Old Lahaina Town Utterly Destroyed - Recovery & Relief Efforts

[Wao nahele wahine]

I found this article interesting.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/was-ma...-his-head/ ft

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

(more) good old boy network

This is really sad:

Herman Andaya was not an expert in emergency management when he was hired to lead the Maui Emergency Management Agency in 2017. 
Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management. 
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years. 
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time. 


https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/was-ma...-his-head/

[MarkP]

As far as I can estimate using google earth it looks like the fire that ultimately claimed Lahaina started 2 to 3 miles upwind. With winds gusting 60 to 80 mph the fire front could advance at that speed and reach the water in only a couple of minutes, inoculating the entire town with burning embers that, while not immediately as bad as the ultimate fire, nevertheless would have already doomed the town before it was obvious. This is the basis of my suggestion that this was not the type of disaster that could easily and productively be warned of with sirens. Under such extreme and gusty wind conditions any fire upwind would be unstoppable and the worst should be assumed. The sirens should therefor have been sounded at 6:30 in the morning leaving about 9 hrs for residents to evacuate under a clear blue sky with most evacuees not even noticing any smoke. Maybe now people would accept that, knowing how bad things can get, but not a week ago.

As an engineer and a starry-eyed dreamer I can suggest some things that would be part of the solution but they would be expensive:

- I don't know how much it would cost to control the feral grasses that birthed and propagated the conflagration but it seems obvious that doing so might have changed everything.

- Shutting off the power anywhere that power lines are vulnerable to wind makes sense. Each customer should have their own battery system (and some panels too).

- Each house should also have a water tank and some sort of sprinkler system.

- Each house should be hardened against ember attack. I can say that every single family house that I have lived in in Hawaii has been shockingly vulnerable to fire now that I know what to look for and what the consequences can be.

- This means stockpiling water and power (tank mostly full, batteries mostly charged) and being disciplined about it.

- The above infrastructure upgrades would mean pretty much re-building the town anyway plus a society-wide change of attitude that would support leaving town under a clear sky only to turn around a few hours later most of the time for no apparent reason.

I don't know what the real answer is.

[AaronM]

All great ideas but I'm not comfortable putting the onus squarely on the homeowner.

Property taxes are through the literal roof and if you cannot provide me with adequate fire control and emergency management services, then I expect a significant discount on those taxes.

[MarkP]

The gold standard would be each house having its own water and power but having those utilities broken up so that individual neighborhoods could be isolated would help. While doing so each neighborhood block could be served by a large tank and battery station. We don't know what happened yet but some reports suggest an unfortunate linkage between water and power where shutting off the power to prevent starting fires would also have cut off the water pressure. I don't know if that is true. Another issue was, ironically, that burst water pipes ruined the system water pressure. Crazy to imagine houses burning down as one corner of the foundation was soaking wet but that goes hand in hand with how effective sprinkler systems are when properly designed and provided with adequate water supply.

One thing that the power company could do (in addition to installing strong enough power poles) would be to establish greenways, irrigated and mown if necessary, under elevated transmission lines.

[HiloJulie]

“…I can suggest some things that would be part of the solution but they would be expensive:

- I don't know how much it would cost to control the feral grasses that birthed and propagated the conflagration but it seems obvious that doing so might have changed everything”

If you take 1% of the now estimated 6 Billion to rebuild and spread that 1% over 50 years you would have 1.2 Million a year to deal with that issue. 

I don’t know what the actual cost would be to maintain these lands, but 1.2 Million a year would be helpful one would think. 

Also, I’m surprised the various liability insurance policies of HE, et al would not have some type of requirement to maintain those lands, but remember that as it comes to the State and County, both are self insured. 

[TomK]

(more) good old boy network

This is really sad:

Herman Andaya was not an expert in emergency management when he was hired to lead the Maui Emergency Management Agency in 2017. 
Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management. 
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years. 
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time. 


https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/was-ma...-his-head/

At least we have Talmadge Magno as our Civil Defense Administrator on the Big Island. What could possibly go wrong?

[HiloJulie]

"Herman Andaya was not an expert in emergency management when he was hired to lead the Maui Emergency Management Agency in 2017."

A reporter did ruff him up a bit during today's press conference, however, the Mayor stepped in and sort of defended him and shut down the reporter.

Again, I don't see this being an issue unless any investigation shows direct legal malfeasance attributed to his actions or lack of actions.

I would predict that he will disappear into retirement soon enough, however.

"At least we have Talmadge Magno as our Civil Defense Administrator on the Big Island. What could possibly go wrong?"

Remember the good ole days when the qualifications to be the County’s Environmental Management Director were a big thing?

[Obie]

"Property taxes are through the literal roof and if you cannot provide me with adequate fire control and emergency management services, then I expect a significant discount on those taxes."

Hawaii property taxes are the lowest in the United States.

https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/pro...s-by-state

---

"I don't know what the real answer is."

How about making my house fire resistant ?

Metal roof, Hardie Plank siding and no vegetation within 30 feet.

[AaronM]

(more) good old boy network

This is really sad:

Herman Andaya was not an expert in emergency management when he was hired to lead the Maui Emergency Management Agency in 2017. 
Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management. 
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years. 
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time. 


https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/was-ma...-his-head/

At least we have Talmadge Magno as our Civil Defense Administrator on the Big Island. What could possibly go wrong?

As he is now 65 years of age, I suspect Talmadge to be tapping someone's shoulder soon enough.  I expect those shoulders will experience significant scrunity...