FEMA wildfire official facing questions after claims of receiving priority payout for New Mexico wildfire

A senior FEMA official is facing questions after media published the claim he received wildfire relief payments from the fund he was administering for victims of a 2022 New Mexico fire.

According to the report in Source NM and NMPBS, Jay Mitchell is in charge of FEMA’s multi-billion-dollar fund to compensate victims of New Mexico’s 2022 Hermits Peak Fire, which remains New Mexico’s most destructive wildfire with 430 homes impacted in communities northwest of Las Vegas. The report claims he received a six-figure payout over the past year for damages the fire caused, despite the properties in question being over an hour’s drive from where the fire actually burned.

Documents produced by Source NM appear to show Mitchell was paid $266,000 for smoke and ash cleaning costs for his house and guest home in Angel Fire, New Mexico, a ski resort town over 40 miles north of where the fire burned. The same documents show that Mitchell’s wife, reportedly a licensed real estate broker selling property in Angel Fire, got more payments totaling over $250,000 for business-related losses she allegedly incurred during the fire.

Other homeowners in Mitchell’s neighborhood told Source NM that smoke from the Hermits Peak Fire did not cause any discoloration or damage to their homes or to those of anyone they knew.

The payouts to Mitchell were made as 74 people or families who lost their homes in the wildfire are still awaiting compensation nearly four years after the fire burned, according to recent estimates from the claims office reported by Source NM. Michell was placed in charge of the compensation fund approved by Congress after it was determined that the wildfire was caused by two botched prescribed burns overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.

Multiple New Mexico lawmakers have since called on Michell to resign after Source NM’s reporting was released, including senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, along with representatives Teresa Leger Fernández and Martin Zamora.

Two years ago, another FEMA director resigned amid criticism of the government’s mishandling of relief payments to victims of the same New Mexico wildfire.

Click here to read the full article.

SEAT pilot down in New Mexico

The NTSB and other federal officials are looking into a plane crash that occurred Friday near Capitan, New Mexico.  KRQE-TV said the Coastal Airstrike team confirmed the pilot was Ronald “Van” Patton, who was not involved in firefighting on the South Fork Fire or the Salt Fire near Ruidoso but was on a ferry flight between airports.

Patton was an experienced pilot who’d logged more than 14,000 flight hours.

Ronald "Van" Patton
Ronald “Van” Patton

“The Coastal Air Strike team is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our tanker pilot and dear friend, Ronald ‘Van’ Patton, while on a ferry flight Friday, June 21st,” the company said.

Van was a second-generation airman who earned his pilot’s certificate as a teenager. He was also a respected aircraft mechanic and for decades held an inspector authorization (IA), building and maintaining various aircraft. One early build as a teenager was his dad’s RV-4, which — as his friends say — he used to terrorize the skies of the Oregon coast. He worked at Boeing in Portland, building control assemblies for a few years, then gave that up to fly ag planes. He settled in Keizer, Oregon with Industrial Aviation Services,  where he flew for 30 years. He transitioned into aerial firefighting, earning Coastal’s Rookie of the Year award in 2023.

Van was recently checked out in the single-engine scooper aircraft, a longstanding dream for him, and he used those skills this spring in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  “I got to meet Van this spring in Brainerd,” said Sandie Youngblom. “He was a very kind person and very personable. He helped to hold down the fort here in Minnesota during an unprecedented early spring fire season.”

“I had the greatest honor of working with Van in Fredericksburg, Texas last fire season,” said Cassidy Ince. “His kind and funny personality lit up the base every single day. He will be missed by many.”

Van’s big-hearted and extremely kind personality, along with his ability to make others smile, will never be forgotten. On top of his admirable aviation career, he was a committed family man, always holding his wife and son dear as his first priority.

Questions can be directed to admin@coastalairstrike.com

Top fan
Cassidy Ince

South Fork Fire evacuates Ruidoso

Emergency officials ordered residents of Ruidoso  to evacuate last Monday the 17th, and to do it immediately, ahead of a fast-moving wildfire in southern New Mexico.

