FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2022
Contact: Joaquín Romero
joaquin.romero@nmlegis.gov
(505) 506-5798
Senate Republican Leader, Greg Baca, Responds to USFS Statement Regarding Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire
Calls statement 'callous' and 'unapologetic'
SANTA FE – Yesterday the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) issued a statement regarding the 303,000+ acre wildfire burning in Northern New Mexico. The Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Wildfire is now the largest wildfire in modern New Mexico history and was started as a controlled burn by the USFS. The Governor's office estimates that more than 1,000 homes may be destroyed while thousands have already been evacuated.
After reading the USFS statement regarding the fire, Senate Republican Leader, Senator Greg Baca (District 29-Bernalillo and Valencia) issued the following statement:
“This callous statement reduces the homes and livelihood of thousands of New Mexicans to a statistical anomaly. I cannot express the disgust and disappointment I had reading such an unapologetic statement from the U.S. Forest Service who sparked this massive inferno. While the woman who started a dozen small fires in the Bosque sits in jail for arson, the federal government chalks up their actions as simply ‘unfortunate.’ In reality, they bear full culpability for this fire by not only starting it, but by fueling it with their perennial neglect of our land.”
“While the Governor is meeting with federal officials in Washington D.C. today, I hope she relays a message to them—that it’s time they take responsibility for their actions, sincerely apologize, and begin the process of making our devastated and displaced families whole.”
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