Hawaii wildfires

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A wildfire on Maui kills at least 6 as it sweeps through historic town, forcing some into the ocean

my grandfather lives on maui its been scary hearing about the fires and seeing images of them.

i really hope the firefighters are able to get these wildfires out soon.

The media doesnt really explain why.

Apparently its due to high winds from a typhoon (what they call hurricanes in the Pacific).

But most hurricanes and typhoons also bring torrential rains and storm surges, and soak the place to the bone.

So for some reason they got a dry hurricane ...that whipped the flames up with wind like a bellows without also dousing the place with water. Strange.

Maui fires death toll rises to at least 53, hundreds evacuated; Biden approves disaster declaration

Crazy. And still, this is only the beginning of a very rocky ride.. rapid climate change time is upon us. Buckle up.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

They ought to listen to their God.
He said he would destroy the earth with fire second time around.

Maui fires death toll rises to 80, marking deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii history

Catastrophic wildfires are now an annual event in Australia. What I keep hearing is global warming results in a phenomena called the el-Nino effect.

Condolences to those who lost their lives, I hope the missing can be found?

Sign of things to come.. well, I mean it’s already upon us.

Climate change is going to create massive demand for certain industries Right Now and moving forward. Forest fire fighting, natural disaster cleanup, rebuilding etc. There are going to be international teams & crews flocking to Hawaii to perform their various tasks, first search and rescue, but then everyone else for reconstruction efforts. Then before Hawaii is rebuilt, there will be another coastal city or three destroyed by floods, fires, earthquakes etc and so on and crews of men and machines will roam the Earth cleaning up and rebuilding - hopefully with more robust designs better able to withstand repeated winds, fires, floods etc.

This s**t’s gonna happen so much that people will get things down to a science. Ships will pull up with rails to lay for 3D plotters to roll down and print out concrete homes - maybe.. eventually. But maybe that’s still a ways off.. we had massive flooding here a few years ago and everything is being repaired as it was because we’re stupid and chances are insurance company policies are to restore, not improve.. leaving homes susceptible to being destroyed again and again.

Hawaii will be the USA’s next challenge to see if they can manage disaster recovery efforts internally or if international teams are brought in to assist. Even to renovate one stadium we didn’t have enough high angle rope access workers across Canada willing to come work in Vancouver before the 2010 Olympics so we had international teams here working. $5.5B worth of homes to replace would require a monumental effort by Americans alone… mind you, they have 10x the population of Canada so can achieve more.. but their worker bees are required all over the country where they live, too. Maybe Mexico and other countries farther South will have excess labour to send. However it happens it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

In the hours before a wildfire engulfed the town of Lahaina, Maui County officials failed to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population of the approaching flames and instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts that reached a much smaller audience.

Power and cellular outages for residents further stymied communication efforts. Radio reports were scarce, some survivors reported, even as the blaze began to consume the town.  Road blocks then forced fleeing drivers onto one narrow downtown street, creating a bottleneck that was quickly surrounded by flames on all sides. At least 80 people have been confirmed dead so far.

The silent sirens have raised questions about whether everything was done to alert the public in a state that possesses an elaborate emergency warning system for a variety of dangers including wars, volcanoes, hurricanes, and wildfires.

. . . public updates on the fires were spotty and often vague . . . no indication that county officials ever activated the region's all-hazard siren system, and reveals other emergency alerts were scarce.

Source:  This ABC7 News Article 

[opinion=mine]

The idiots responsible for Civil Defense in Lahaina should be brought up on Capital Murder charges.

[/opinion]

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.

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

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

2023-08-08 (09:14) Officials announce tha 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) The county reports that the fire was fully contained. Still, 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 (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.

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

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 (20:40) Maui County Facebook posts urge residents in the surrounding area who weren't 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 pointed 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".

2023-08-09 (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.

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

My ghost would be f*****g pissed if a raging wildfire warning was posted on twitter, that I don't use and have never used, instead of something more broad.

Here, my expectation would be that the same emergency broadcast system used to send Amber Alerts out to every cell phone and out out every FM radio station simultaneously would be used to alert everyone of some imminent danger or another - whether fast moving fire, tsunami etc. I have no idea if that system authorized for use like that - but it should be.. it's a very distinctive LOUD fluctuating buzzer sound followed by a distinctive voice declaring "This is an Amber Alert," followed by the details of the missing/kidnapped kid, kidnapper, descriptions/vehicles etc but could very easily be adapted to say "GTFO of the way of a fast moving fire. Evacuate ____ areas via ____ routes." etc. The system is setup to broadcast to every cell phone that's on and connected 24/7 and the alert sound is LOUD and would make almost anyone jolt awake and listen if they're asleep.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.