UPDATE:  RUIDOSO, N.M. -- The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information about those responsible for starting two New Mexico wildfires that killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the past week. The agency seeks information in connection with the South Fork Fire and the Salt Fire  near Ruidoso. The South Fork Fire was 26 percent contained on Saturday and the Salt Fire  was just 7 percent contained on Saturday morning; full containment's not expected till July 15.

“GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately.” Residents of the village of Ruidoso got this message about 7 p.m. from local officials if they were online. CBS News reported that the Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to about 2000 customers in the town — at the request of fire managers — when the fire burned to nearly 1300 acres.

KRQE-TV reported that hot ash was falling in nearby community of Alto.

By Tuesday officials said the fire was over 13,900 acres and was zero percent contained. The fire’s threatening multiple structures, officials said, and numerous buildings had been lost. Highways are closed and traffic’s being re-routed to Roswell, where hospitals were trying to admit as many patients as possible as they were moved from the hospital in Ruidoso.

The South Fork Fire started Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where President Thora Walsh Padilla declared a state of emergency. It’s burning on tribal land and USFS land around Ruidoso.

Mescalero Apache Tribe

A second fire, the 4880-acre Salt Fire, also was burning with zero containment on the reservation southwest of Ruidoso. Officials have closed Highway 70 from Botella Road to Highway 244 and residents east of Botella Road are evacuating.

Residents at Chatto Ridge are on “ready” status and Apache Summit is being evacuated. The Tribe is receiving reports of multiple additional fires on the Reservation. An evacuation center at Inn of the Mountain Gods Convention Center is available for residents — tribal members or not — at the Mescalero Community Center Gymnasium, and livestock can be held at the Mescalero Rodeo Grounds. Call (575)973-1394 if you need help with hauling your livestock.

Baby Smokey

::: BY THE WAY, legend has it that the Mescalero Red Hats, along with the Zuni and Santo Domingo fire crews, were the ones who discovered a bear cub with burnt paws in 1950 on the Capitan Gap Fire. That bear would go on to become Smokey Bear, the internationally recognized symbol of the nation’s fire prevention efforts.

Mt Taylor IHC

NOTE FROM Mt. Taylor IHC

White Mountains fire in New Mexico closes wilderness trails

The Lincoln National Forest has issued closure orders for several trails within the White Mountain Wilderness Area on the Smokey Bear Ranger District, and air resources are actively working the 7,200-acre Blue 2 Fire today. The fire has produced more smoke and is still active, even at night, because of high temperatures and dry conditions.

Blue 2 Fire
Blue 2 Fire

The western boundary of the restricted area is at the junction of Forest Service Road 107 and Big Bonito trail #36 and the order is intended to protect firefighters and the public on the Blue 2 Fire. The lightning-caused fire’s just a few miles north of Ruidoso and is still at zero containment, burning in timber and understory with 10 crews and 32 engines assigned. Other resources include 6 helicopters, 6 dozers, and 5 watertenders.

smoke map Ruidoso

According to Ruidoso News, crews are using direct tactics to build line, while aircraft are dropping water and retardant along the firelines. Fire managers are using a feller-buncher in the Ski Run Road area and crews are setting up sprinklers and hoses around local homes for structure protection.

Blue 2 Fire map
Blue 2 Fire map — click for larger version

Updates are available on the inciweb site, and Lincoln County also has updates online.

FEMA director resigns after fire fund failure

Longtime federal agency official Angela Gladwell has “overseen” the $4 billion compensation fund that was supposed to pay victims of a disastrous 2022 New Mexico wildfire accidentally started by the Forest Service. Her resignation follows resounding criticism of FEMA’s handling of payments that were funded and due residents for damages caused by the Hermit’s Peak / Calf Canyon Fire, which destroyed over 400 homes and racked up literally billions of dollars in suppression costs and damages.

