EDITORIAL: NM delegation needs to ensure federal government honors promise to make NM wildfire victims whole

Apr. 29—Promises made, promises unkept.

Last year, after U.S. Forest Service negligence caused the worst wildfire in state recorded history between early April and mid-June, federal leaders made a lot of promises about making New Mexicans whole.

President Joe Biden flew over the perimeter of the 534-square-mile fire that destroyed more than 900 structures, including about 430 homes, in Mora, San Miguel and Taos counties. He vowed his administration would do everything it could to help families who lost their homes. "We'll do whatever it takes, as long as it takes," Biden said during his first visit to New Mexico as president.

The "long" in that comment was prescient.

Meanwhile, New Mexico's congressional delegation churned out news releases touting federal help was on its way. "N.M. Congressional Democrats passed $2.5 billion to support New Mexico residents and business owners impacted by this year's Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fires," read the secondary headline of a Nov. 15, 2022, news release from U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich.

The release said the Federal Emergency Management Agency expected to start paying claims in early 2023. But FEMA is behind schedule and just opened regional offices Wednesday in Mora, Las Vegas and Santa Fe to help fire victims navigate the federal claims process.

It's taken far too long. People's homes burned a full year ago. The wildfire was declared 100% contained on Aug. 21.

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury issued a news release Dec. 23, 2022, saying she, Heinrich, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, all D-N.M., partnered to add $1.45 billion in an omnibus appropriations bill to support New Mexicans impacted by the wildfires.

So what's happened to that $4 billion in fire aid?

An investigation by ProPublica in partnership with Source New Mexico found of the 140 households FEMA offered travel trailers or mobile homes, only about a tenth have moved in. Many victims cite slow approvals and strict rules as the reason.

"Many of them said FEMA's trailers were offered too late, cost too much to get hooked up or came with too many strings attached," the partnership reported. "Several said they went through multiple inspections, only to learn weeks later that one rule or another made it impossible to get a trailer on their land."

The partnership reported just 13 of the 140 eligible households had received FEMA housing as of April 19, and only two of them are on their own land. A total of 123 people withdrew their applications for trailers because of the red tape.

FEMA says terrain and weather made it challenging to provide housing to survivors. The agency's rules require temporary housing structures be hooked up to utilities. But some residences lacked running water and septic tanks before the wildfire. Wood stoves are common in remote, mountainous areas, and so are wells. The agency needs to loosen its rules to meet its mission.

"I remain committed to restoring the health of our forests and watersheds and making sure that New Mexico families and communities are made whole again," Heinrich said in a Dec. 20 news release.

Four months after that PR sound bite, they haven't been made whole, not by a long shot. And our short-attention-span congressional delegation has seemingly moved on to the next issue, even while New Mexicans made homeless by federal incompetence struggle to get help through FEMA's stringent application process.

As of late March, rancher Herman Lujan still couldn't reach the Mora Valley where he grazed cattle and sold Christmas trees. Post-fire flooding, sometimes as destructive as the wildfire itself, damaged a dirt road leading to land that's been in his family for generations. Mud and rocks made it impassable.

At 88 years old, he may never be "made whole."

"I lost everything up there," he told the Journal during a March 31 interview.

Tens of thousands of residents were forced to leave their homes as the flames advanced; many had to leave all their pets, livestock and belongings behind.

"There were some people who just left without anything," said Ledoux Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Krystle Garcia. "It's just disheartening to see how little has been done to this point."

It's inexcusable that a year after the fires emerged people still can't get to their homes and others can't get into FEMA trailers. The rebuilding should have begun by now.

Our congressional delegation should be up in arms, making clear to the federal government, "You broke it, you fix it."

Leger Fernandez, who touts herself as "a 17th-generation daughter of rural New Mexico" and who listed FEMA compensation for wildfire victims as one of her top five accomplishments in her first term representing northern New Mexico, should be incensed with FEMA, the Forest Service and the Biden administration. So should our two U.S. senators, and it wouldn't hurt for the rest of our delegation and Interior Secretary Deb Halland, also a New Mexican, to present a united front for N.M. residents injured and insulted by ongoing federal fecklessness.

They all need to be more vocal, even if it means correcting an administration of their own political party.

While FEMA ineptitude is not surprising — it's unfortunately become standard operating procedure since Hurricane Katrina — we are disappointed our New Mexicans in D.C. haven't done more to clear the bureaucratic logjam in the claims process.

Promises made need to become promises kept.

To get help

To file a claim or learn about the process, residents should contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency at (505) 995-7133 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, send an email to ClaimsOffice@fema.dhs.gov or visit fema.gov/hermits-peak (in English) or fema.gov/es/hermits-peak (in Spanish).

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.