A structure scorched by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire is seen on June 2, 2022 near Las Vegas, New Mexico.

A structure scorched by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire is seen on June 2, 2022 near Las Vegas, New Mexico. Mario Tama/Getty Images

FEMA has so far paid out less than 1% of what Congress allocated for victims of New Mexico wildfire

The emergency management agency has paid just $3 million in claims out of $3.96 billion Congress allocated, and the bulk of the payments went to the city of Las Vegas, N.M., rather than individual fire victims.

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Source New MexicoSign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. 

A couple months after two planned fires escaped to become the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, President Joe Biden promised to “fully compensate survivors.” Late last year, Congress allocated $3.95 billion to do so.

Seven months later, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid only about $3 million in claims.

Most of that went to the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, which narrowly escaped the blaze but suffered damage to its water system. The rest — a total of $400,000 at most — has gone to individuals, an agency official acknowledged last week. The blaze burned hundreds of homes and over 530 square miles of land.

The pace of payments has frustrated fire victims and members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation, who in May urged FEMA to move more quickly. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, a Democrat from Las Vegas, said in a written statement on Thursday that her office will keep up the pressure.

“We know how painful and hard this process has been for those who lost so much,” Leger Fernández said. “We will continue to push to get payments out as fast and efficiently as possible.”

The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire grew out of two prescribed burns ignited by the United States Forest Service. In April 2022, fueled by high winds in a drought-stricken forest, they merged. Over the next few months, the fire rolled through Mora and San Miguel counties in northern New Mexico.

The Forest Service took responsibility for the blaze, and Congress tasked FEMA with paying victims through a new claims office.

At a news conference on Thursday, Angela Gladwell, director of that office, said that beyond the $3 million in claims that have been paid, several million dollars more are close to being paid out.

Even still, that would be a fraction of 1% of the money allocated by Congress.

There’s widespread agreement about the need to repair the Las Vegas water system, which was damaged when water laden with sediment and contaminants flowed into the treatment plant during heavy rains that followed the fire.

At one point last summer, while the Gallinas River was contaminated, the city had in reserve just 21 days of clean drinking water for residents. When its reservoirs are full, the city has 200 days of water.

Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujillo said the $2.6 million is the first installment toward what will ultimately be a $140 million project.

But he said he’s far more concerned about people dealing with the “slow and agonizing” process of being compensated by FEMA for losses to their homes, properties and livelihoods.

The $400,000 that has gone to individuals is surprisingly little, he said: “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but my concern is not as much how efficient they’ve been for the city government, as they are about individuals who had losses.”

Gladwell said the claims office has received more than 1,500 notices of loss from more than 2,500 people, businesses, governments and other claimants since November. A notice of loss signals that a victim intends to make a claim for damages.

The office has formally acknowledged 850 of those notices, she said, which starts a 180-day clock to decide how much FEMA will pay.

Meanwhile, FEMA is winding down its emergency response, which came in the form of disaster assistance payments and, in some cases, temporary housing offered in the weeks and months after the fire.

FEMA offered housing to some people who had lost their primary residences, saying it would try to put trailers or mobile homes on their land. But in late April, Source New Mexico and ProPublica found that just two households had gotten housing on their land. Eleven others received housing at commercial parks that in some cases were miles away.

The rest of those eligible — people whose uninsured primary residences were destroyed or badly damaged — found other housing options, which in some cases was a friend or relative’s couch or substandard housing during a grueling winter.

The agency marked them as having found “another housing resource,” according to a FEMA spokesperson.

Since then, another couple has gotten housing on their land and another person got housing at a commercial park.

FEMA noted that terrain and weather, among other factors, made it hard to provide housing. It said it couldn’t place trailers on people’s land in many cases because of federal laws and its own requirement that trailers be hooked up to utilities.

Lawmakers who signed the legislation compensating victims for the federal government’s mistakes have said they wanted individuals and families to be paid first, and businesses, nonprofits and governments later.

At public meetings, FEMA officials have defended their rollout of the claims office. Creating a compensation program is a major undertaking for a federal bureaucracy, and this is the fastest FEMA has ever established an office, the agency said in May. The agency had to work quickly to create policies, open three field offices and staff up. About a dozen navigators, all locals, have been hired to guide victims through the process.

This is the second time FEMA has been in charge of compensating wildfire victims. The first one was also in New Mexico, when the National Park Service ignited a blaze that escaped and burned homes in Los Alamos in 2000.

Six months after legislation was passed to compensate victims of that fire, known as the Cerro Grande Fire, FEMA had paid about $20.5 million to individuals and businesses — about 4% of the $545 million eventually paid out. That $20.5 million included more than $10 million to 1,625 individuals, according to a news release at the time.

FEMA has not yet finalized its rules governing what types of losses and expenses will be covered for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. Gladwell has said those rules must be approved by higher-ups at FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

She said Thursday she doesn’t know when the rules might be approved.

Even without final rules, FEMA officials stress that claimants can receive partial payments now for some losses.

“The claims process is operational today and ready to support New Mexicans who suffered losses by these fires immediately,” FEMA spokesperson Michael Hart said.

The office has announced it’s working with an office in the Department of Agriculture to help people calculate their losses. And it will now pay victims’ flood insurance premiums for up to five years.

Nov. 14, 2024, is the deadline for people to submit notice of loss forms to the claims office.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.