Angela Gladwell’s actually being “reassigned,” because the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “restructuring” its disaster response in New Mexico — in part because of loud and long criticism of its handling of disaster aid and damage payments — which Source New Mexico and ProPublica have followed for the past year.

A year after the fire, the FEMA claims office had paid less than 1 percent of its total funding allocated.

In a news release announcing Gladwell’s departure, Deborah Martinez with the claims office said she “successfully built a compensation program from the ground, assembling a team of locally hired staff with knowledge of New Mexico and the communities affected by the wildfires.” Martinez said Gladwell will now “transition to a new role” as FEMA consolidates recovery programs in the state. She would not, however, answer questions about what that “consolidation” might entail.

Surviving relatives sue Forest Service over flash flood deaths

Family members of three people who were killed last year in a flash flood that originated from the burn scar of the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history are suing the U.S. Forest Service. The wrongful death lawsuit, according to a PBS report, was filed earlier this month and alleges the USFS was negligent in managing the original prescribed burn and also failed to close roads and prevent access to areas at risk of flooding after the Hermit’s Peak – Calf Canyon Fire.

Calf Canyon -Hermits Peak Fire at Highway 434, May 10, 2022. Inciweb.

Three people from west Texas were vacationing at a family cabin in northern New Mexico in July of 2022 when seasonal monsoon storms hit the burn scar near Tecolote Creek. The resulting flash flood swept the three people to their deaths.

The lawsuit also contends that the USFS failed to warn the victims about the dangers of the wildfire and of potential flooding in the area. Neither the USFS nor the USDA has formally responded to the lawsuit, which states that the USDA did not provide a settlement offer or a denial of the claims that were initially filed in the case earlier this year.

The escaped fire burned more than 341,000 acres between early April and late June in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and was the largest of the record-breaking New Mexico fire season; it was in fact the largest of 2022 in the lower 48 states. It burned over 900 structures, including several hundred homes, and threatened more than 12,000 other structures in the area. A smoldering prescribed fire project rekindled and escaped control, merging with another prescribed burn that had also escaped. The combined fires burned for months.

The Las Dispensas prescribed fire, 1:07 p.m. MDT April 6, 2022. USFS photo.
The Las Dispensas prescribed fire, 1:07 p.m. MDT April 6, 2022.  USFS photo

Congress allotted nearly $4 billion to compensate victims, and FEMA has paid over $101 million so far. Many families, though, complain that the federal government is not acknowledging the extent of the damage or the emotional toll the fire has taken, according to a Denver7 report.

FEMA has paid out just 2 percent of the fund designated to help wildfire victims rebuild. Some can’t wait much longer, and Source NM reported last month that many survivors are in limbo as they await compensation for the fire.

Test fire for the Las Dispensas RxFire in early April of 2022.

The prescribed fire was originally planned to reduce the risk of wildfire. The first small spot fire occurred at 1:35 and was controlled. At 2:26 another quarter-acre spot fire was caught.

Radio communication with some of the personnel was discovered to be a problem. It was later found that Bravo Holding was using a separate “crew net” and was not monitoring the planned frequency.

Ignition stopped a couple of times as spot fires were suppressed, but by about 4 p.m. when the RH dropped to 10 percent there were at least a dozen spots. Shortly thereafter the burn boss requested contingency resources and all resources were pulled off the fire. At 4:25 a dispatcher reported that the contingency resources were actually in Taos, New Mexico, 70 miles away, at a training exercise.

About 4 hours after ignition began, a dispatcher told the agency administrator that the burn boss and FMO recommended it be declared a wildfire; the administrator made the wildfire declaration and the Las Dispensas burn officially became the Hermits Peak Fire.

An 80-page report (4.7Mb PDF) by the USFS later concluded that management of the prescribed fire generally followed the approved prescribed fire plan for most — but not all — of the parameters. The people on the ground thought they were within (or close to) the prescription limits, but fuel moistures were lower than they realized and the increased heavy fuel loading after fireline prep also contributed to increased risk of escape.

