After two years, those who were displaced by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire are frustrated with the way that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has handled compensating victims.
In an emotional event Monday evening, a panel moderated by Source NM reporter Patrick Lohmann discussed the wildfire and the struggles that people have faced since it burned through their communities in northern New Mexico.
The panel discussion took place at the Indigo Theater in Las Vegas following a screening of the unfinished documentary “Mora is Burning.” The advocacy group Coalition for Fire Fund Fairness hosted the event.
“We all know and we all remember that this was the federal government’s gross mismanagement,” former Attorney General Hector Balderas said at the start of the event.
The Hermits Peak Fire started on April 6, 2022 when a prescribed burn got out of control amid high spring winds. It later joined with the Calf Canyon Fire, which ignited from embers left over in slash piles that had been burned over the winter. The U.S. Forest Service has taken responsibility for both fires.
Balderas said 900 structures burned and 33,000 acres were scorched.
“The trauma that was suffered from our communities is truly regrettable and unforgivable,” Balderas said.
Toby Dolan’s family lost three homes—the one that he shared with his wife, his mother’s home and his grandmother’s home.
“We filed our notice of loss early on, and it was seven months before it was even acknowledged,” he said.
Yolanda Cruz spoke about how FEMA lost her documentation three times before finally processing her claim.
This is not an uncommon problem.
Colt Hagmaier, assistant administrator of the Recovery Directorate within the Office of Response and Recovery at FEMA, said that those issues should be resolved now. He explained that some documents were lost due to employee error while others were lost when switching from one system to another.
He said that he has seen signs of improvement, including more claims being moved at a faster rate.
“We have doubled the number of people that we’ve provided compensation to just since January 1,” he said. “We are now at $470 million in compensation provided; another $100 million or so that’s in the final process of being provided.”
He acknowledged that there were errors, including mistakes that he made.
“I had never been to New Mexico before this fire. I didn’t know a lot about New Mexico, to be honest with you,” he said.
Hagmaier said he came in at the end of the Cerro Grande fire claims process and was responsible for closing out those claims.
The Cerro Grande Fire, which was also started when a prescribed burn got out of control, charred areas near Los Alamos in 2000.
He said the Cerro Grande compensation program was largely completed by the time he got involved and he only saw the very end of it.
“I will say that I made mistakes. I assumed this would be very similar to Cerro Grande. It’s nothing like Cerro Grande,” he said. “And so I don’t know if anyone has ever apologized to you. But I will tell you that I’m sorry. I’m sorry about the fire. I’m sorry about the challenges you’ve faced. I’m sorry that things have taken as long as they have.”
Hagmaier said FEMA is in the final stages of finding a new operations director at the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office. The previous operations director stepped down from that role in January.
He said it is important that the new operations director understands New Mexico.
“History has not been kind to this part of the country,” he said. “And so I think it’s important that we hire someone who understands that history, understands the multiple cultural communities here and does not make the mistake that I did of assuming that Las Vegas and Los Alamos and Mora are all the same. Because they’re not.”
