Press Releases

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), and Senators Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich demanded in a letter that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Hermit’s Peak Claims Office immediately correct serious failures in the administration of the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire claims program and deliver long-overdue compensation to New Mexico families who lost their homes, livelihoods, and land.

In the letter, sent to FEMA Acting Regional Administrator Gerald Stolar and New Mexico Joint Recovery Office Director Jay Mitchell, the members called out FEMA for failing to meet its own March 31, 2025 deadline to compensate families who suffered total losses — even as those survivors enter their fourth year of displacement and financial hardship. The letter also raises concerns that FEMA is refusing to reopen claims for cascading impacts such as catastrophic flooding, despite clear statutory authority to do so. 

The letter emphasizes that while more than $3 billion has already been distributed, “so many New Mexicans, including those who suffered total losses, still await compensation” more than three years after the fire. “It is unacceptable that these people who have suffered so much haven’t been paid three and a half years after the catastrophe,” the members say.

The lawmakers also call upon FEMA to reopen claims for cascading events—such as flooding —when those harms are directly attributable to the burn scar. The letter highlights that federal statute clearly authorizes the Claims Office to reopen cases and notes that FEMA previously committed to provide assistance for such harms. Still, the members write: “We are alarmed that many community members have reported that the Claims Office has refused to reopen their claims to account for cascading events. That is inexplicable.”

The letter further raises concerns about claimants being reassigned repeatedly to new navigators, forced to restart their cases, and facing arbitrary obstacles. According to the members, “many claimants report that the Claims Office shifts them from one navigator to another and requires them to constantly start over. Others feel that the Office has put up arbitrary barriers to compensation.”

The letter requests detailed information from FEMA and the Claims Office, including:

• How many total loss claims remain outstanding and when they will be paid
• Data on requests to reopen claims for cascading events, and how many were accepted or denied
• Processes for addressing water-quality impacts and related costs
• Appeals volume and processing timelines
• Administrative spending to date
• When the Claims Office expects to exhaust program funding
• Why statutorily mandated reports were not submitted on time

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Claims Office must do better to serve New Mexicans,” the members concluded. 

The full text of the letter can be found HERE.