New Mexico fire victims await payments. A FEMA director got his.

[Escape]

2. I live in San Miguel County, New Mexico...

and watched the fire and smoke for weeks. I have serious respiratory conditions and actually had to spend a night in the hospital during the "heavy smoke" period. But, I have good insurance and it didn't cost me much more than co-pays.

There was a lot of talk among the neighbors about big bucks being paid for smoke and ash damage and we were in the "Smoke Map" zone. But, it never seemed legit to me. One neighbor said they got more than $250,000.

There were so many people who lost everything they owned and the little town of Las Vegas, NM (20 minutes from here) is still recovering from the aftermath.

I would love to have a bunch of money, but would never have felt right taking it.

Hope what's left of FEMA can help my neighbors who really need it.