World

Fire was ‘foreseeable,’ expert says

August 11, 2023

Maui fire crews battled blazes still scorching parts of the island Friday and rescue workers searched for about 1,000 people reported missing as questions began to swirl about Hawaii’s emergency warning system.

Death toll from the inferno that erupted Tuesday − fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora and exacerbated by overly dry vegetation from the ongoing drought − was at least 55. Cadaver-sniffing dogs were brought in Friday to assist the search for the dead, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said.

The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted the development of the territory-wide emergency system that includes sirens, which are sounded monthly to test their readiness.

But many fire survivors said in interviews that they didn’t hear any sirens or receive a warning that gave them enough time to prepare, realizing they were in danger only when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.

“There was no warning. There was absolutely none. Nobody came around. We didn’t see a fire truck or anybody,” said Lynn Robinson, who lost her home in the fire.

Thousands of people have been displaced, more than 1,700 structures have been destroyed, and the historic town of Lahaina was leveled.

“Without a doubt, it feels like a bomb was dropped on Lahaina,” Gov. Josh Green said after walking the ruins of the town with the mayor.

Green said the state is initially seeking 2,000 rooms for people and asked local hotels and others to help provide temporary housing for those in need.

“We are still in life-preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,” said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

Widespread power and cellular outages have complicated evacuation efforts, and some residents who escaped the flames questioned why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning systems didn’t alert them as the blazes approached.

“We got warned, but the wind was faster,” Leomana Turalde, a 36-year-old who runs a sunscreen company and has family who lived in Lahaina Town, told USA TODAY. “I found out on social media. But there was no real warning.”

Thomas Leonard, 74, told the Associated Press he didn’t know about the fire until he smelled smoke. The retired mailman from Lahaina tried to flee in his Jeep but abandoned his vehicle when nearby cars started to explode. He took refuge behind a seawall for hours before being rescued by firefighters.

Friends and family still struggle to reach loved ones

Anna Del Castello has been trying to learn more about the situation on the ground in West Maui, where she has a home and “quite a few” friends, but the San Francisco property manager told USA TODAY that Hawaii officials are not providing enough useful information, particularly for longtime residents on the ground who are “in a crisis right now.”

“I’m finding out everything from Facebook and people’s comments, which is just crazy,” said Del Castello, 47, who visits West Maui every year. She has a family home two blocks away from Kapalua Airport that her father, a Pearl Harbor veteran, built in the 1980s.

She has not been able to get in touch with her tenant who lives there yet, she said. Del Castello believes the house is likely still standing because the fires stopped several miles south of it, according to the fire maps, she said. But cell service is still shoddy, she said, and residents near there have had to walk to nearby beaches just to text loved ones that they’re okay.

Del Castello said emergency management officials need to get cellphone towers up and running more quickly and help devastated residents on the ground communicate with the outside world. “To me, it really feels like the priorities are not right,” she said.

Some have taken to a crowdsourced online spreadsheet to locate hundreds of people created by resident Ellie Erickson and shared widely on social media. As of Friday, over 1,500 names on the list were still marked “not located.”

Lahaina residents return to devastated remains of town

For the first time since the raging wildfires, Lahaina residents were allowed back to their town on Friday – only to be met with a scene of ash-ridden devastation.

Nearly every building on Front Street, the economic center of the island and heart of the community, was leveled to debris, according to Associated Press journalists who saw the area. Burnt remains from dozens of cars that didn’t make it out of the fires stood still in a frozen traffic jam.

“It hit so quick, it was incredible,” Lahaina resident Kyle Scharnhorst told the AP as he surveyed the damage to his apartment complex Friday. “It was like a war zone.”

West Maui remains without power and water, officials said, and search efforts continue in Lahaina for victims of the fire. Across the island, about 1,000 people remain missing, and parts of Lahaina are burned to the ground.

There will be a daily curfew from 10pm-6am Hawaii time in the historic Lahaina town and other areas affected by the fire, Maui County officials said in a statement. Access to Lahaina will be limited “until hazardous conditions improve.”

Residents will be required to show identification to prove they live in West Maui, and visitors will be asked for proof of their hotel bookings. Access to Lahaina will be closed daily during curfew hours.

Lahaina’s wildfire risk prompted worry in previous study

Lahaina’s wildfire risk is well known. Maui County’s hazard mitigation plan, last updated in 2020, identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfires and a large number of buildings at risk of wildfire damage.

The report also noted that West Maui had the island’s second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers.

“This may limit the population’s ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events,” the plan noted.

Maui’s firefighting efforts may also have been hampered by a small staff, said Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association. There are a maximum of 65 firefighters working at any given time in the county, and they are responsible for three islands – Maui, Molokai and Lanai – he said.

The blaze is the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise.

Power could be out for weeks in some places

While power was restored to some essential services by Friday, officials warned some areas of the island could face power outages for weeks.

The County of Maui said early Friday morning that power was restored to Upcountry water pumping stations, and that water would be restored in that area after the lines were flushed.

But Hawaiian Electric said West Maui residents should be prepared for the possibility of “extended outages that could last several weeks in some areas.”

Crews would start damage assessments and repairs as soon as areas are safe to access, the electric company said Thursday afternoon. There were about 12,400 customers without power Thursday.

Wildfire expert: This was foreseeable

Though officials have said the wildfires sparked and spread so quickly there was little time to warn people, one Hawaii wildfire expert said the tragedy was foreseeable.

Elizabeth Pickett, co-executive director of the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, told the Honolulu Civil Beat she co-authored a report nearly a decade ago that identified an increased wildfire risk to Maui, with Lahaina in an extreme risk area.

“We keep hearing from certain elected officials and other people being quoted in the media, ‘we had no idea, this is unprecedented,’” Pickens told the outlet Thursday. “But actually, those of us in the wildfire community, meaning our fire agencies, our forestry natural resource management community, we have long been working to increase our risk reduction efforts.”

Pickett said many recommended actions from the report to prevent wildfires have been implemented since its release, but only partially, and much more could have been done.

“It might not have been 100% preventable, but it could have been mitigated. It could have been lessened,” she said.

Thousands flee as officials continue evacuating Maui

As crews continued to work to evacuate residents, thousands of tourists and visitors to the island left on flights by Thursday evening, officials said.

Nearly 15,000 visitors left Maui on airplanes as airlines added flights to their schedules. More than 1,200 people were evacuated from Kaʻanapali-area hotels to the airport.

Travelers were urged to book flights directly with airlines to Honolulu, and to the mainland U.S. from there. The Hawaii Tourism Authority said visitors traveling for nonessential purposes should leave the island, and nobody should travel there unless necessary.

Maui firefighters stretched thin, hampering efforts

The effort to keep the fires under control could have been hampered by the relatively small firefighting crew in Maui, said Hawaii Firefighters Association President Bobby Lee.

There are a maximum of 65 firefighters working at any given time, Lee said, out of a total of about 280 personnel. They are equipped with just over a dozen fire engines, with 14 fire stations in the county serving the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai, according to the county.

County officials said in an update on Facebook early Friday morning that 21 firefighters, seven supervisory personnel and four vehicles from Honolulu were aiding crews in Maui, and an additional nine-member search-and-rescue team was also brought in to help.