Udall, Heinrich, Luján Announce Fire Management Assistance Grant For Tres Lagunas Fire

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján announced the approval of a Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Tres Lagunas, currently burning in New Mexico. The grant is awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

 

"I am pleased to see this federal support coming to New Mexico so quickly, especially because the Tres Lagunas Fire continues to burn," said Sen. Udall. "As I said in Pecos last weekend, we are doing everything we can to make sure our personnel on the ground have the resources they need to fight these fires now and throughout the firefighting season." 

 

"It's critically important that our firefighters have sufficient resources to combat and contain the fires in New Mexico," said Sen. Heinrich. "This grant will assist in providing equipment, supplies, and emergency work, such as evacuations and sheltering. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure our first responders and local communities have the support they need." 

 

"Firefighters are performing heroically in an effort to protect our communities and our precious natural resources from the Tres Lagunas fire," said Rep. Luján. "It is essential that we ensure they have the necessary resources to carry out their critical task, and this grant will contribute to that goal."

 

Fire management assistance is available to state, local, and tribal governments, for the mitigation, management, and control of fires on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands, which threaten such destruction as would constitute a major disaster.

The Fire Management Assistance Grant Program provides a 75 percent federal cost share and the state pays the remaining 25 percent for actual costs.