Estancia Fires Acting Fire Chief, Reinstates Wolonsky After Structure Fire

ESTANCIA — The Estancia Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday night, April 21, 2026, to reinstate Chris Wolonsky as fire chief of the Estancia Fire Department and terminate acting Fire Chief Lester Gary -- not only from the interim role but from the fire department entirely -- following a special meeting that included a detailed on-the-record accounting of critical operational failures during an April 18, 2026, structure fire on NM-41/Fifth Street.

The action capped two days of public meetings in which the fire response drew sustained scrutiny from trustees, community members, a state legislator, and the town's own emergency personnel. Mayor Runnel Riley presided over the April 20, 2026 meeting, but was absent from the April 21, 2026 special meeting. Riley's regular absences and lack of communication drew scrutiny from both town personnel and elected officials. Trustee Albert Lovato presided as Mayor Pro Tem over the April 21, 2026 meeting.

April 20 Regular Meeting: Prior Restraint of Free Speech Under Scrutiny

The night before the special meeting, the board held a regular meeting on April 20, 2026, during which public comment and trustee updates focused heavily on the Saturday fire and on attempts by Mayor Runnel Riley to impose prior restraint on who could provide comment and what that comment could contain, both in written agendas and statements made during meetings. Riley presided over this meeting.

During public comment, former mayor and current candidate for Probate Judge Nathan Dial addressed the board on three separate topics, including road maintenance and property encroachment issues, before turning to what he characterized as an illegal restriction on public participation in town meetings. Dial focused on the recent limitation of public comment to Estancia residents only that Riley has orally required during meetings and has posted in agendas.

Dial challenged Mayor Riley directly, telling him that limiting public comment to Estancia residents was "completely illegal" and "unenforceable" under both the United States Constitution and the New Mexico Constitution.

"You, as the chief executive officer of the municipality of Estancia, control the agenda," Dial said. "So this bullshit that you're saying -- people can't say what they want, they can't speak from out of town -- is completely illegal, unenforceable. So who the fuck do you think you are?"

Town Clerk Veronica Navarrette called for decorum. Dial declined to yield.

"Do not interrupt me. I do not have to listen to you," he said. "The only way you can restrict public comment is if you don't have it or by time. I can literally stand up here and say 'fuck' for three minutes. I don't want to do that. I don't want to disrespect people. But when you tell me I have to keep my mouth shut, that's when people start standing up."

Navarrette did not pursue the matter further.

Tracy Master, a candidate for Torrance County probate judge, followed with a prepared legal statement addressing the same issue. Master cited the United States Supreme Court's 1971 decision in Cohen v. California, 403 US 15 (1971) (in which the US Supreme Court held that public comment including the phrase "fuck the draft" could not be prohibited), and the New Mexico Court of Appeals' 1992 ruling in City of Farmington v. Fawcett, 843 P.2d 839 (N.M. Ct. App. 1992), arguing that the New Mexico Constitution provides broader free speech protections than the federal First Amendment, even when public comment includes supposed profanity.

"In order for a governmental entity to legally remove a speaker, that government body must prove that the speaker caused an actual disruption of the meeting," Master said. "Simply using profane words would not be a sufficient reason to remove someone." Master's comment reflected the New Mexico court's limitation of prior restraint of speech in Fawcett.

A Possible Foreshadowing of Future Audit Problems

During the board's bill list discussion, Trustee Martin Lucero raised questions about two checks totaling approximately $11,000 paid to the same vendor under the same check number. Issuing two checks under a single check number is a significant bookkeeping irregularity - check numbers exist precisely to create a unique, auditable record of each disbursement, and duplicate checks under the same number undermine that audit trail. Lucero also flagged a separate $5,878.32 payment to New Mexico Apparatus in which the town used an abbreviation interchangeably for both personal protective equipment and the payroll-related phrase "pay period ending," creating additional ambiguity in the financial record. Town Clerk Veronica Navarrette acknowledged she did not have invoices in front of her to explain either issue and said she was working to implement a purchase order pre-approval process - a standard procurement practice she said the town had not been consistently following.

"If you don't put these implements in place, you could get faulted for it," Lucero said.

The board unanimously approved two highway grant resolutions — Resolutions 2026-012 and 2026-013 — adding Lauren Avenue from New Mexico State Road 41 to 11th Street to the town's road improvement program. Mayor Riley noted that 9th Street, the road serving Estancia Public Schools, was next on the list for repairs.

The board also approved posting 12 seasonal lifeguard positions for the town pool, including 15-year-olds with parental consent, and authorized the town clerk and finance administrator to finalize hirings following a hiring committee review.

Trustee Lucero and Mayor Riley closed the meeting by thanking first responders who assisted with the Saturday fire, with Riley specifically recognizing the town clerk, who he said returned to duty despite an undisclosed personal hardship. Public Works employee Edwin Bencomo was recognized for winning first place at the state Rural Water Conference in the Quickest Water Meter Assembly competition, placing sixth nationally.

