according to a Dec. 20 press release from Sen. Heinrich’s office.
“These USDA programs provide communities and land managers with the federal support they need to recover and become more resilient in the face of increasingly devastating natural disasters; that’s why I rallied support to secure this funding so that we can begin to adequately address program needs in New Mexico,” Heinrich said in the release.
Jerry Martinez, water operator for the Agua Pura Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association, said the pace of recovery is too slow. He noted that entities like the water association have had to pay up front for repair costs associated with the wildfire and the floods that followed. Agua Pura’s water source — a spring in the mountains above Chacon — and its main water line were heavily damaged when the wildfire tore through the community in May, leaving hundreds of people without water. A water truck was located and hired to deliver water to the system’s storage tank in mid-June.
“The water truck is still hauling water for us,” Martinez said. “So far, they have hauled over one million gallons. We’ve installed a new water line in the burnt area, but FEMA is refusing to pay for a well. We’ve spent about $100,000 of our own funds, and we’re still trying to get paid from FEMA.”
Martinez hopes that a local disaster relief office that is slated to open in Mora will help grease some wheels.
“This new group is supposed to distribute the $3.9 billion,” he said. “We’ll see how that goes.”
Heinrich called the new federal funding “just the beginning,” and acknowledged that it will take years or even decades for the hardest-hit communities to recover.
New Mexico wildfire attorney Antonia Roybal-Mack is encouraging all residents who were affected by the wildfire to attend public meetings, submit comments on the assistance act rulemaking process, and also submit Notice of Loss forms as soon as possible.
The Notice of Loss form can be found at fema.gov/sites/default/ files/documents/fema_noticeloss-hermits-peak-fire-form.pdf; completed forms should be returned by email to fema-hermits-peak@ fema.dhs.gov, or the FEMA Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office, P.O. Box 1329, Santa Fe, NM 87504. The FEMA Claims Office is expected to be fully operational in early 2023, which is when they will begin to respond to claims.
Once the Claims Office receives the Notice of Loss form, claimants have 150 days to sign a Proof of Loss form. Once FEMA receives the Proof of Loss form, they will have 30 days to determine the amount to be paid to the claimant.