Maui can apply some strategies from other states to stop dangerous wildfires

Hawaii’s governor vows to block land grabs as fire-ravaged Maui rebuilds: “The firefighters who lost their homes” aren’t going to leave

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Hawaii’s governor vowed “to keep the land in local people’s hands” when Maui rebuilds from a deadly wildfire that incinerated a historic island community, as local schools began reopening.

“I can’t answer why people don’t trust people,” Bissen said. The 25 firefighters who lost their homes battled the fires in those homes. You think they were doing a halfway job?”

He pointed to an announcement by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen on Aug. 8 saying the fire had been contained, that he said lulled people into a sense of safety and left him distrusting officials.

The home of the family that was destroyed was not given earlier warning to get out and officials suggest that now is a good time to leave.

“We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” said agency administrator Herman Andaya, using a navigational term that can mean toward the mountains or inland in Hawaiian. If that was the case, they would have gone into the fire. The fire was moving downhill and there were no sirens in the mountains.

Source: Hawaii governor vows to block land grabs as fire-ravaged Maui rebuilds

The Lahaina wildfires and the land grab: What can the state attorney general say about land transactions in Maui, Hawaii, and how to protect Hawaii

The governor informed the state attorney general to work towards a ban on land transactions in Lahaina. The move will likely be challenged in the courts.

“My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is victimized from a land grab,” Green said at a news conference. “People are right now traumatized. Please do not approach them with an offer to buy their land. Do not say they will be better off if they make a deal. Because we’re not going to allow it.”

Maui police said nine of the dead have been identified, and that the families of five had been notified. A mobile morgue unit with additional coroners arrived Tuesday to help process and identify remains.

The cause of the wildfires, the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, is under investigation. Hawaii is increasingly at risk from disasters, with wildfire rising fastest, according to an Associated Press analysis of FEMA records.

Richy Palalay, who grew up in Lahaina, said Saturday at a shelter for evacuees that locals fear a rebuilt town could be more focused on wealthy visitors.

Before the fire, many people in Lahaina had troubleaffording life in Hawaii. The average renter pays 42% of their income for housing, the highest ratio in the country according to a Forbes Housing analysis.

The 2020 census found more native Hawaiians living on the mainland than the islands for the first time in history, driven in part by a search for cheaper housing.

When he was elected to office, Green made affordable housing a priority and sought $1 billion for housing programs. Since the fires, he’s proposed that the state should buy land in Lahaina for workforce housing and a memorial.

Rebuilding Schools and Classrooms in Lahaina, Hawaii: The First FEMA Disaster Recovery Center in Maui, and How the State of Emergency Management Works

Meanwhile, signs of recovery emerged as public schools across Maui reopened, welcoming displaced students from Lahaina, and traffic resumed on a major road.

Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina was destroyed, and Principal Tonata Lolesio said lessons would resume in the coming weeks at another Catholic school. She said it was important for students to be with their friends and teachers rather than thinking about the tragedy.

“I’m hoping to at least try to get some normalcy or get them in a room where they can continue to learn or just be in another environment where they can take their minds off of that,” she said.

Hawaii Department of Education’s top official said at least three schools in Lahaina are still being assessed.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but overall the campuses and classrooms are in good condition structurally, which is encouraging,” Hayashi said in a video update. The effort to recover is still in its earliest stages and we grieve the many lives lost.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened its first disaster recovery center on Maui, “an important first step” toward helping residents get information about assistance, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Wednesday. They can also go there to get the latest aid applications.

When cell phone sirens don’t turn off: How many people in Maui can adopt from other states to help prevent dangerous wildfires?

The public would have been confused by the decision not to turn on the sirens. People, they say, associate the sirens with tsunami warnings and could have run into the hills instead. The direction the flames were coming from was the reason for that.

One of the biggest questions for the community of West Maui as it comes back after the deadliest wildfire in the last century is how to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

In severe winds, there is no guarantee that precautions will stop a fire. The tragedy shows that communities can’t ignore their own warnings.

The only warning to leave downtown Lahaina was when the fire raced towards their home. Many are upset that the warning sirens weren’t on after the fire.

“Look at how often it doesn’t work – how often cell phone towers like in Paradise and Maui get burned right away,” says Thomas Cova, a professor of geography who studies evacuations at the University of Utah. “That’s the first thing that happens is the fire burns the cell phone tower.”

Some of the newer sirens networks have voice messages that can be broadcast if there is an alert about a fire. In Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, the sirens play pre-recorded messages to tell residents what kind of threat they’re alerting about, like a volcano, tsunami or storm, then instruct residents to tune into the radio for more details.

Disaster response experts stress the importance of having a variety of strategies to alert and evacuate people who don’t rely on cell networks.

Source: 3 strategies Maui can adopt from other states to help prevent dangerous wildfires

How many times have we seen fires in Lahaina? Gordon Firestein tells us about his time in Maui and his journey to California to protect dangerous wildfires

As one of the people who has worked to prevent fires near Lahaina, it’s not easy for Gordon Firestein to look at the view from his house: a dark black burn scar and the blue Pacific Ocean beyond.

Once a California resident, Firestein moved to West Maui 15 years ago and found the golden hillsides were all too reminiscent of his home state. The former sugarcane fields have become over populated with weeds. He joined the Firewise program with some of his neighbors. It is run by the non-profit National Fire Protection Association.

Firestein said they’ve taught neighbors to trim the dry vegetation directly around the home to create defensible space. But Hawaii doesn’t have mandatory rules that compel homeowners to do it.

States like California require homeowners in high risk areas to clear brush and inspections are done by both city and state fire agencies. In San Diego, if a homeowner doesn’t comply, the city hires a contractor to do the work and puts a lien on the property to recoup the cost.

Larger areas at the edges of towns also need to be cleared of dry grass to act as a buffer against fire. On the outskirts of Lahaina, rows of houses are nestled in the hills. After the fire, some residents said the problem had been ignored for years.

Chris Arnold lost his home and says there needs to be accountability. Give us some fire breaks and I don’t want to hear any more excuses.

Some of the projects were completed, but not the majority, especially given that grasses grow back and must be maintained every year. West Maui is one of the regions that can’t find the money to manage vegetation.

The full scope and amount of work we would like to do was not reached because we never found the funds or capacity to do that.

Source: 3 strategies Maui can adopt from other states to help prevent dangerous wildfires

Implications of the Maui Fires on Hawaii Fire Policy and State Laws in the Light of the Wildland Fires, and the Role of Firefighting

Fire researchers have written about how a building can be starting to catch fire from the inside if embers get caught on wood-shingled roofs and siding, fall into a gutters with leaves, or even into an attic vent.

California and a handful of other states have passed wildfire building codes, requiring new homes to use fire-resistant materials if they’re built in risky areas. The attic vents can be protected with a fine mesh screen, so they are covered by the rules. Research shows for new construction, it’s not substantially more expensive to build that way.

In some states, home building associations have objected to the building codes. Fire experts in Hawaii are hopeful that the heavy toll of Maui’s fires will prompt lawmakers to change.

“People need to be given assistance to do these things, and communities need to start investing in those strategies,” Wara says. They also need to be pushed to take the steps that will protect the whole community from a wildfire.”

Pickett believes that the way that we do so well as an island state will help with progress, improvement, and all the other things that felt too big to deal with.