Maui

[y_p_w]

I just talked to my friend who works with Pacific Disaster Center Global in Maui. Folks that work for him are OK, but many cannot still locate their family members!
I would say telling people to stay away is the right call. From a conversation with him, I would say that people here on the mainland are not aware of the extent of the disaster.

The fire has likely damaged communication lines, so cell phones may not work in certain areas. It's also an isolated island. Not sure if there's any way to bring in more firefighting equipment and firefighters on short notice, even from other parts of Hawaii or other parts of Maui County.

However, it's my understanding that the Lahaina area fire itself is relatively small, but that's the most densely populated area of Maui that's been directly hit by these fires.

 

[MNgopher]

my son has a trip planned to maui leaving labor day. i have never been to maui. is the whole island closed?

If it were me (as a visitor to Maui twice), I'd be looking to rebook elsewhere. Logic and reasoning is that much of the tourist trade goes through Lahaina if you are staying on the west side of the island, and to be blunt, the photos show much of it was wiped out. I would not want to be one taking from resources needed to rebuild or recover as a tourist.

I have a friend who was born on Maui, and as of today has two cousins who have not yet been located. Communication is spotty at best, but not a good feeling.

That being said, the other Hawaiian islands all offer their own charms and I would consider still traveling to them, even though we personally liked Maui the best.

 

[edyvw]

The fire has likely damaged communication lines, so cell phones may not work in certain areas. It's also an isolated island. Not sure if there's any way to bring in more firefighting equipment and firefighters on short notice, even from other parts of Hawaii or other parts of Maui County.

However, it's my understanding that the Lahaina area fire itself is relatively small, but that's the most densely populated area of Maui that's been directly hit by these fires.

I am not sure how much fire is still an issue. August and September are fire seasons.
As you noted, it is a small island, and I think resources are being diverted there. The problem is how many resources an island like that can receive in 24hrs period. You do not want to create a problem of too many resources in a very short period of time, like for example, in Haiti in 2010. There, so many things started to fly in that the airport had to shut down for some time to sort out all logistics and airplanes (the President of Brazil decided to just fly in in the middle of the rescue effort, which created a nightmare). Oahu has a lot of resources to be available. Other states sent firefighters (Colorado did for example). I think that won't be a problem. The biggest issue right now is recovery and homelessness.

 

[Soft Cars]

Arial Drone 08/10/2023

 

[Al]

Whomever failed to push that button should be tried for murder.

 

[RooflessVW]

Whomever failed to push that button should be tried for murder.

No opinion on his statement that the sirens are typically used to warn of tsunamis, where people seek higher ground? aka, where the fire was?

 

[Dave Hess]

No opinion on his statement that the sirens are typically used to warn of tsunamis, where people seek higher ground? aka, where the fire was?

If they saw smoke and flames…. they would obviously realize the sirens are to alarm them of fast moving fires.

Either way, the death toll will keep rising.

 

[Soft Cars]

If they saw smoke and flames…. they would obviously realize the sirens are to alarm them of fast moving fires.

Either way, the death toll will keep rising.

That's only if the bodies are still intact enough to be counted and if the government wants to count them.

 

[alarmguy]

Hopefully everyone learns the truth some day. The facts are out there, maybe, just need to be tidied up into a nice package.
Push for green energy, push to be green where traditional forest management was no longer allowed (hint like a west coast state and country to our north)
This is just one angle, I am sure there is some truth in it but I dont know if I can agree with all of it. But these are questions one should ask themselves and make sure to look 3 dimensional as there are some facts such as below =

"As The Wall Street Journal explained: “Four years ago, the utility company said it needed to do more to prevent its power lines from emitting sparks. It made little progress, focusing on a shift to clean energy. Between 2019 and 2022, it invested less than $245,000 on wildfire-specific projects on the island, regulatory filings show.”

Last year, according to CNN, “Hawaiian Electric asked the state Public Utilities Commission to allow it to spend $189 million” to “protect against wildfires and downed power lines.”"

Green activists have hurt the environment by letting Hawaii and California burn

What could have prevented the near-100 deaths, the loss of thousands of homes and the billions of dollars of property damage from the Maui wildfire was better planning for just this kind of event.

nypost.com

 

[andrew_j]

Sad event however now a great example to study and understand better process and infrastructure for the next event.

 

[Dave Hess]

The death toll is being underreported.

 

[Pablo]

The death toll is being underreported.

Link?

 

[Dave Hess]

No link.

They stopped counting the ashes…..

 

[Astro14]

Link?

Have you not been keeping up with the news?

Every outlet (CNN, NBC, FOX, USA TODAY, AP, WSJ, all of them) has kept the official death toll at 118 even as the state says several hundred are missing and the mayor says over 800 are missing. Both the state and the mayor are encouraging people to file missing persons reports.