Hawaii wildfires

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ASPartOfMe
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13 Aug 2023, 9:11 pm

Maui wildfire crews continue to fight "flare-ups" in Lahaina and inland, as death toll rises to 93

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Crews continued to battle flare-ups in the wildfires that have devastated the Hawaiian island of Maui and so far killed at least 93 people as of Sunday, with hundreds still missing, according to government officials.

The term "flare-up" refers to any situation where the rate of spread or intensity of a wildfire accelerates suddenly. It is a phenomenon that does not typically last long or require significant overall changes to a given wildfire management plan, the U.S. Forest Service says.

As firefighters worked to extinguish flare-ups in blazes that broke out last Tuesday in the historic West Maui town of Lahaina and in Maui's inland Upcountry region, three structures in Olinda and 16 structures in Kula — both in Upcountry — were destroyed, Maui County reported in a news release issued on Saturday.

The Pacific Disaster Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency previously estimated that more than 2,200 structures, the vast majority of which are believed to be residential, had been damaged or destroyed in the fires. Officials projected that rebuilding could cost more than $5 billion, and that 4,500 residents will need ongoing emergency shelter in the meantime.

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15 Aug 2023, 8:41 pm

Survivors of Maui fires set up their own aid network as trust in government falters

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One week after wildfires roared across Maui and devoured their property, residents who have called this island home for generations were watching over the ashes.

Distrustful of the government's response to a tragedy that has already displaced hundreds of families and fearful of outsiders' swooping in to take their ancestral homes, they were organizing their own relief efforts to get food and supplies to people who are unwilling or unable to venture far from their destroyed properties.

"We are taking charge," Maui County Council Vice Chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez said Tuesday.

Rawlins-Fernandez, who hails from the nearby island of Molokai, said the reasons many native Hawaiians are staying put instead of evacuating are both practical and rooted in a history riven by colonialism and land speculation.

As the search for missing loved ones continues, people who lost their homes are staying close by with family and friends, she said.

"They are staying as close as they can to their destroyed homes, even if they are ashes,” Rawlins-Fernandez said. "For years, a lot of Hawaiians have been feeling priced out, and after the fires destroyed everything, many of us are afraid those with money are trying to capitalize on the trauma."

The U.S. government stole the entire Kingdom of Hawaii, so there is a huge distrust," said Lansford, 37. "I myself am worried. I don’t know if they’re going to try to take all my property. I’m going to fight them, I’ll tell you that much. I’m not going anywhere."

Lahaina, on the west coast of Maui, was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Before U.S. troops ousted its last monarch in 1893, the Hawaiian Islands were already being taken over by U.S. sugar plantation barons who imported workers from China and Japan to work the fields, further displacing Hawaiians.

In recent years, rising real estate prices have forced many Hawaiians to leave Maui and the other islands.

But even as Lahaina continued to smolder Tuesday and the toll from the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history hovered near 100, residents have reported getting calls from real estate investors seeking to buy up what remains of their island homes and property.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors warned Hawaii residents to be on the lookout for scammers who won’t "hesitate to take advantage of the challenging times to commit fraud and other crimes."

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15 Aug 2023, 9:05 pm

Good for them if they can hold out and stay put.

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15 Aug 2023, 9:26 pm

https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/15/hawaii-governor-doesnt-want-developers-buying-burned-lahaina-2/

Stand your ground, Gov. Green!

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16 Aug 2023, 6:59 pm

Hawaii’s top power utility accused of years of mismanagement before the deadly wildfires

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Hawaii’s biggest power utility faces growing scrutiny for the role it might have played in the deadliest wildfire in modern American history, including detailed allegations in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that it was negligent and knowingly failed to take proper action to prevent catastrophe.

The lawsuit, first obtained by NBC News, alleges that Hawaiian Electric helped set the stage for the monstrous wildfires last week. The plaintiffs accuse the utility company of years of inaction and negligence, and argue that it should have had plans in place to shut down power systems before fierce winds blew across Hawaii.

“Hawaiian Electric is not just responsible and they weren’t just negligent,” said Mikal Watts, a lead attorney on the case. “They were grossly negligent by making conscious decisions to delay grid modernization projects that would have prevented this very tragedy.”

Three other lawsuits filed in the aftermath of the fire that were reviewed by NBC News make similar claims against the company, which provides electricity to 95% of the state.

Watts, who said his team has been approached by hundreds of potential plaintiffs, said his lawsuit is aimed at preventing the islands from ever experiencing fires like this again. He said similar litigation in California has led to safety improvements and processes that have limited recent wildfire fallout, and that Hawaiian Electric was aware of those efforts.

