Why is the official "silent" and "missing"? Three Questions about the Fatal Fire on Maui Island, Hawaii | Great Fire | Maui Island, Hawaii, USA
According to data released by the state of Hawaii on August 16th, the death toll from the Maui Island fire in the state has risen to 111. The question left by the Hawaii fire is far from dispelling: why is the self proclaimed world's largest outdoor alarm system silent? Why is the official both "silent" and "missing"? Is damaged power facilities the cause of fires?
Question 1: Why is the outdoor alarm system "silent"?
Since the outbreak of the Maui Island fire, more and more local residents have raised doubts that they have not received any warning information. According to CNN, Hawaii has a comprehensive outdoor alarm system with about 400 alarms, but the system remained silent throughout the fire.
Herman Andaya, an emergency department official from Maui County: I don't regret it, as I mentioned before, the alarm is mainly aimed at tsunamis.
However, on the website of the Hawaii State Emergency Management Department, the introduction of the purpose of the alarm system also prominently lists fires.
Question 2: Why is the official both "silent" and "missing"?
Faced with questioning from American media about why the official warning was not issued, Brad Ventura, the director of the Maui County Fire Department, said that the fire quickly spread from the forest to the community, so emergency departments were "unable to timely understand the dynamics of the disaster.". However, Mayor Richard Bison of Maui County argued that not issuing a fire alarm was "to evacuate residents.".
The Washington Post reported that the official rescue and relief efforts for this disaster were also very lagging behind. Early relief efforts were almost entirely organized by local residents, and there was no trace of the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and local governments. CNN also revealed that there are serious deficiencies in Hawaii's official risk assessment of natural disasters.
The director of the Maui Police Department, John Peretier, told the media that after the fire, there were not enough rescue forces on the island, the internet was interrupted, and there was no radio broadcast, which posed great obstacles to various work during the disaster.
Question three: High temperature+strong wind but continuous electricity causing a fire?
Currently, the official investigation into the cause of the fire in the United States has not been released. But according to Bloomberg on August 12th, teams of several American law firms have traveled to Maui Island to visit witnesses and review relevant reports. Preliminary investigation shows that the damaged power facilities of Hawaii Electric Power Company may be the cause of the fire.
Earlier, Hawaii Electric Power Company mentioned that before the fire broke out, some power poles were blown down by strong winds due to the impact of Hurricane Dora. Witnesses reported seeing the process of wires falling and catching fire. The investigation team believes that under high temperatures and strong winds, the power company should have cut off power in a timely manner.
Attorney Graham: Maintaining power operation under strong wind conditions is extremely dangerous.
According to the Hawaiian Electric Power Company, they do not have a power outage plan for fire risk.
Hawaii Power Company CEO Shirley Kimura: If there is a power outage, it may cause difficulties for people with medical needs. The water pumps in the La Haina region also required electricity to maintain water supply, which was also an important demand at that time.
Hawaiian Electric Power CEO Shirley Kimura: We need to make choices, and we have to consider all these factors.