Correction: The governor’s press secretary did respond to us in time for this story. We missed her email, and we’ll be printing a formal correction, as well as her notes in our upcoming issue.
New Mexicans deserve answers, and they deserve them now.
There has been absolutely no accountability at virtually every level of government starting with the federal government and moving on to the state government for the wildfires and for programs and methods to help our displaced neighbors.
Our state is awash with questions and frustrations about the spate of wildfires that have ravaged our state and scared hundreds of thousands of acres of years and years to come. Homes and ranches are now gone forever.
Over 200,000 acres have been burned.
Thousands, perhaps as many as over 10,000 persons have been evacuated from their homes and livestock has been lost.
Entire families are being forced to seek refuge in casinos where they are not living and grateful for the casino’s generosity.
Thousands of New Mexicans have donated clothing and food and shelter in the wake of this tragedy.
But government at almost all levels is failing.
The firefighters under the direction of the U.S. Fire Service are doing their jobs but the high velocity and shifting winds, Mother Nature, you might say, have made containment highly difficult. And then when control is achieved another fire erupts.
We recommend we start with Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and her office. Last Monday in Española, there was a meeting with federal and state officials and evacuees who were there asking for help on living expenses while they find places to live and food to eat. Those are essentials-folks.
These forlorn people piled into the Santa Claran in such large numbers the meeting had to be moved to room for conventions.
Gov. Grisham should have been there.
She was not but sent a representative who had few answers.
FEMA was there and representatives promised help, warned of scammers who will take advantage of the needy, and said they will help with some of the costs.
Still, though, there was no clear path outlined on how these people will be helped.
On this page Sherry Robinson, a columnist, raises the point that the Hermit’s Peak wildfire was most likely started by a U.S. Fire Service prescribed burn.
We want answers. Who authorized that burn? What was that planning that led up to starting the burn? Someone oversees that program. Who are they? And what do they have to say for themselves?
The fires have reportedly cost over $65 million to fight. Who is paying that bill?
The governor says she wants reparations. How is she going to get them?
On Tuesday, those of us at the SUN were frustrated with the lack of information and sent a note to the governor’s office asking: “just who is the overall person or governmental entity coordinating the effort from firefighting to taking care of the new and now homeless because of the fires?
We also asked what’s the role of the:
The State? FEMA? Counties affected?
The U.S. Forestry Service?
And then we asked: Who pays the firefighters? How many are here?
As of press time Wednesday, May 11, we had no answers. Shameful. Come on, governor. Step up to the plate. This is your Tylenol moment or Exxon Valdez opportunity.
Johnson and Johnson lead by its chairman James Burke took Tylenol off the shelves of stores immediately amid concerns about a tainted product and he took responsibility. When oil spilled from the ship Valdez the executives with Exxon were slow to act and slow to take responsibility.
Which role will you take?
At the conclusion of Sherry Robinson’s column, she quotes a woman who is asking for what we all want. Accountability. It reads, “Posts from residents on the Santa Fe National Forest’s website are overwhelmingly ‘thank you’s’ to firefighters but a few are pointed. One woman wrote ‘Looking forward to accountability. I live moment to moment trying to figure out if our home is gone or not. I know my livelihood is gone. I signed up for the forest, the views, the peace. None of those are left in my lifetime.’”