The lawsuit details multiple instances and documents in which Hawaiian Electric and public utility officials acknowledge the dangers of wildfires, and the potential for downed power lines and grid infrastructure to start them in areas where vegetation growth was not mitigated. The risks were outlined in Hawaiian Electric news releases, documents it filed to the state, and in its own expenditure plans, and the lawsuit alleges that the firm’s downed lines and grid equipment were the root cause.

“Their own papers say they knew how to prevent it, and their own papers showed their conscious and deliberate decision to delay the implementation of safety measures that would have prevented this tragedy — the most deadly wildfire in American history,” Watts said.

In one instance, a 2022 funding request for $189.7 million from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to harden its power grid statewide, Hawaiian Electric said that the risk of its utility system “causing a wildfire ignition is significant.” The company said it needed the funding to ensure its facilities were not “the origin or a contributing source of ignition for a wildfire.”

Despite the request being approved, Hawaiian Electric did not act, the lawsuit alleges.

“This wildfire was not only predictable, it was predicted,” Watts added, “both by (Hawaiian Electric) and anyone else that bothered to look into the issue.”

Some survivors and attorneys across multiple lawsuits contend the company should have deployed a “public power shutoff plan,” which would require the utility to intentionally turn off electric power in areas where wind could cause a fire. In an era when wildfires have grown more prevalent and deadly, similar plans have been adopted to mitigate destruction in states such as California.

Two other lawsuits allege that records dating back years — including academic and government studies documenting growing wildfire threats, and reports about ill-maintained and outdated power poles and transmission lines — have largely been ignored by Hawaii’s utility companies, setting the stage for the catastrophic fire.

The lawsuits also alleged the companies knew or should have known about official “red flag” warnings of high winds and drought-like conditions from the National Weather Service, as well as government alerts about extreme fire dangers, in the days ahead of the catastrophic blaze.

“A lot of it has been out there for years,” said Terrance Revere, a Hawaii-based trial lawyer representing multiple Lahaina residents and business-owners in one of two class action lawsuits filed to date. “But when you have photographs and video showing it happening in real time, it’s not going to take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what happened here.”

Revere and other lawyers cited videos and photographs that were shared across social media on Aug. 8, shortly after fire officials received the first report of a brush fire at 6:37 a.m. in the area of Lahainaluna Road, east of historic Lahaina Town. The pictures and videos include one resident’s cellphone footage that was livestreamed on Facebook, starting about three minutes after the first official report of the fire. It appears to show firefighters battling a wind-whipped blaze burning across a field of sun-browned grass as snapped power line dangles from above.

“There’s plenty of evidence from video and eyewitnesses that the power lines went down and caused the fire,” said Paul Starita, a lawyer whose firm separately represents individual claims of several Lahaina residents and business owners who suffered life-altering losses in the flames.

In that lawsuit filed Monday, Starita’s law firm alleges that after a similarly disastrous fire in 2018 — when a downed Pacific Gas & Energy power line sparked the Camp Fire in Northern California and killed 85 people — Hawaiian Electric assessed the resulting fire mitigation reforms in that state and “pointed to California’s Public Power Shutoff Plan as a successful way to prevent wildfires when additional robust techniques are not yet in place.”

The fire’s lethal destruction exposes Hawaiian Electric “to risks associated with potential financial liabilities related to the cause and source of ignition of the fires, as well as with regard to its actions before and during the fires,” Moody’s Investors Service, a major credit reporting agency in the U.S., warned in a report published Tuesday.

That effect has already been felt as Hawaiian Electric’s stock price has dropped precipitously since Monday, from a high of $33.04 to $14.79 at the end of the day Tuesday.

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16 Aug 2023, 7:06 pm

Fnord wrote:

Here is a chronology of the events surrounding the devastation of Lahaina by wildfires. Dates, times and other details may change as the chaos subsides and government agencies become more transparent. Corrections will be made, if necessary.

2023-08-08 (00:08) The fire near Lahaina starts about this time.

2023-08-07 (23:00) The fire near Lahaina starts about this time. High winds knock a tree into power lines, downing them, and setting off a grass fire that quickly advances on the town of Lahaina at speeds of up to 60 mph.

Source: This Washington Post Article

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17 Aug 2023, 3:51 pm

The Number of People Killed in Maui is now at 111, with Possibly 1,000 Still Missing

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/us/hawaii-maui-wildfires-death-toll-thursday/index.html

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17 Aug 2023, 4:07 pm

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:

The Number of People Killed in Maui is now at 111, with Possibly 1,000 Still Missing

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/us/hawaii-maui-wildfires-death-toll-thursday/index.html

Chances are almost all of them are dead and many will have been completely incinerated with next to no remains to be found besides the pile of dust and a few small bone fragments one might receive from a crematorium.

