Our Lady of the Arroyo worked at the Los Alamos Medical Center during the Las Conchas Fire and told her man at post time that residents who lost homes and belongings mostly blamed Republican Governor Susana Martinez for her hesitation to ask President Barack Obama for an emergency declaration.
Every incident like that fire, the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fire are teaching moments: episodes where humans are humbled by climate catastrophes created by our own failures. But like in 2011, New Mexicans who were displaced and burned out by the 2022 wildfire complex are increasingly frustrated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as election year unfolds.
Even New Mexico's Democratic congressional delegation is fretting the sluggish pace of compensation after under-monitored US Forest Service pile burns blew up ahead of a dry Spring. In January, Senators Martin Heinrich, Ben Ray Luján and Representative for the Third District Teresa Leger Fernández sent a second letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell hoping to expedite payments to claimants. So far, the Claims Office has paid out over $330 million or about 8% of the $4 billion fund and the office has received over $518 million in claimed damages. New Mexico is in FEMA Region 6.
John Mills, external affairs officer for the FEMA Incident Management Assistance Team Region 7, explained in a telephone interview on Jan. 19 that, up until this point, FEMA’s response to the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire was twofold: the disaster response under the Stafford Act and the response via the Claims Office. [FEMA officials assure residents process will speed up at Town Hall]Tribes, well-funded local and volunteer fire departments could manage prescriptive burns, create defensible space and burn road ditches to create buffers where contract fire specialists don’t exist. But even government can’t always protect you from your own stupidity.
In New Mexico, Republican ideologues who poke at competitors and declare their derision for those in public service simply reinforce my quest to move the Forest Service into Interior as a sister agency or even married to the Bureau of Land Management in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and local tribal governments.
There is a simple answer to the dilemmas faced in disbursement of financial restitution to the victims of the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fires. FEMA needs to stop perceiving those whom they serve as opponents who should simply submit to receive whatever FEMA wishes to disburse. Learn from us. Becoming cooperative partners in this effort stands to benefit FEMA as well as the people served. [Nosotros la Gente: Don't give up]Unless claims are processed more quickly Democratic voters in San Miguel and Mora Counties are going to stay home in November putting New Mexico's blue state solidarity at risk.
ip images.
Las Conchas Fire survivor pic.twitter.com/c6WNGolWgO
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) November 30, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment