By Hannah Grover
Les Montoya, general manager of the Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative, reflected on the utility’s experience during the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire of 2022 and discussed wildfire preparedness initiatives on Thursday during a workshop discussion.
The workshop was part of a series hosted by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.
The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire started when prescribed burns got out of control in part due to high wind conditions. It became the largest wildfire in the state’s history, in terms of acreage burned. Those acres were primarily within the coop’s service territory.
An assessment the utility conducted found the fire had caused estimated damages of more than $25 million to the infrastructure. Montoya said approximately 2,400 poles needed to be replaced.
While Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative requested assistance from the federal government, including reimbursement for those expenses, like many people who lived or had businesses in the area, the utility faced challenges in receiving that assistance.
At the same time, Montoya noted some of the residents in the area struggled to get home insurance needed to rebuild. That has reduced the number of people receiving electricity and paying into the system.
“We have a lot of modular homes moving into the area, setting up in areas where their homes were before, and then there’s some people that are just leaving,” he said. “They’re just selling out and leaving. So obviously, we’re trying to work with those people, the people that were impacted by the burn and lost their service and are rebuilding or replacing modular homes on the property.”
Montoya said the utility is working with those people to try to reconnect them without charging the typical fee.
“That was a policy the board thought was important to try to help out getting our load back to where it should be,” he said.
Preventing utility-caused fires
As the utility and its customers rebuild following the catastrophic fire, Montoya said his team is also working on wildfire mitigation and preparedness measures, including removing vegetation from around power lines.
He said there are about 160,000 trees that have been identified as hazards that need to be removed.
“These are trees that are threatening power lines that we’ve just rebuilt or are about to rebuild,” he said.
Removing these trees is an important step to reducing the likelihood that utility infrastructure will spark wildfires, which Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative is familiar with. Montoya said the utility’s power lines have caused wildfires, including one in the Pecos area several years ago.
In 2013, a dead tree that was more than 150-feet tall fell on power lines, leading to the Tres Lagunas Fire that charred more than 10,000 acres.
A year after the fire, nearby ranches filed a lawsuit against the electric utility alleging it had failed to maintain the easement around its lines and had discouraged property owners from removing hazard trees for fear that doing so would damage utility equipment.
While the utility is actively working to remove hazard trees and other vegetation, Montoya said that it can prove challenging.
“It’s a difficult situation because our area is primarily a mountainous area,” he said.