Feds set final rule for New Mexico wildfire compensation, target $1 billion in payouts by 2025 – By Dan McKay (Albuquerque Journal) / Aug 29, 2023
SANTA FE — Federal emergency managers say they have paid out $37 million to compensate victims of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire and expect to reach $1 billion by the beginning of 2025.
They also announced on Monday the final regulations governing compensation to fire victims, with changes they said address public concerns.
The final rule, for example, calls for fully compensating New Mexico families for trees and vegetation wiped out in the fire, not limiting the payouts to 25% of what was lost, as initially proposed.
“We have listened, we’ve addressed feedback, we’ve evolved,” claims office director Angela Gladwell said in a news conference Monday.
