Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire nears 204,000 acres

MORA COUNTY, N.M. – The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire continues to grow, it has now burned 203,920 acres.

There were new evacuations in the northern part of the Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak Fires, but officials say the emergency alert went out accidentally, listing the same communities that have been under evacuation orders.

Fire officials say Tuesday was supposed to be better than the previous few days.

"We just lived through this big wind event. That unprecedented wind event – that we’ve all been talking about – our incident meteorologists – and our fire behavior. We had a lot of fire activity the past few days and haven’t been able to fly a lot of aircraft- as of today, we had a little bit of lighter winds today – so we’re getting our air branch up early this morning. Really taking a look at where the fire is trying to push the last few days here," said David Bales incident commander.

The focus now is getting the word out on how FEMA can help.

FEMA officials say they’ve already had more than 180 households apply for aid and get it, and they want to stress even if you already have insurance, you can still apply for aid. They say it has around 400 workers on the ground ready to help people register for aid.

KOB 4 met one man in Sapello who’s land was spared during this fire, but had to go through FEMA in the past.

"They came to peoples houses they came and asked, made me do an application, so I did and that’s how I got loans for different things for my greenhouse that burned and different things,” said Jessie Montano, resident. “I thank God that a lot of people didn’t get hurt, that’s what I like. At least nobody got hurt, the fire people did a good job, they’re still doing it, God bless them, that’s all I can say."

If you’re just starting to apply for aid, you can visit, disasterassistance.gov. Or you can call 1-800-621-3326 to get started. And if you have insurance, make sure to file a claim with them first, then you can start the process with FEMA.