Bondurant residents frustrated with lack of aid for rebuilding

By Robert Galbreath
Pinedale Roundup
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
PINEDALE — Snow is forecast to fall on Bondurant this weekend a blessing and a curse to the residents of Hoback Ranches, a community devastated by the Roosevelt Fire. The snow will help snuff out the last flames of the fire. But the moisture also poses a threat to damaged public infrastructure like roads and personal property stripped of protective trees and grass.
Residents met with local, state and federal representatives and officials at Bondurant Elementary School on Tuesday night to discuss the next steps in recovery. Hoback Ranches residents Stephanie Housley and Sam Clark organized the meeting. The residents expressed a growing urgency to start the process of recovery and fixing infrastructure damage to roads and fences before winter and spring runoff makes the situation worse. 
The government agencies presented numerous grants and programs at the meeting that offered disaster assistance. Ironically, despite being the largest fire disaster in Wyoming’s history with the largest loss of homes, the disaster may not be large enough to qualify for assistance. 
None of the programs were available for immediate recovery efforts and all involved complicated application processes and 25-percent matching funds from either the homeowners, the homeowners’ association or Sublette County. 
Residents who recently lost their homes or had friends and neighbors who lost everything raised concerns about the long, burdensome process of applying for state and federal relief funds while they try to rebuild their lives and their homes. Other residents asked in frustration why Gov. Matt Mead had not declared a state-level disaster for the areas affected by the Roosevelt Fire. Many of the residents simply wanted to make sure they were not forgotten as the flames and initial excitement die down. 
The Roosevelt Fire wreaked havoc on critical infrastructure in the community, Hoback Ranches Special Improvement District Chairman Bruce Bartley said at the meeting. Damages to the 26 miles of roads in the community were of critical concern, including two retaining walls that the special district put in several years back, Bartley said. 
“Those walls cost around $500,000 each,” Bartley said, “And I’d be shocked if they’re still there.” 
Bartley also raised concern about destroyed fences around the neighborhood. Several area landowners have grazing allotments that border Hoback Ranches, he said, and without the fences, the cattle will overrun the community in the spring.
Representatives from the state and Sublette County tried to address Bartley’s concerns. Guy Cameron, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, outlined different disaster relief programs offered by the federal government. Under the federal Stafford Act, communities affected by disasters can seek public assistance for infrastructure or individual assistance for rebuilding homes. 
Each program has a threshold that an affected community must reach to get assistance, Cameron added. He told the meeting that the “preliminary” estimates of damages in Hoback Ranches were not high enough to make the community eligible. One standard requires a loss of 25 primary residences. Even though 55 structures burned, only 22 of the homes were primary residences. The others were second or vacation homes or hunting cabins and did not qualify. 
He did stress that the numbers were preliminary and a team including the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, the federal Small Business Administration, Sublette County Emergency Management and the Sublette County Assessor’s Office were still on the ground working on assessments Thursday. 
Other grant possibilities exist through various state agencies like the State Land Investment Board or Wyoming Business Council, he said, and added that the community was eligible for a $425,000 fire management assistance grant through FEMA. That grant requires a 25-percent match from the county. 
Sublette County Commissioner Joel Bousman said that the commissioners were in discussion with both landowners and the Sublette County Conservation District to work on some of the issues raised by Bartley. 
Because the fire was human-caused, the process is slowed down even more. Cameron said it “is a fly in the ointment” because if a person is responsible, all grants are dependant on catching the person responsible and recovering as much compensation for damages from the responsible party. 
But many residents were concerned that the bureaucratic and time-consuming process of applying for grants would not solve immediate rebuilding needs before winter sets in. 
“My concern is what’s going to happen to our community when spring run-off causes more damage,” Hoback Ranches district treasurer and resident Dave Nemetz told the Roundup in an interview after the meeting, “How do we pay for the damages? They want us to fill out all these applications, but we have immediate problems, like removing tree snags and fixing the fences.”
Bartley also expressed frustration with the grant-writing process suggested at the meeting.
“We’re hearing ‘this grant, that grant’ from officials,” he said at the meeting, “We’re talking a huge amount of paperwork and we won’t be able to rebuild our homes because we’ll be too busy writing grants.” 
Bartley suggested appointing a grant writer to apply for the grants. Nemetz also believed that county officials should step up and offer help in obtaining grants. 
Hoback Ranches residents also voiced concern that Gov. Mead and the state of Wyoming had not declared a statewide disaster for the areas affected by the Roosevelt Fire. 
Gary Zunino, a Hoback Ranches resident and retired firefighter and forester, stated that he could not understand why the governor has not declared a state-level disaster. 
“I’ve fought fires for decades, and this is the largest loss of homes to a fire in Wyoming history,” he said, “Officials are claiming that this is a local disaster. But this is a disaster for the state of Wyoming and needs to be elevated politically. In addition to the homes lost, regional watersheds like the Hoback River are affected.” 
Zunino’s comments received widespread applause from the audience. Gov. Mead’s chief of staff Mary Kay Hill responded to the concern at the meeting and explained the process of declaring a state level disaster to the Roundup. The state of Wyoming does not have a disaster emergency fund, Hill said, and the governor can only declare a state of emergency if a disaster meets the federal requirements under the Stafford Act for emergency relief. She said that the governor’s office was very active in gathering emergency funds that are available through different state agencies and compiling an informational “clearinghouse” for Hoback Ranches residents. Gov. Mead was also “aggressively pursuing” ways to make state expertise in recovery available to affected residents. 
Hill emphasized that residents should work through their insurers as the first step in recovery. Tom Glause, Wyoming state insurance commissioner, was present at Tuesday’s meeting to assure residents that his agency can help mediate issues with insurance companies. He said in an interview Tuesday, that he was already in contact with agencies insuring the properties and had asked them to expedite compensation.