Max Pacheco, a volunteer firefighter, crosses a stream in 2022 near an area devastated by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. A new lawsuit has been filed against FEMA over claims wildfire compensation has been delayed.
Max Pacheco, a volunteer firefighter, crosses a stream in 2022 near an area devastated by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. A new lawsuit has been filed against FEMA over claims wildfire compensation has been delayed.
For those still suffering the fallout from the historic and devastating Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, federal help is getting a little bit closer.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Monday it will start taking and processing loss claim notices from those who lost homes, businesses, property or other items of value in the fire.
FEMA official Angela Gladwell, who will lead the new Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire claims office, said Monday the $2.5 billion in federal funding approved by President Joe Biden in September “will provide much needed resources to help individuals and communities to recover.”
On Monday, her agency began a 60-day public comment period to hear from those affected by the fire, which began in the spring after prescribed burns overseen by the U.S. Forest Service went awry. The public’s input could help shape future FEMA claim procedures, she said.
The first of four planned public meetings in the area where the fire and subsequent flooding did the most damage is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Old Memorial Middle School on Legion Drive in Las Vegas, N.M.
Three more similar public meetings will be held in Mora and Las Vegas into early January.
Eligible New Mexico residents for the aid have two years to apply, she said, and can do so either online at the agency’s website or through the U.S. Postal Service.
She said the new claims office plans to open facilities in Mora and San Miguel counties as well as in Santa Fe. She said the claims office should be “fully operational in early 2023. ... It will take time to build out our operation and build this program and claims process to full capacity.” The office will hire locals and place job advertisements as they become available, she said.
She said she could not provide an accurate estimate on how many claims the office could receive, though the estimate on how many homes were lost in the fire has been gauged at anywhere from several hundred to at least 1,000. She said her office understands the sense of “urgency” tied to the office.
“People want to get reimbursed as soon as possible,” she said.
The fire, which torched nearly 350,000 acres in Mora, Taos and San Miguel counties, burned through the summer. It was followed by heavy and sometimes catastrophic rains that threatened water sources in several areas. Throughout, residents have called for quick and efficient relief responses from the federal government, citing the Forest Service’s role in starting the fire.
Every claims applicant should first submit a notice of loss, which was accessible on the website Monday. That four-page document asks people to describe what type of loss they suffered — individual, household, business, nonprofit, etc. — and to estimate losses incurred, among other details.
She said her agency is expecting an array of different claims covering everything from personal loss to business losses to the loss of land or running water.
“We do understand those impacted by the fire are going to have a number of those types of [claim] circumstances since so many folks are living off the land and have this kind of losses,” she said. “We will bring the right expertise in to help estimate those losses.”
She said FEMA will first prioritize individuals “followed by businesses and communities and last, the insurers.” She said her agency has not yet broken down the $2.5 billion available into different funding pots — such as fire relief vs. flood relief or another kind of loss.
She said her agency will have 180 days to determine the amount to be paid to claimants based on those losses.
FEMA will work to maximize other funding sources to help New Mexico residents hit hard by the fires, she said.
According to the FEMA Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire website, residents do not have to apply for FEMA disaster assistance in order to file a notice of claims loss to get the process moving.
