Four Years After

Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary since the bumbling USFS sparked the Hermit's Peak Fire. Thirteen days later the Calf Canyon fire was discovered, another example of USFS bungling.

Months before the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire was officially declared extinguished I began gathering information on hand to make my case that the US Government must compensate me for loss of my homestead and everything I owned to make me whole again.

People smirked in shallow, scoffing manner that clearly said, "Uh huh. Well, good luck with that!". At that time I was angry at them for their unsupportive reactions, including family members, friends, state officials, and federal bureaucrats alike, when they responded with amused condescension. That's when I understood I was isolated in the battle to recover from the manmade catastrophe sparked by the USFS. No encouragement or assistance. Nothing.

I remember wondering why no one was honestly supportive, much less pretending to be so. Even before President Biden had signed the Hermit's Peak Fire Assistance Act into law I had assembled prodigious amounts of hard evidence of my losses, irrefutably illuminating them from every angle imaginable without resorting to exaggerations or outright deception. Still they scoffed. Forty days after the fire was officially declared extinguished, I was fully prepared to make my case the moment the assistance act became law. Then more than three years of struggle against the bureaucracy handling the claims processing (FEMA) finally reaped a partial payment which has allowed me to at least proceed along a path to recovery.

The struggle continues to this very day as the US government continues making it more difficult than it ever should have been, but at least I have made significant, positive headway.

Enough headway to feel confident the mission will be fully accomplished to my satisfaction.

This success has benefited more people than myself as byproduct of my efforts, which is a good element of outcome, too. It has also pissed some people off, though. Aw . . . too bad. Some people in FEMA are now even facing congressional review and possible criminal investigation for abusing the assistance act and process to gain monetarily for no cause. So now in retrospect, I'm thankful for the scoffing condescension I encountered. It was a key element of the fuel feeding my internal engines of determination to succeed in this mission.