Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire

The KUNM news team looks back at their favorite stories of 2024

As the Biden administration comes to a close, Interior Sec. Deb Haaland is considering running for New Mexico governor. But, she’s not the only New Mexican in Washington D.C. eyeing the state’s executive branch. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is too.

A plan to revamp and maintain Las Vegas’ urban forest is now in its early stages after post-wildfire monsoon flooding surged into the city this summer.

At least ten fire victims have received letters saying that extensive claims for property damage could not be substantiated.

Federal officials are hopeful a temporary drinking water system will be in place this week for the city of Las Vegas, N.M. The 13,000 people there have been rationing water for two weeks now.

Rains over the weekend helped officials fighting two wildfires in Southern Mexico. But they also brought flooding, especially in northern New Mexico where the state’s biggest fire in history burned two years ago.

In the aftermath of the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire, community-led groups have been awarded funding to try to restore the devastated area

Former New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colón's law firm is one of two firms suing the federal government for damages in a mass tort case in the wake of the 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire that began as prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service

On the anniversary of the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire, FEMA has paid out about 10% of nearly $4 billion appropriated by Congress to compensate victims of prescribed burns that blew out of control.

Last fiscal year, the U.S. Forest Service conducted planned burns on just under 2 million acres, an agency record. In the wake of last year's Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon disaster, which began as prescribed fire, many in New Mexico are nervous when such burns come near their homes.