And people wonder why many Hispanics who were affected by these disasters are cooling on the Democrat Party.
Neither incident was much publicized by the media at the time because both were highly embarrassing to the media's Democrat men in power for the sheer scale of the incompetence on display, but there'd be no end of stories about these incidents had Trump been president.
Of the New Mexico fire I hardly remember any news a year ago.
A recent Slate story which attacks the religious groups actually making a difference in such disasters can't omit some details, they are so undeniable:
Wildfires ripped through the northern part of the state after a prescribed burn by the U.S. Forest Service grew out of control, tearing through nearly 350,000 acres and destroying hundreds of homes, farms, and irrigation canals that had sustained its rural communities for centuries. . . . the actions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency left New Mexicans infuriated. . . . Even after the Biden administration greenlighted $2.5 billion in wildfire recovery funds for New Mexico last summer—an unprecedented sum for an ongoing disaster—FEMA’s molasses-paced bureaucracy has kept much of that money from actually reaching those affected by the wildfires. Edwards said in an email that the agency is opening three new claims offices in New Mexico by late March [nearly a year later] and is developing new policies to “guide and simplify the claims process.” But while many New Mexicans have sympathy for FEMA and feel the agency is in an impossible position, they want relief now so they can rebuild their houses and lives.
Reuters in July 2022 said this in "After Starting New Mexico Fire, U.S. Asks Victims To Pay":
After the U.S. government started the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history in April, it is asking victims to share recovery costs on private land, jeopardizing relief efforts, according to residents and state officials. The blaze was sparked by U.S. Forest Service (USFS) prescribed fires to reduce wildfire risk. The burns went out of control after a series of missteps, torching 432 residences and over 530 square miles (1373 square km) of mostly privately owned forests and meadows, much of it held by members of centuries-old Indo-Hispano ranching communities.
The gist of this story at the end of March is that an awful lot of people are still not made whole despite billions of dollars being allocated for them:
A lawsuit seeking unspecified damages was filed in June against the U.S. Forest Service in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. Originally, about 50 plaintiffs were party to the suit, but hundreds more later joined. The lawsuit was dismissed after the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act was passed, which will help compensate people who suffered damages.
But hey, at least Donald Trump is being prosecuted, right?
