Search and rescue team members work in a residential area devastated by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 18, 2023.
Jae C. Hong/AP
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Jae C. Hong/AP
Search and rescue team members work in a residential area devastated by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 18, 2023.
Jae C. Hong/AP
HONOLULU – As wildfires ravaged Maui last August, the head of emergency management tried to return to the island amid the ongoing crisis, while communications broke down. on a large scale, leaving authorities in the dark and people without emergency warnings, according to a report. was released on Wednesday.
A report from the Hawaii Attorney General said Hawaii Electric Power Company also encountered communication problems, with officials unable to confirm that power lines were de-energized until after the fire caused a fire. causing widespread damage.
This is the second of two major reviews this week about The deadliest forest fire of the century in America. A report released Tuesday by the Western Police Chiefs Association detailed the challenges the Maui Fire Department faced during an unprecedented series of fires, including one that killed 101 people in Historic town of Lahaina.
Attorney General Anne Lopez presented the report at a news conference along with Steve Kerber, vice president of the Fire Safety Research Institute.
“When Attorney General Lopez contacted us, it was clear that we were paying close attention to what was going on in Lahaina and really had the same question as her. How is something like this possible? happen?” Kerber said.
New report says five days before the fire broke out, meteorologists issued a dire warning that strong winds from a Pacific storm south of Hawaii could create extreme wildfire danger across throughout the archipelago on August 8,” a National Weather Service forecaster said in an August 3 email to Hawaii fire department contacts.
The Maui Emergency Management Agency posted to Facebook on August 6 about the “serious fire threat and damaging winds” due to continued dry conditions as Hurricane Dora passes through.
The agency’s administrator, Herman Andaya, was off-island attending a conference on Oahu on August 8 as the fires on Maui grew. His call and text records show he was receiving updates from Gaye Gabuat, an administrative assistant. According to the report, after a series of evacuations in Lahaina, Gabaut commented to Andaya that “many people looked overwhelmed.” Andaya asked if he should go home and Gabuat replied, “that might be okay.”
After the fire burned for more than five hours, Gabuat informed Andaya that the fire had spread to Front Street, a tourist attraction in Lahaina. Only then did Andaya reply that “he better go home tomorrow.”
At that time, many areas in Lahaina were evacuated, a situation report issued by Andaya’s agency showed. Front Street was closed along with the Lahaina loop, another important route. In Lahaina alone, 29 power poles were knocked down.
According to personnel logs included in the report, the fire department was also trapped in the inferno. Around 4:30 p.m., two engines were destroyed. According to the log, a firefighter from one of the engines had to rescue crews using a Maui Police Department SUV.
The preliminary report also describes disruptions in communications between police responders, firefighters and emergency officials after the mobile network went down. According to the report, both police and fire departments must communicate by hand-held or car radios on closed channels that cannot be heard by public officials and others.
Meanwhile, a dispatch center is limited and constrained to just single operators monitoring five or six channels at a time to keep up with what’s happening on the ground.
“Without cellular communications, residents and tourists cannot receive emergency alerts, contact loved ones, and/or receive incoming or outgoing calls/texts,” the report’s authors wrote.
They recounted how a police officer told other responders that his daughter was babysitting in a neighborhood that was hit early by the fire. Without mobile communication, he had no way to check if she had escaped. It took him two days to confirm that she was okay and had made it through.
At approximately 6:40 a.m. on August 8, MPD Central Dispatch contacted Hawaiian Electric with a report that a power line was down and causing a fire in the area of Lahainaluna Road and Lahaina Intermediate.
The dispatcher said no one was at the scene and “They’re moving up there, but it’s near a structure, so we need to cut power” there as well.
The Hawaiian Electric contact responded: “I think it just broke.” which reportedly means the power supply was cut.
From our previous reporting, we know that at approximately 6:37 a.m., the Lahaina fire – approximately 3 acres in size – was reported in the Lahainaluna Road area. Lahaina resident Shane Treu, who lives at 807 S Niheu Pl, was in his backyard facing Lahainaluna Road when he heard a power pole snap and he watched the power line fall and burn the dray grass. He called 911 to report the fire.
The attorney general’s report is the first phase of a comprehensive review that includes a 72-hour timeline before, during and after the fire. It said investigators relied on “all available facts” related to the fires and steps local, state and federal agencies had taken to prepare for them. danger.
It reconstructs a detailed timeline of the spread of the Lahaina fire using social media posts, dispatch records, communications between emergency personnel and other sources.
Phase 2 of the report will focus on how Maui’s fire protection system performed during the emergency, specifically what conditions created the inferno, what efforts were made to stop the spread of it and the evacuation of residents. The report says the third phase will attempt to answer the important question “How do we prevent this from happening again?”
“The tragedy serves as a sobering reminder that the threat of wildfires, bushfires and urban wildfires is driven by climate change, driven by climate change and urban encroachment on wasteland, is a reality that must be addressed with the utmost urgency and diligence – not just in Hawaii but globally,” the authors write.
Tuesday’s report by the fire chiefs association describes firefighters carrying victims over downed power lines to safety and sheltering survivors inside their engines. Another first responder drove his motorcycle into a burning area again and again, getting people out of danger one by one.
According to the report, fire department personnel “risked their lives in a courageous effort to stop the spread of the fire and save lives,” and are now “grappling with questions about what they have could have done differently, a reflection that will likely last throughout the rest of their careers.”
Both reports describe the difficulties and miserable conditions firefighters faced when returning to the Lahaina fire, including that many resources were being deployed elsewhere, structures were quickly destroyed. The fire was caused by extremely strong winds and downed power lines hindering movement.
Among the challenges facing the Department are low reserves of fire trucks, hydrants losing water supplies and a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties and limited equipment.
The fire chief recommended that the Maui department keep all backup vehicles ready to go. According to the report, additional engines on standby for major incidents take up to an hour to deploy because they need to be fully equipped with the right equipment. The report does not say what they were missing.
Other recommendations include creating a statewide mutual aid program and evacuation plans for residents and tourists who speak different languages.
Many factors that contributed to the disaster are known: A storm that hit the island downed power lines and blew off sections of roofs, and debris blocked roads across Lahaina.
Hawaiian Electric has admitted that one of its power lines fell and caused a fire in Lahaina early on the morning of August 8, but the utility company denied that the morning fire caused the blaze. burned the town down later that day.
About 40% of Maui County’s firefighting resources were mobilized to fight other wildfires in another part of the island.
Cell phone and internet service were also interrupted at times in the area, making it difficult for some people to call for help or get information about the fire. And emergency officials did not use Hawaii’s extensive network of emergency sirens to warn Lahaina residents. The after-action report also recommended that officials conduct an analysis of the island’s cellular system.
High winds sometimes made it difficult for first responders to communicate on their radios, and 911 operators and emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with hundreds of calls.
Police and electricity forces tried to guide people away from roads partially or completely blocked by power lines. Meanwhile, people trying to flee burning residential areas crowded some roads in and out of town.
Traffic jams left some people trapped in their cars as the fire consumed them, while others near the sea jumped in to escape.
The reports also highlight vulnerabilities stemming from the dramatic changes Maui has undergone since the arrival of Westerners and the conversion of land to pineapple and sugar plantations in the 19th century. closed in the late 1900s, the abandoned land was covered with invasive grass. That and the prolonged drought created a “volatile fuel source” for the fire, Tuesday’s report said.
According to state officials, about 3,000 properties were destroyed as the fire spread through Lahaina, causing an estimated more than $5.5 billion in damage.
