Hawaii’s emergency management records showed no indication of emergency sirens going off before the devastating fire that killed at least 55 people and ripped through a historic town, authorities confirmed Thursday. The fire is the worst natural disaster to hit the state since a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 on the Big Island. During a press conference on Thursday, the governor, Josh Green, indicated that the number of deaths could increase as search and rescue operations continue.
Hawaii has what the state describes as the largest integrated public safety alert system for any type of outdoor hazard in the world, with around 400 sirens spread throughout the archipelago to alert people to natural disasters and other threats. . But many of the Lahaina survivors said in interviews at evacuation centers that they did not hear sirens and realized the danger that threatened them when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.
Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mail carrier from Lahaina, didn’t know there was a fire until he smelled smoke. Hours before, electricity and mobile phone service had been interrupted, so the town had no real-time information about the danger.
He tried to drive away in his Jeep, but had to abandon the car and run to the shore when nearby vehicles began to explode. He hid behind a breakwater wall for hours as the wind blew hot ash on him.
Firefighters eventually arrived and escorted Leonard and other survivors on foot through the flames to safety.
Fanned by a dry summer and strong winds from a nearby hurricane, at least three fires broke out on Maui this week, spreading through the parched scrubland that blankets the island.
The most serious reduced Lahaina to a landscape of rubble covered in gray ash between the blue of the sea and the lush green of the slopes. Skeleton buildings bent under crushed roofs. There were palm trees turned into torches, wrecked boats at the docks, and a lingering stench of burning.
“It definitely feels like a bomb has been dropped on Lahaina,” Governor Green said after touring the ruins with Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr.
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press Thursday that department records do not show that Maui’s warning sirens went off Tuesday. Instead, the county used emergency alerts sent to cell phones, televisions and radio stations, he explained.
It was not clear if those notices were sent before widespread power and cell phone outages cut off most communications with Lahaina.
During his appearance, Green reported 53 deaths, but Maui County later updated the count to 55 after the discovery of two new victims.
This is also the deadliest fire recorded in the United States since the Camp fire in California, which left at least 85 dead and devastated the town of Paradise in 2018.
The risk to Lahaina in the event of a fire was known to be very great. Maui’s hazard mitigation plan, updated in 2020, identified Lahaina and other locations as frequent fire areas and with buildings at risk of damage.
The report noted that West Maui was the island-wide area with the second-highest number of households without a vehicle and the highest number of people who did not speak English.
“This may limit people’s ability to receive, understand, and take appropriate action during hazardous events,” the plan says.
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Sinco Kelleher reported from Honolulu, Rush from Kahului and Boone from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporters Chris Weber in Los Angeles; Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Chris Megerian in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Audrey McAvoy in Wailuku, Hawaii, contributed to this report.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
