Since the Lahaina fire, people on several islands are alarmed about flammable vegetation and the adequacy of local evacuation routes and emergency response.
Burned homes and vehicles in a neighborhood that was destroyed by the wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, last month. Photo for The Washington Post by Tamir Kalifa
Hawaiians are on edge because the conditions that fueled the fast-moving inferno are all around them. Their islands are plagued by sprawling fallow fields - a legacy of the plantation era that endured for decades until many farms and ranches abruptly closed at the end of the last century. But in a passage that now worries many Hawaiians, the memo said that the Department of Land and Natural Resources “has minimal resources to carry out this mandate of fire protection on the vast landscape that it manages despite existing and increasing risks to public health, safety, and the environment.”
The agency is also awaiting the results of the Attorney General’s investigation into the Maui fire, the email statement said. “A key element of emergency management is adapting to meet changing hazards and their consequences, so we’re always looking for better ways to prevent harm,” said EMA Administrator James Barros.
“Firefighters thought they had it under control,” said Cooper, 61. “We had very, very high winds. Gusty winds stronger than any hurricane I’ve experienced. The fire started jumping breaks. It jumped one too many times and they had to move the line back.” “The events in Lahaina brought in stark relief how quickly things can happen,” he said. “On the Big Island I can say communities here are quite concerned.”
What’s frightening, Thorne said, is that the state could allow the lessons of Lahaina to fade. “People kind of move on with their lives and they kind of forget about it until we get the next catastrophe,” he said.DeCorte, a former Republican candidate for the state Senate, is urging residents to be more aware of their surroundings and will press officials to do more, partly because of the risks her community faces.
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