April 21 Special Meeting: After-Action Report and Personnel Actions

The following evening, the board convened a special meeting focused on the fire department. The agenda, relevant to comments by Nathan Dial during the April 20, 2026, meeting, had an advisory stating that "respectful decorum is mandatory." Adding to the town's challenges with the First Amendment, no definition was provided for what constituted respectful decorum, nor did the board or town clerk address who would determine if the public was disrespectful and what consequences the board or the town clerk would impose on those who were determined to be disrespectful. Due to these ambiguities, it is expected that the public comment issue will be discussed in future meetings.

Before moving to action items, Albert Lovato, who presided over the meeting as Mayor Pro Tem, opened the floor to trustees for updates. Estancia Trustee Martin Lucero, who is running for County Assessor, presented a written after-action assessment of the April 18 fire response modeled after the US Army's after-action reports. Lucero prefaced his remarks by saying the report was not intended to harm anyone personally, but that accountability and professionalism required an honest accounting.

The report documented what Lucero stated were multiple critical failures:

• Civilians were present in the hot zone upon arrival, with no immediate confirmation that the structure had been cleared of occupants - what Lucero described as a violation of the fundamental fire service priority that life safety must be the first operational objective. Editor's note: I was present at the April 18 structure fire in a newsgathering capacity and may be among the civilians referenced as being in the hot zone in Lucero's after-action review.
• Several volunteers on scene were not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment for fire suppression and were not fully geared until the issue was raised to incident command.
• A volunteer was observed driving a fire engine to the scene in apparent violation of town policy, which does not authorize volunteers to operate fire apparatus.
• Engine 4 was positioned too close to the fire, sustained windshield damage, and had to be relocated by Assistant Chief (and Estancia Trustee) Patrick Sanchez
• No clear operational zones - typically referred to as hot, warm, and cold - were established upon the acting fire chief's arrival, and no evident incident command structure was in place until Sanchez arrived and began directing personnel.
• Water was lost due to improper handling of a supply line, a significant concern given the town's already-strained water supply.
  

"[Good] intentions don't always protect people," Lucero said. "The only way you get better is you sit down and figure out how to get better."

Lucero's report also noted positive actions, things that should be sustained in the future:

• Torrance County personnel arrived properly equipped and staged safely, and
• Trustee Patrick Sanchez was credited with taking the initiative to manage scene safety in the absence of effective command.

A written account from EMS Director and NMDOT employee Jonathan Barela, read into the record by Mayor Pro Tem Lovato, stated he was unable to reach Mayor Runnel Riley during the fire when he sought road closure authorization and instead contacted Lovato, who was serving as Mayor Pro Tem. Lovato authorized the action during Riley's unavailability. The account also noted that Public Works Supervisor Edwin Bencomo confirmed Riley had never returned Bencomo's calls during the incident when Bencomo sought authorization to knock down unstable walls. (During the fire, one of those walls collapsed where Torrance County Fire Chief Gary Smith had been working to contain the fire only moments before.)

State Representative Stefani Lord, attending via Zoom, asked what immediate steps the town could take to address the training deficiencies. In apparent frustration, Lord noted that she had also repeatedly tried to reach Mayor Riley regarding state capital outlay matters and had never received a response.

"On a personal level, I've tried to contact your mayor numerous times, and he's never reached out to me," Lord said. "If you can get your mayor to please reach out to me, that would be greatly appreciated."

While individuals reported being unable to reach him during the fire, Riley was present at the scene. This reporter observed Riley and photographed him with an unidentified individual, who appeared to be directing people away from the mayor.

A business owner present at the meeting asked the board to consider holding a community fire safety meeting with business owners along Main Street, noting that most commercial properties had no fire suppression equipment. The board responded positively to the idea.

Executive Session and Personnel Actions

Following the public session, the board moved into executive session twice under NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1(H)(2), limited personnel matters, and Section 10-15-1(H)(7), threatened or pending litigation. No action was taken during either executive session, per the board's on-the-record statements.

Upon returning to regular session, Lovato moved to reinstate Wolonsky as fire chief with acting status, pending the results of an ongoing internal investigation. The motion passed unanimously.

Wolonsky initially expressed reservations about accepting the reinstatement, stating that issues had come to his attention in recent days that he wanted to discuss further. The board briefly returned to executive session to confer with him before reconvening. Wolonsky then accepted the appointment.

Lovato next moved to terminate Lester Gary "due to severe failure to provide emergency services as interim chief." The motion passed unanimously. The board directed Wolonsky to notify Gary of his termination and to ensure the return of all town-issued equipment.

In response to a question from the Mountainair Dispatch, the board confirmed on the record that Gary's termination extended beyond the interim chief role; he was terminated from the fire department in its entirety.

The board adjourned shortly after.

Update: Corrected to note that Nathan Dial is also running for probate judge and Martin Lucero is running for County Assessor. I should have included those details from the start. (Monday, April 27, 2026 at 11:33 MDT)