by Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
This article was produced in partnership with Source New Mexico, which was a member of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in 2023. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.
The director of a federal office overseeing a nearly $4 billion compensation fund for victims of a New Mexico wildfire that was accidentally triggered by the U.S. Forest Service is stepping down.
Angela Gladwell’s reassignment comes as the Federal Emergency Management Agency restructures its disaster response in the state amid sustained criticism of its handling of disaster aid and payments for damages, which Source New Mexico and ProPublica have reported on for the past year.
The largest wildfire in state history, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire destroyed at least 430 homes and cost billions of dollars in firefighting services and damage. About 29,000 claimants, including residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations, could be eligible for payments, FEMA has said.
Many residents have been in limbo as they await checks to rebuild. The agency’s claims office didn’t make its first payment to a victim until April, seven months after the office was created. By midsummer, more than a year after the fire had ripped through the mountains of northern New Mexico, the claims office had paid less than 1% of the total allocated. It has now paid $311 million, about 8% of the total approved by Congress.........