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18 Aug 2023, 12:30 am

Maui's top emergency official is out after failing to sound sirens as fires approached

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Maui's top emergency management official resigned Thursday, one day after he defended his decision not to sound warning sirens as wildfires swept across the island.

The resignation of Herman Andaya, the administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, was effective immediately, a county spokesperson said.

Andaya, citing health reasons, submitted his resignation "effective immediately," and Mayor Richard Bissen accepted, Maui County said in a statement Thursday.

“Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon,” Bissen said.

Residents have described fleeing the area with little more than what they could grab — and with no way to receive emergency alerts sent to mobile devices, because the power had been out for many since early that morning.

Andaya said he decided not to sound the sirens as the fire approached, as he feared coastal residents would have fled inland, toward the flames.

“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” he said, noting that sirens are used primarily for tsunamis.

“Had we sounded the siren that night, we were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” Andaya said, using a word meaning “to the mountainside.”

“And if that’s the case, then they would have gone into the fire,” he said.

Andaya said the agency's protocol to warn of brushfires had been to use other alert systems that send messages to cellphones and through television and radio.

Records show Andaya has downplayed the use of sirens, having repeatedly described them as a “last resort” in recent years.

At a 2020 meeting, as he was reporting that only 58 of the island’s more than 70 sirens worked during the most recent monthly test, he said that the process to fix them was slow and that there were other ways to notify the public during emergencies.

A fire official responded that they were still important during major emergencies, when power and phones might be down.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to diminish the value of sirens,” Andaya said. “I totally agree with you, chief, that the sirens are important.”

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18 Aug 2023, 3:28 am

Latest Revision of the Lahaina Fire Chronology:
(Plundered from multiple sources.)

2023-08-07 (09:52) Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency (EMA) warns residents about winds whipped up by Hurricane Dora and other potentially dangerous conditions. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for leeward areas of Hawai'i, with low humidity, gusty winds and dry fuels creating risk of extreme fire behavior.

2023-08-07 (23:00) The fire near Lahaina starts about this time. High winds knock a tree into power lines, downing them and setting off a grass fire that quickly advances on the town of Lahaina at speeds of up to 60 mph.

2023-08-08 (03:45) Maui officials announce in a news release that a brush fire was reported in the Olinda Road area of Kula, an area in central Maui. The blaze would come to be known as the Upcountry Fire.

2023-08-08 (05:10) Power outage in Lahaina covering Front Street reported.

2023-08-08 (06:37) Brush fire reported at Lahainaluna Road and Kuialua Street. Some homes in Lahaina's most inland neighborhood are evacuated.

2023-08-08 (06:37) Dora-fueled winds help create conditions for a 3-acre brush fire that breaks out in the area of Lahainaluna Road, east of the historic seaside town of Lahaina.

2023-08-08 (09:00) The brush fire in Lahaina is declared "100% contained" shortly before 09:00, according to the Maui officials. But that does not mean the blaze is fully extinguished. In a news release, Maui officials say "power outages are impacting the ability to pump water."

2023-08-08 (09:14) Officials announce that residents should evacuate only when ordered, or if they are in danger of approaching fire conditions. If they are not in the immediate danger area, they should shelter in place and not add to the traffic of people trying to evacuate.

2023-08-08 (09:55) Mayor Richard Bissen of Lahaina reports that the fire is fully contained. The announcement included another warning that high winds would remain a concern for the next 24 hours. The power also goes out by this time, leaving several thousand customers in Lahaina without electricity. Several downed power lines required repair.

2023-08-08 (11:00) Firefighting crews from several towns and the Hawaii Department of Lands had converge on the Upcountry fire, but wind gusts reaching 80 mph (129 kph) made conditions unsafe for helicopters.

2023-08-08 (11:00) Gayle and Ross Hart, a couple in their 70s, see the fire cross a gulch near their neighborhood in Kula. Eventually, their water pressure gives out and they are forced to leave. The blaze consumed their house. "The only thing standing is our mailbox," Gayle later said.

2023-08-08 (15:00) Explosions are heard by one Lahaina resident, who describes a series of "boom, boom, boom" sounds on his street and later posts a video to Instagram.

2023-08-08 (15:30) By this time, the Lahaina fire has escaped containment and forced the closure of the Lahaina Bypass road. Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea shared an ominous warning: "The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house." Meanwhile, one of Lahaina's more inland neighborhoods is quickly being enveloped by flames. Fire crews spend the afternoon battling blazes in both Kula and Lahaina, and officials urge evacuations.