FROM THE REPORT:  “We ask them to make up ground on long-needed and far-behind proactive restoration work while barely allowing time to recover from a previously taxing wildland fire response and preparing to respond yet again. We ask them to restore fire process to ecosystems that have evolved to burn, but many of which are now primed for extreme fire behavior due to our own decisions to exclude or suppress fire in these areas.”

Aircraft and crews busy on fire near Pinos Altos, New Mexico

The 400-acre Rico Fire just northwest of Pinos Altos is now burning closer to the community and has triggered evacuations, but is mostly headed northwest onto BLM lands. KOAT-7 News put the fire at 400+ acres this evening and reported that USFS crews were assigned, with an evacuation center established in Silver City (at 3031 Hwy. 180 East). The USFS was in charge of the fire and had dispatched several airtankers, along with several hotshot crews and 9 engines, according to Forest Service PIO Maribeth Pecotte.

She told KOAT-TV the fire is estimated to be 95 percent on BLM land.

The fire started there and then burned onto a parcel of state lands; the cause is under investigation. It’s burning in pine timber, oak brush, and grass.

“Yesterday we had a very successful response with airtankers,” said Loretta Benavidez with the BLM. The Silver City Daily Press reported that a Type 3 team was ordered and en route. “They will utilize the resources that are in place,” Benavidez said. “That’s usually a success story, when we have people in place and a team comes in and knows what they have.”

A fire update posted by NMfireInfo.com noted that evacuations were in progress. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 142 personnel assigned, including crews operating 21 engines, four helicopters, three watertenders and a dozer, as well as four hotshot crews.

“They are working the perimeter of the fire to try to increase that containment,” said Benavidez.

The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for southwest New Mexico, warning of conditions that could lead to rapid fire growth.

County sheriff’s deputies went door-to-door offering evacuation aid on Tuesday, and a larger evacuation notice was issued from the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority later in the evening. “The evacuations were voluntary,” said Randy Villa, county FMO. More info’s online at the Grant County wildfires website.

Names released of four first responders killed in New Mexico helicopter crash

The four first responders that died Saturday July 16 when a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office helicopter crashed northeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico have been identified: Undersheriff Larry Koren, Lieutenant Fred Beers, Deputy Michael Levison, and Rescue Specialist Matthew King. They were the only personnel on board.

All worked for the Sheriff’s Department except for Mr. King who was with the Bernalillo County Fire Department.

The Sheriff’s Department said in a news release July 17 that the “Metro 2” helicopter and its crew were assisting with the East Mesa Fire, providing bucket drops and other air logistics needs to fire crews on the ground.

Bernalillo County Sheriff's Dept. Metro 2
File photo of Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Dept. Metro 2. BCSO photo

The helicopter, a Bell UH-1H Huey, N911SZ, was destroyed.

Our sincere condolences go out to the families, friends, and co-workers of these men.

Personnel killed in New Mexico helicopter crash identified

Lower North Fork fire, 4:00 p.m, 3-26-2012
Lower North Fork fire, 4:00 p.m, 3-26-2012. Photo provided by Jefferson County Sheriffs Office

The four first responders that died Saturday July 16 when a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office helicopter crashed northeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico have been identified: Undersheriff Larry Koren, Lieutenant Fred Beers, Deputy Michael Levison, and Rescue Specialist Matthew King.

They all worked for the Sheriff’s Department except for Mr. King who was with the Bernalillo County Fire Department.

The Sheriff’s Department said in a news release July 17 that the “Metro 2” helicopter and its crew were assisting with a wildfire in the area, providing bucket drops and other air logistics needs to fire crews on the ground.

The helicopter, a Bell UH-1H Huey, N911SZ, was destroyed.

More information about the flight is in our first article about the incident.