Press Releases

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández issued the following statement on the 1-year anniversary of the Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon Fire. 

“Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the Hermit’s Peak prescribed burn –a painful reminder of the man-made disaster that ravaged our beautiful communities, forests, acequias, lands, and ancestral intergenerational homes. Soon after the fire started, we worked to hold the USFS accountable and secured a pause on prescribed burns. We initiated a GAO investigation into prescribed burns and successfully advocated for the extensions of deadlines for FEMA assistance. 

We didn’t stop there -  we introduced the Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act because we knew that traditional FEMA assistance was not enough.  The power of the peoples’ stories of loss and injustice helped us secure $3.95 billion to create an entirely new program to compensate victims of the fire and pay for the replacement of the damaged Las Vegas water treatment facility so that residents could have access to clean water. 

I recognize how long the road to recovery is. The Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon offices are opening in Santa Fe, Mora, Las Vegas  - plus  two mobile units.  Nuevo Mexicanos from the community will staff the offices. This is what justice looks like - the federal government taking responsibility for the harm it caused and listening to the stories, voices, and calls to rebuild. 

We haven’t forgotten about the burn scar.  As many in New Mexico welcome the good snowpack to address our drought, those in the burn scar are rightfully afraid of dangerous floods and debris flow that could wipe out more roads, destroy more pasture, and flood more homes. 

I promised Nuevo Mexicanos to pursue every available opportunity to seek justice and compensation.  I am still in the fight alongside our communities and committed to the years of hard work to rebuild.  New Mexicans will not forget our fire damaged norteños and their need.”

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