In the two years since United States Forest Service agents started the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, the conversation around the event has shifted from the fire itself to the re-traumatizing of its victims who, as one FEMA official acknowledged on Monday, may never be made whole again.
The comment was made by Colt Hagmaier, assistant administrator of recovery for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office, during a panel discussion and documentary screening Monday at the Indigo Theater.
About 80 people packed the Indigo Theater during the event and more than 100 people attended via Zoom. The in-person attendees included Sarah Huber, who took the microphone when the audience was invited to provide input.
“You say … that we are going to be compensated 100 percent,” Huber said, speaking directly to Hagmaier. “Obviously, that means financial compensation. You cannot compensate us for what we have lost. You cannot compensate us for what we are experiencing in our hearts and minds.”
“But offering someone $36,000 to cover the cost of everything they owned is horrible,” Huber continued. “It is criminal. It is pathetic. And this country is better than that.”
Huber said the Claims Office has lost her documentation repeatedly.
“Get it together,” she said. “It’s time. We are tired. And we count as much as anyone else.”
Hagmaier, the only person on the panel from the Claims Office, responded directly to Huber.
“I just want you to know that I hear you,” Hagmaier said. “I agree. We will not be able to compensate you for what you lost. We won’t.”
“What I’ve learned from my time in New Mexico is that this place is special,” Hagmaier continued. “It’s not just land. It’s not just mountains. It’s part of your family. … We won’t be able to replace that. No amount of money could.”
However, Hagmaier said, those working with the Claims Office – which was established to help distribute the $4 billion allocated by Congress to help the victims of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire – are there to maximize the compensation to the victims under the law. He said $470 million in compensation has been provided, with about $100 million “in the final process of being provided.”
“We have nothing to gain from this other than trying to provide you all the compensation we can,” he said. “There is no incentive for us to not provide everything that you are due. … That is our commitment.”
The day’s event, organized by the Coalition for Fire Fund Fairness – an advocacy group that works on behalf of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire victims – was meant to mark the two-year anniversary of the start of the wildfire, which was ignited by federal agents on April 6, 2022.
Discussion during the event was moderated by Patrick Lohmann, reporter for Source New Mexico.
Hagmaier’s fellow panelists were Lt. Gov. Howie Morales as well as Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire victims Toby Dolan and Yolanda Cruz.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas joined the panel via Zoom from Washington, DC.
“We all know and we all remember that this was the federal government’s gross mismanagement,” Balderas said of the fire. He noted that the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burned 900 structures as well as 330,000 acres of land, but, that it was the trauma that was suffered by the community “that’s truly regrettable and unforgivable.”
“I wish I could say that you’re there tonight to celebrate the government defending and protecting citizens,” Balderas continued. “But we know that’s not true. In fact, you will be discussing what I believe are unfulfilled promises and joining a litany of disproportionate history where our state has always been treated poorly by the federal government.”
Balderas said that, as a former attorney general, he could speak to the failure of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration in allowing opiate pills to flow into the markets; he mentioned litigation that took place after the federal government took the side of Texas over the side of New Mexican farmers over water rights; and to the Gold King mine spill of 2015, which polluted New Mexico waters, but led to a successful lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency that led to a $32 million settlement for the state.
“Know that New Mexico has been successful in the past at recovering billions of dollars,” Balderas said. “It’s OK if we have to fight and go to court … this is not a place we haven’t been before.”
Aside from a panel discussion, the event included a 30-minute screening of the documentary, “Mora is Burning,” produced by the nonprofit filmmaking group American Commons Media, based in Mora County.
A feature-length version of the documentary will be made available in the fall, said one of its producers, Scott Campbell. What was shown of the documentary on Monday included scenes of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire as it first roared orange over the horizon; harrowing instances of flood waters destroying the land and people rummaging through scorched debris.
The film also emphasized how members of the community helped one another during and after the fire while assistance from FEMA was noticeably absent.
Las Vegas City Councilor for Ward 2 and Mayor Pro Tem Michael Montoya was the only local elected official at the event. As shown in the documentary, Montoya also spoke to the generosity of people who gave items such as soap, towels and diapers to help those affected by the fire.
“They didn’t want recognition, they didn’t want a thank you,” Montoya said during a telephone interview on Tuesday. “They just wanted to help out.”
“They knew the need,” Montoya continued, his voice getting emotional. “They saw stuff on TV and they worried about us.”
While several in the audience expressed sadness and frustration about the possibility of never being made whole following the fire, Montoya noted that the entire city of Las Vegas is in a similar situation. He said the Las Vegas watershed was contaminated due flooding caused by the fire.
“Millions of gallons of water were lost due to the flooding that occurred,” Montoya said. “And that water will never be recovered, because it went downstream.”
“To this day, we still have silt that needs to be removed … in the Gallinas River,” Montoya added. “That needs to be addressed.”
Echoing Hagmaier’s comment on the impossibility of being fully compensated, Montoya noted that the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire destroyed a community’s way of life.
“The land that people have been taking care of for generations will never be the same,” he said. “The younger generation will never see what we saw.”
“But, we will survive,” Montoya went on to say. “Las Vegas is resilient and we will move forward.”