2023-08-08 (15:43) The EMA posts on X (formerly Twitter) that Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke -- serving as acting governor while Gov. Josh Green travels out of state -- has issued an emergency proclamation.

2023-08-08 (16:33) Many are already running from the flames along the waterfront's Front Street.

2023-08-08 (16:45) The announcement of escaped containment and road closure makes it into a county fire update.

2023-08-08 (16:45) The U.S. Coast Guard's first notification about the fires is when the search and rescue command center in Honolulu receives reports of people in the water near Lahaina.

2023-08-08 (16:49) Hawaii EMA posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the local Maui EMA announces an immediate evacuation for an inland subdivision in Lahaina. Residents are directed to shelter at the Lahaina Civic Center on the north side of town. Soon thereafter, Maui County shares a new Lahaina fire report on Facebook -- "Flareup forces Lahaina Bypass road closure; shelter in place encouraged" -- a full 79 minutes after the actual event.

2023-08-08 (17:00) The announcement of escaped containment and road closure shows up on the county Facebook page, when survivors say flames were surrounding the cars of families trapped downtown.

2023-08-08 (17:20) Maui County shared another Lahaina fire update on Facebook: Evacuations in one subdivision were continuing, but access to the main highway was back open.

2023-08-08 (17:30) As reported by people in town, fire is burning structures in Lahaina below the highway.

2023-08-08 (17:38) Smoke surrounds boats at Lahaina Mooring Field, according to a video later uploaded to Instagram. "People are trapped — boats, cars & gas stations are exploding. Everything is burning," the Instagram user writes. "Please just pray."

2023-08-08 (17:41) The fire encroaches on a retail area in Lahaina as jet-black plumes of smoke billow in the air, according to video recorded at the scene by Lahaina resident Alan Dickar. "The smoke was thick [and] blocked out the clear, blue sky," Dickar would later say in a Facebook post.

2023-08-08 (18:30) At the Aina Nalu condos in Lahaina, a group of people in a swimming pool watch as massive flames annihilate the surrounding buildings, according to video recorded at the scene.

2023-08-08 (19:03) Flames ravage the Lahaina harbor and explosions are heard every few seconds amid the rush of fierce winds, according to video recorded by Lahaina resident Bryan Sizemore. "I saw at least a dozen bodies floating in the water," Sizemore later tells NBC News.

2023-08-08 (20:40) Maui County Facebook posts urge residents in the surrounding area who were not impacted by the fires to shelter in place, and saying smoke was forcing more road closures.

2023-08-08 (21:00) By this time, a Facebook commenter points out the communication problems: "You do realize that all communication to Lahaina is cut off and nobody can get in touch with anyone on that side".

2023-08-08 (21:45) Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen's office says he has issued an emergency proclamation in response to the fires. In a Facebook post late Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, adjutant general of the Hawaii National Guard, announces that his military force has been activated. "This support was accelerated because of the rapidly changing conditions tonight," Hara wrote.

2023-08-09 (01:00) Evacuations by sea continue. The U.S. Coast Guard's rescue boats are hard to see because of the smoke, so people use cellphones to flash lights at the vessels, guiding them in.

2023-08-09 (09:25) Maui officials say in a news release that four helicopters are assisting firefighters in Lahaina.

2023-08-09 (15:30) Maui officials confirm that a federal team arrived on the island to "assist with search and rescue efforts."

2023-08-09 (??:??) The Federal Emergency Management Agency approves fire assistance grants for the Lahaina fire, the Upcountry fire and other blazes on the island.

2023-08-09 (??:??) The County of Maui announces that six people have been found dead.

2023-08-10 (07:30) Drone video later uploaded to Facebook captures the utter devastation in Maui: charred buildings, scorched palm trees, ash-strewn streets, the waterfront bathed in a sickly haze.

2023-08-10 (10:30) The fire in Lahaina is reported to be 80% contained, and another fire in the Pulehu/Kīhei area is said to be 70% contained. Officials do not say how much of the Upcountry blaze has been contained.

2023-08-10 (13:10) Maui officials announce in a news release that 17 additional fatalities have been discovered, bringing the death toll to 53.

2023-08-10 (21:15) The death toll rises to 55 people as officials say that two additional fatalities were found.

2023-08-11 (13:00) Maui officials confirm 12 additional fatalities were discovered. The death toll rises to 67 people.

