FEMA Hopes Jobs Get New Mexicans into Wildfire Recovery

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(TNS) – Peter A. Arguello really wants the job. Any of the jobs, in fact.

He was dressed like the perfect applicant at the job fair: polished black boots, gray dress slacks, a light blue shirt and dark blue tie and — even beneath his protective mask — a discernible smile of optimism.

Arguello speaks several languages, and as he awaited an interview with officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency job fair Wednesday, he rattled off phrases from all of them: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese.

“I want to help,” Arguello said, echoing a common refrain many of the applicants made at the event, held at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

FEMA, charged with administering $2.5 billion in financial aid for communities charred by the historic Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, is looking to hire local people to fill a number of positions in three soon-to-be-opened field offices in Northern New Mexico.

Arguello, a retired schoolteacher and administrator, said he’s well-equipped for any of the jobs the agency offers. Not only did he have to cut through red tape in the school system, he spent years caring for a special needs child who has since died.

“People need help to get through the bureaucratic b.s., all the paperwork,” he said. “I’ve gone through that bureaucracy all my life.”

He was joined at the fair by about 75 applicants, all vying for jobs that ranged from ombudsman to customer navigators to claims representatives to public affairs specialists.

Salaries range from about $55,000 to more than $123,000, according to a news release FEMA sent out about the job fairs last week. The jobs are expected to last at least two years and perhaps up to four or five, a FEMA official at the event said.

During a November FEMA public event on the claims process held in Las Vegas, N.M., many affected by the fire urged officials to hire locals who understand the culture and traditions of their communities and the impact the fire had on their daily lives.

Angela Gladwell, the FEMA official who will oversee the three New Mexico claims offices, said she “heard from Day One it’s really important for us to understand the culture of the communities impacted by the fire.”

She said hiring as many New Mexicans as possible to fill positions in the claims offices will help FEMA better “value losses” sustained in the fire, which burned more than 341,000 acres and destroyed houses, barns, farms and ranch land this spring and summer.

Gladwell said FEMA will train the navigators, who will meet with residents who suffered losses and help them assess the damages. But other jobs — such as claims representatives — require specific experience relevant to the position.

Michael Adams, 64, said he’s perfectly suited for any number of the jobs, including navigator. A retired college educator who grew up in Las Vegas and later served in the U.S. Air Force, he said his ties to San Miguel and Mora counties will help him connect FEMA officials to residents who may be wary of the agency.

Many residents hit by the fire told officials during the Las Vegas meeting they do not trust FEMA — particularly since the fire was started due to U.S. Forest Service prescribed burns gone awry.

Adams, whose background includes working in economic development in San Miguel County, said he’s already been helping residents in the affected area as a volunteer. Many residents no longer have internet because of the fire, and many did not have broadband access to start with — which may stymie their efforts to get help, he said.

He said FEMA “absolutely” needs locals like him to win people’s trust and lead both federal officials and residents to a common ground where those who need help will get it.

“It won’t work otherwise,” he said.

Northern New Mexico, he added, “is gorgeous. And we lost a lot of our gorgeous resources. It breaks my heart to see the losses.”

He gets that sense of loss from firsthand experience. The fire ravaged property Adams owns in Cleveland, near Mora.

“I’m hoping they put me up there,” he said as he awaited an interview. “I know most of the people affected.”

Many of the job applicants appeared to be 40 or older, but 19-year-old Destiny Montoya of Albuquerque was the rare teen to be seen at the fair. Though she is enrolled in a medical training program at Central New Mexico Community College, she said she wants to broaden her experiences. She was applying for both a supply management and navigator position.

Like other applicants, she said she wants to “do something” to help people hit hard by the fire and subsequent flooding.

Gladwell said the local offices, scheduled to open in February in Santa Fe, Mora and Las Vegas, likely will operate for five years. Though people have just under two years to file claims, she said the offices will have to remain active beyond that time period to process those claims and go through possible approval or appeal procedures.

Gladwell said FEMA may hire some people before it opens its three regional offices. Others will be brought on once those facilities are up and running in February, she said.

More will be hired after that, she said.

“This is the beginning, not the end,” she said.

A 24-year veteran of FEMA, Gladwell said she understands people’s frustration and distrust of the federal government. That’s one reason having New Mexicans fill FEMA positions is vital to the agency’s success with this operation, she said.

“I want to bring on people who know the community and can build relationships,” she said.

Peter Arguello hopes to be part of the crew.

“My son is not with me anymore,” he said. “I spend my time at home reading the Bible, playing the guitar and watching Gunsmoke.

“I’m 75 years old — there’s still time to do stuff.”