A charred sign in front of the bridge leading to El Porvenir Christian Camp in May 2023. The bridge was destroyed by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, and the camp has yet to get an offer of compensation more than two years later, according to the camp's lawyer. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM)
More than two years after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, a vital bridge to El Porvenir Christian Camp has yet to be rebuilt, and the camp’s director said the nonprofit will run out of money in six months.
The camp, a short hike from Hermits Peak overlooking Las Vegas, N.M., was the first private property to sustain damage, based on the timeline of events and the camp’s proximity to the fire’s origin. The Hermits Peak Fire grew from an escaped prescribed burn that a team of firefighters ignited on a dry, windy day in northern New Mexico on April 6, 2022.
Within a day or two of the fire escaping containment lines, it spilled into the 480-acre Christian summer camp, where director Nate Stafford and his family live. The fire went on to burn 12 major structures, destroy four bridges and damage the camp’s baptismal pond, among many other losses.
But 890 days after the fire began, the camp has yet to receive a payment offer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is overseeing a nearly $4 billion fund Congress established to compensate wildfire victims, according to a lawsuit filed late last month in federal court.
“We’ve been here since day 1,” Stafford told Source New Mexico. “We’re still here. We haven’t gotten anything from FEMA.”
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The lawsuit, filed by California-based lawyer Tom Tosdal, notes that the camp’s claim is far past the 180-day legal deadline for the FEMA claims office to make a payment offer after a claim is filed.
The camp filed a completed claim for damages in late January 2024, along with an “extensive evidence package” containing pre- and post-fire photos and disaster estimates, according to the lawsuit.
After more than two dozen requests by the office for more documentation, even some that “have nothing to do with the claim,” the office has yet to provide the camp with an offer of full compensation, Tosdal said.
“They have people who are inexperienced and poorly trained trying to adjust complex cases that just go over their heads,” Tosdal said.
A claims office spokesperson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to require the claims office to “promptly and without further delay determine” a payment offer for the camp “in full,” as well as pay for costs of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes a few weeks after the claims office and other law firms representing thousands of fire victims settled seven lawsuits , including one about dozens of claims that have taken more than 180 days to process. Tosdal did not sign the settlement agreement, saying it didn’t have “enough teeth.”
FEMA agreed in the settlement that it would “continually monitor and increase staffing as needed” to prevent cases from going beyond 180 days. It noted that the office planned to roughly double the number of claims reviewers on staff.
The claims office so far paid about $1.1 billion in more than 8,900 claims, as of Aug. 27, according to its latest figures, equaling about 28% of the total awarded by Congress. It also recently announced $98 million for the City of Las Vegas to replace its water treatment facilities damaged by post-fire flooding.
The deadline to file a claim with the office is Nov. 14 .
The Christian camp has been around for more than 60 years, but it’s been struggling since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, Stafford said. They haven’t had a full roster of campers since that year, he said, thanks to government-ordered bans on gatherings and the wildfire that began just before camp season in 2022.
Since the fire, Stafford’s biggest frustration has been a single bridge that crosses Beaver Creek leading up to the camp from El Porvenir. It was destroyed in the fire, and has yet to be replaced. A couple weeks ago, Stafford and his family were stranded for four days in camp, thanks to monsoon rains that swelled the creek.
The bridge replacement is unrelated to the $4 billion compensation fund. It is a long-delayed project the Forest Service is in charge of, Stafford said. But it’s just another example of the federal bureaucracy he’s relying on, frustrated by and reminded of every day.
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“We have other issues as far as erosion and soil loss in other parts of the burn scar, but the way it affects our day-to-day life is just that entry,” Stafford said of the stream crossing. “We can’t get through the river when the water is high, and then once the water goes down, we have to fix it.”
Based on the latest estimates from the U.S. Forest Service, the bridge will be completed at the earliest by the end of 2025, Stafford said.
Without any compensation offers, the camp is running on fumes, he said, and can last another six months financially. The camp did get some insurance money and loans from the Small Business Administration. But, to fully rebuild without getting compensation from the claims office, the camp would need to dip into its reserve funds, “which is unacceptable from an operations standpoint,” Stafford said.
The lawsuit is on behalf of the camp and also Trout Springs Ranch, a property in Gallinas Canyon that has belonged to the same family for more than a century. The ranch, along with a creek that flows into the town of Las Vegas’ water supply, was heavily damaged in the fire.
Trout Springs Ranch also filed a completed claim with FEMA in January 2024. In April, the claims office provided a partial payment offer to fund replacement of lost forest and vegetation, but the offer was for an “incorrectly described property,” according to the lawsuit. Some of the Trout Springs Ranch was in the payment offer, but so was property belonging to others, the lawsuit alleges.
Tosdal’s firm alerted the office to its error, and the offer was rescinded. But the office has yet to come back with a correct payment offer, according to the lawsuit.
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