As search teams scoured through the burning wreckage of Lahaina as Hawaiian officials tried to figure out how the blaze spread so quickly and without much warning through the historic tourist town, the number of people killed in the Maui wildfires increased to 67 yesterday.
Members of the Hawaii National Guard assist Maui County and State officials in the search and recovery efforts after wildfires devastated the historic town of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii August 10, 2023. — (Source: US National Guard/Master Sgt. Andrew Jackson/Handout via Reuters)
Continued Investigation of Wildfire Incident
From the published news by the Malaymail, the wildfire incident surpassed a tsunami that killed people to become the state’s deadliest natural disaster. 61 persons were killed on Hawaii’s Big Island in 1960, the first year the state had been a part of the US. Officials have issued a warning that search teams using cadaver dogs might potentially discover further victims of the wildfire incident that destroyed 1,000 buildings, caused hundreds to lose their homes, and billions of dollars worth of damages. It was still unknown three days after the catastrophe if some homeowners had gotten any notice before the fire destroyed their homes. The island has emergency sirens that are supposed to sound in the event of a natural disaster or other threat, but they didn’t seem to sound during the fire.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green said to CNN, “I authorized a complete review this morning to make sure that we know exactly what happened and when. The particular alerts that were distributed via text message, email, or phone calls, have not been described in detail by officials.
When the biggest threat to Lahaina happened, telecommunications were down and firefighters were preoccupied with other significant wildfires, according to Green. In any case, he added, “We will do everything we can to determine how to protect our people more effectively moving forward.” At a press conference on Thursday, Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura stated that due to the speed of the fire, it was “nearly impossible” for first responders to get in touch with the emergency management authorities who would ordinarily issue real-time evacuation orders.
Residents of the neighborhood where the fire first started, were self-evacuating with fairly little notice. County Mayor Richard Bissen said the fire advanced quickly but he was unsure whether alarms had sounded when he appeared on NBC’s “Today” show yesterday. He added, “I think this was an untenable position.”
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Another Wildfire Incident in Hawaii
Just after midnight on Tuesday, another wildfire incident in Hawaii was detected in the town of Kula, which is about 35 miles from Lahaina. This is when the catastrophe started to take place. Power was lost in Lahaina about five hours later that morning, according to locals. In updates published that morning on Facebook, Maui County stated that while the Kula fire had destroyed hundreds of acres of pastureland, a tiny brush fire that had broken out in Lahaina had been extinguished.
But by that afternoon, things had gotten much worse. According to the county’s updates, the Lahaina wildfire incident suddenly erupted at around 3:30 pm. While individuals, including hotel guests, on the west side of the town, were told to shelter in place, some inhabitants started to evacuate. Some witnesses claimed to have had no warning and described their panic as the fire quickly and seemingly mercilessly devoured Lahaina. Many people were compelled to dive into the Pacific Ocean to survive.
According to Andrew Rumbach, a climate and communities expert at the Urban Institute in Washington, the Lahaina evacuation was made difficult by the town’s seaside location near hills, which left it with only two, at most, options for escape. According to Rumbach, a former professor of urban planning at the University of Hawaii, “This is the nightmare scenario.” “A rapidly spreading fire in a heavily populated area with challenging communications and few viable evacuation options.”
Even though a large portion of Maui’s western side is still without electricity and water, county officials started allowing Lahaina residents back into their homes yesterday. But after a pedestrian was killed in an accident and the Kuihelani Highway was closed in both directions, the Kuihelani traffic bottleneck came to a complete stop.
At Maalaea Harbor, volunteers organized themselves into human chains yesterday afternoon to load boats with supplies like baby formula, diapers, clothing, and fuel. The waves were turbulent, and docks had been damaged by the fires, so boat captains planned to sail around to the fire-affected districts and deliver the supplies to the beach on a jet ski, seconded by the region’s tourism business.
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