By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Wildfires and other natural disasters are expensive. First and foremost, there are the costs to human life and wellbeing not to mention the environmental costs, but there are other expenses that rack up the bill to respond to a wildfire.
Los Alamos County is addressing this right now with the Cerro Pelado Fire. The fire may be considered contained, but the work to address the fire and its costs continue.
Senior Management Analyst David Griego said the most recent estimate of expenses incurred by the County for the wildfire totals a little more than $200,000. The hope is to have these funds covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Right now, it isn’t known if FEMA will reimburse the County.
County Finance Department Accounting Operations Manager Reese Chavarria-Quam said the work involved in addressing the County’s incurred expenses resulting from the Cerro Pelado Fire will be a lengthy process and it is just in the early stages.
When the Cerro Pelado Fire began, Griego said an internal accounting structure was initiated to capture all the expenses related to the wildfire.
“Essentially we are trying to capture expenses even though we still don’t know if there’s going to be subsequent presidential disaster declaration or even in some cases there could be a declaration by the Governor through an Executive Order,” he said. “We don’t have that information early on, but we try and capture expenses internally … in case there is a later declaration.”
While whether FEMA will reimburse the County is not yet determined, Griego said it appears the County may have met the expenditure threshold of $67,000-$68,000.
“My understanding from Beverley Simpson, County Emergency Services Commander, is that she is working with the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and the Emergency Management Team to try to see if there is enough of an expenditure to participate in the presidential disaster declaration,” he said.
Assuming there is a presidential declaration then Griego said the next step is to gather all expenses and at some point FEMA representatives would come out onto the site along with personnel from the State Homeland Security office. Additionally, a team including County Emergency Management and various other County Departments would work with the FEMA representatives to develop the scope of work known as project worksheets. The work would be broken into various categories.
The big category is emergency response, which includes mobilizing crew and equipment, Griego said. A big chunk of emergency response is typically in payroll and benefits related to overtime. In addition to the FEMA and Homeland Security site visit, project worksheets need to be completed and submitted and a scope of work for each area that suffered damage needs to be determined.
The entire process will take time and significant effort from several County departments, Chavarria-Quam said.
“Overall, it is a lengthy process from the start to finish – from the start of the declaration to receiving of the final reimbursement payment and ultimately ending with the closing of each project,” she said.
To give an idea how long the process can take, Griego said his first declaration was from the 2011 Las Conchas Fire. He explained there was the fire itself and the County was granted FEMA funding along with a Governor’s Executive Order for the fire. There were additional subsequent declarations for flooding that occurred in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
“With the declarations related to the Las Conchas Fire and subsequent flooding … we are just now able to close some of the project worksheets that were related to these various disaster events,” Chavarria-Quam said. “This started in 2011 and it has taken about 11 years to finally close out the various projects.”
Even though the County is in the beginning stages in addressing the cost of the Cerro Pelado Fire, Chavarria-Quam said it is very important to capture as much information and documentation as possible for the scope of work because that would substantiate the reimbursable cost of the event.
She added it is imperative to ensure all of the proper documentation is provided such as labor reports, receipts, purchase orders, etc. to support the claims.
“This will be a collaborative effort between several of the County departments – to determine what they’ve encountered as far as damage and any possible effects from potential flooding. It is important that we also include the subject matter experts in this process so we can obtain the best cost estimates possible, and we do not overlook anything,” Chavarria-Quam said. “Once those project worksheets are established as David mentioned, it is extremely difficult to get DHSEM to deviate from anything that’s included.”
If the declaration is given, Griego said a majority of the County’s costs would likely be reimbursed by FEMA.
“If we do qualify … I understand the president has announced that FEMA may cover 100 percent of expenditures, but not sure if that is only limited to the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak fire,” he said.
This is not typical; Griego said in most cases FEMA covers 75 percent and the County usually covers 25 percent. In some cases as with past declarations the County and the state each contribute 12.5 percent.
Los Alamos isn’t the only County in New Mexico impacted by a wildfire; however, Griego said he doesn’t believe that would impact the County’s ability to be reimbursed.
“I think if there were eligible expenses incurred and we are above that minimum threshold … I don’t think there’s any issue risking any reimbursement to the County,” he said.
Chavarria-Quam added other municipalities and counties have their own declarations. She added many times fires are on checkerboards – meaning they touch land owned by various agencies, which requires coordination and funding from multiple sources to support the fire.
When asked if the current expenses related to the fire are predicted to rise, Griego said it is tough to determine. It would depend on what FEMA representatives decide when they conduct their site review, how much emergency recovery is eligible and if there will be any work done towards mitigation.
Chavarria-Quam added as far as the financial impact to the County regarding its expenses, “I think the important piece is that we do what we can to ensure we can qualify as many costs for reimbursement from FEMA and homeland security – that is going to be first and foremost because whatever isn’t covered by these agencies is going to have to be absorbed by the County. We need to do our due diligence from a County standpoint to ensure that we can maximize the amount of reimbursement from FEMA as it would be less of a cost to the County.”
Chavarria-Quam and Griego credited the County’s contact in the New Mexico Homeland Security office – Philip Parks, a contractor with the Department. They said Parks’ knowledge and experience have helped the County move its projects to completion.
