Maui officials defend decision to not sound emergency sirens as wildfire death toll reaches 111
Maui County’s emergency management administrator Herman Andaya doubled down on the decision against sounding emergency sirens during the spread of the devastating wildfires — even as fierce winds whipped the flames into a fast-moving frenzy, which has so far killed more than 100 people.
The series of blazes, sparked more than a week ago, have incinerated major swaths of Maui, most notably, Lahaina, a historic city that has been entirely reduced to ash. The number of people killed as of early Thursday stood at 111, surpassing the death toll linked to the 2018 Camp Fire — which left 85 dead — to become the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than century.
While what exactly sparked the infernos is still unclear, power lines downed by gusts from a hurricane passing some 100 miles south of the Hawaiian islands could be to blame, videos show. Experts have said the intense winds also fanned the fires’ quick spread, leaving residents and officials alike with little time to prepare for the destruction. Many have since questioned why Hawaii’s emergency warning system — made up of some 400 sirens positioned across the islands — did not alert them to the approaching flames.
When asked during a news conference whether he regretted not having sounded the sirens, Andaya answered simply: “I do not.”
Andaya said the siren system was created to respond to tsunamis, and there was concern that sounding them would lead people to run away from the water and toward the fires instead.
“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” Andaya explained.
“We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” Andaya continued, using a navigational term meaning “toward the mountains” or “inland” in Hawaiian. “If that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.”
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez has said her office will conduct a “comprehensive review of decision-making and standing policies” before and during the wildfires. Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday noted it was not a criminal probe.
“The most important thing we can do at this point is to learn how to keep ourselves safer going forward,” he said.
On Thursday, public schools began the process of reopening while traffic resumed on a major road leading into Lahaina, the first signs of normalcy returning to Maui. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also opened its first disaster recovery center on the island, marking “an important first step” toward helping residents get information about assistance, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said. So far, 3,400 people have already registered for economic aid.
Crews also continued to comb through ash and rubble as well as charred out buildings and razed homes across the island. A mobile morgue unit with additional coroners has been brought in to help.
More than 1,000 people still remain unaccounted for and officials have repeatedly warned the fatality count will likely climb as search and recovery efforts continue. About 38% of the burn zone had been searched as of Wednesday afternoon, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier told CNN, and authorities hope to cover much of it by the weekend
With News Wire Services