2023-08-11 (15:00) The Lahaina fire is 85% contained, the Pulehu/Kihei fire is 80% contained, and the Upcountry fire is 50% contained. "Firefighters continue battling flare-ups in all three fires," Maui officials say in a news release.

2023-08-11 (??:??) In a statement that day, the EMA confirms that "neither Maui nor HI-EMA activated warning sirens on Maui during the wildfire incident."

2023-08-12 (02:05) Maui officials say the death toll stands at 80 people.

2023-08-12 (??:??) The Pulehu/Kīhei fire is declared "100% contained."

2023-08-12 (??:??) By this day, Officials resort to satellite phones to communicate.

2023-08-13 (21:00) The Maui Police Department says there are 96 confirmed fatalities.

2023-08-14 (10:00) Police say there are 99 confirmed fatalities. Maui officials say about 25% of the area has been searched.

2023-08-16 (??:??) The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Herman Andaya, resigns abruptly. Mayor Richard Bissen accepts Andaya's resignation effective immediately. Andaya cites unspecified health reasons, with no further details provided.

2023-08-16 (??:??) The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Herman Andaya, says he has no regret about not using sirens to warn residents of wildfires that devastated the historic seaside community of Lahaina and killed at least 111 people.

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19 Aug 2023, 8:25 pm

Everything's going up in flames. The Spokane area here in Washington is getting smoked out by fires that are consuming the nearby town of Medical Lake, while British Columbia is burning, too.

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20 Aug 2023, 12:54 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:

Everything's going up in flames. The Spokane area here in Washington is getting smoked out by fires that are consuming the nearby town of Medical Lake, while British Columbia is burning, too.

So much of BC is burning. Might end up being the worst and most costly fire season yet.

I read years ago that the entire West Coast burns off every 5,000 years from Mexico to Alaska and we're at that 5,000 year mark. We're going to be putting fires out forever, and doing controlled burns to torch small areas vs. letting wildfires dictate the burn areas etc forever.

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20 Aug 2023, 5:29 pm

Maui Water is Unsafe, Even with Filters, One of the Lessons Learned From Fires in California

https://news.yahoo.com/maui-water-unsafe-even-filters-043246769.html

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20 Aug 2023, 6:26 pm

goldfish21 wrote:

Kraichgauer wrote:

Everything's going up in flames. The Spokane area here in Washington is getting smoked out by fires that are consuming the nearby town of Medical Lake, while British Columbia is burning, too.

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20 Aug 2023, 7:18 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:

Everything's going up in flames. The Spokane area here in Washington is getting smoked out by fires that are consuming the nearby town of Medical Lake, while British Columbia is burning, too.

Large parts of Greece are either currently on fire or have just been on fire, including Rhodes, Corfu, Evia, and the region around Athens. Relatively few deaths so far this year - they've had a lot of practice at this the last few years. (Most of the British press is tackling this from the angle of "those poor tourists, having their holidays interrupted.)

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24 Aug 2023, 9:24 pm

Maui County sues Hawaiian Electric over failure to shut off power lines despite warnings

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Maui County on Thursday sued Hawaiian Electric Company, alleging its failure to shut off power despite repeated warnings of the potential for devastating fires ignited the wind-swept flames that destroyed Lahaina this month.

The county is seeking damages and “just compensation” against Hawaiian Electric Company and three related companies, accusing them of negligence, according to the suit filed in the state's Second Circuit Court.

The county seeks compensation for the destruction of public property and infrastructure and natural resources, the suit said.

Two companies named as defendants, including Hawaiian Electric, were cautioned that strong winds could affect power lines and spread fires quickly, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit stated that two days before the destructive wildfires, on Aug. 6, the National Weather Service warned that high winds combined with dry conditions from passing Hurricane Dora to the south pose a serious fire threat.

On the day of the wildfires, the National Weather Service issued a “Red Flag Warning,” for areas of the Hawaiian Islands including West Maui, where Lahaina is located.

Despite knowledge of the warnings, "Defendants left their powerlines energized,” according to the lawsuit, which alleged the "destruction could have been avoided" had the lines been shut off.

“These powerlines foreseeably ignited the fast-moving, deadly, and destructive Lahaina Fire, which completely destroyed residences, businesses, churches, schools, and historic cultural sites," according to the lawsuit.

The suit also alleged that defendants were responsible for properly maintaining lines, overhead electrical infrastructure, other equipment and vegetation that could come into contact with equipment so it would not cause a fire.

“Additionally, Defendants knew that their electrical infrastructure was inadequate, aging, and/or vulnerable to foreseeable and known weather conditions," the suit said. "Ultimately, Defendants failed to fulfill each of these duties."

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