Rising costs, repeated flooding pose challenges as residents rebuild and restore

Yahoo

07-04-2025

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — General contractor Sean Medrano was out of the office at NorthEast Construction for three months in 2022.
Previously a firefighter for the State Forestry Division, Medrano was called to help fight the nearby Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire — caused by two federal prescribed burns that broke containment, one in the mountains northwest of Las Vegas that was swept out of control by heavy winds April 6, 2022, and the second caused by a pile burn left smoldering under snowpack. High winds spread both fires until they merged into a massive blaze, scorching more than 340,000 acres.
"I've been on fires like that before, just never in our hometown," said Medrano, a Las Vegas resident. "Never hit home. It was a different feeling."
Before the fire struck three years ago, the majority of Medrano's custom home projects were out of state, he said. But business has since shifted, and he's doing more construction in Las Vegas, where many residents are trying to rebuild homes and businesses damaged by the wildfire and torrential floods that followed.
There have been challenges, including the ongoing threat of floodwaters. Properties are pummeled again and again. Builders are in scarce supply, and costs have continued to rise. Some residents lost critical records in the fire.
Previously, NorthEast Construction would send a truck twice a month to Albuquerque to pick up supplies; it now has to send trucks one or twice per week because of challenges getting supplies locally.
City water system issues also have created setbacks, said Medrano, who wants to see the community grow.
After the fire, the Rio Gallina — a major water source for Las Vegas — was polluted with ash and soot as floodwaters swept over the burn scar. Last summer, flooding in Las Vegas degraded the water quality to the point at which the water treatment plant couldn't keep up. Businesses had to shut down as officials urged water conservation.
Millions of dollars in federal funding have been allocated to modernize the city's water system.
"I'm gonna keep my head up, and I'm going to push forward and just kind of dig my feet in and invest in the community," Medrano said. "... Hopefully, we can grow and develop and, you know, bring some kind of businesses in and get people coming back."
Still battling floods
Flooding hasn't ended in the immense burn scar, which stretches for hundreds of square miles across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
And as floodwaters repeatedly damage properties around Las Vegas, the work doesn't stop for builders. Gary David Jordan, an operations manager for NorthEast Construction, said every time it rains, one of his client's bridges gets plugged with debris.
His own home has been impacted by the compounding disasters, as well.
"I'm not going to do anymore work," Jordan said. "I don't have enough money to do more work."
Seeing the damage to the forest also has been disheartening, Jordan said, adding he gets worried every time high winds are in the forecast.
"I have to look at that every single day," Jordan said of the scorched terrain. "My grandkids will never see the beauty of that property, ever."
Choosing a modular home
Kayt C. Peck wants to continue living on her property in Rociada, a small mountain community northwest of Las Vegas where she has lived for more than 20 years.
"That's home," said Peck, a writer who has published several novels.
A message on a website for her books describes a dire situation: "I am temporarily unable to fulfill book orders," the post says. "My home and my entire book inventory were destroyed on April 22, 2022 when the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire overran the beautiful New Mexico village where I live."
Still, the message is optimistic: "This is a temporary setback. I will rebuild both my book inventory and my life."
Peck spent months couch surfing before buying a travel trailer.
She then explored the possibility of rebuilding her home with a contractor, but they ran into snags: Some of her important documents burned in the fire, making it difficult to get a building permit. Instead, she's planning to buy a modular home.
"As much as I hate to do so," Peck said, "it's going to take so long to get a stick house done that I went to go with a modular home."
It's a choice shared by many whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the fire or subsequent floodwaters. Geri Herrera, another Rociada resident who operates a farm with her husband in the community, is waiting for a modular home to arrive. Art Vigil, who lives near Hermits Peak, chose to go modular because finding an available contractor was difficult.
For now, Peck is fixing up a single-wide mobile home using insurance compensation. After she has a new home on the property, she plans to rent out the unit.
She sees opportunity for new businesses to emerge, especially in the housing market. Hundreds of properties in Las Vegas could be renovated, keeping money in the area increasing housing stock, Peck said.
The area lost environmental value, she said, noting people who once earned income off the land are in need of other employment.
"They don't have the subsistence income anymore," Peck said. "They can be a source to renovate those 400 homes, which would directly benefit the housing needs in the community and provide income ... to compensate for what they've lost."
Protecting the watershed
Lea Knutson, executive director of the Hermit's Peak Watershed Alliance, and her family were among the first to evacuate from Las Dispensas, a mountain community in the burn scar.
For the past three years, contractors and staffers with the alliance have been working to build structures to mitigate flooding, slowing the flow of water and doing reseeding projects.
Knutson, an ecologist, founded the alliance 15 years ago when she realized rivers in the area were vulnerable to flooding and wildfire.
Before the fire, the organization had only four employees. Immediately after the fire, she knew it would need to grow.
It wasn't easy.
"It was very clear that there weren't enough people to do watershed restoration work in the state of New Mexico — not just locally, but everywhere," Knutson said. "There's a relatively small handful of contractors that know how to do this work and are trusted."
In the first year after the fire, the alliance hired around 15 new people, including interns from New Mexico Highlands University and the Youth Conservation Corps. Workers had to be quickly trained to meet the needs.
Initially, many landowners were hesitant to work on their property, Knutson said, worrying it could affect their FEMA claims. Funding for the critical work also has been a barrier.
"It's difficult, you know; you've got to write the proposals, and you have to meet all of the requirements," she said. "And each funding source has a very specific agenda attached to it, and so it's a little tricky to match a funding source up to the kind of work that we have to do."
The fire exacerbated — and uncovered — existing issues with rivers. Especially after Las Vegas became plagued with water quality issues, threats to the watershed became "so evident you couldn't ignore," Knutson said.
"What happened way up in the mountains really does impact what comes out of our faucet," she said. "We're understanding that much more clearly."
Watching prices rise
Camilo Gomez bought an undeveloped property in Las Vegas in 1998 to build a second home.
Even before the fire, it was difficult to find a builder in the area who would work with prefabricated panels, the Santa Fe resident said. The home was completed in January.
After the fire, Gomez saw prices increase. Floods across the burn scar swept away a steel bridge crossing a waterway near his home, temporarily preventing construction.
After a temporary bridge was installed, it still took a while to start construction, he said, because contractors were busy.
"A lot of these were people that have lost their home, so they didn't have a place to live," Gomez said. "We were looking for a second home, so it doesn't put us on the top of the queue for building priorities."
He'd like to put in a permanent bridge, but has seen price estimates triple over the past two years. Across the board, he said, prices have increased around 15% to 20%.
The fire and subsequent floods also shifted his perspective on building his home — hundred-year floods have become almost regular occurrences. He's concerned about leaving enough clearance around the house and taking measures to mitigate flooding, including removing the temporary bridge before the snow melts this year.
"Before, it was kind of in the back of our mind," Gomez said of protecting his home against fire, "but it wasn't something we were expecting to see anytime soon."