People throwing themselves into the sea to escape the flames. Drivers trapped in cars. Residents send cell phone messages to families before disappearing. All hell broke loose in Hawaii with a wave of fires so ravenous and persistent that the flames that erupted on the night of August 8 consumed the historic town of Lahaina, which now practically burns to ashes.
With an apocalyptic scenario on the island paradise of Maui, the number of dead and missing is still uncertain, with thousands displaced and displaced. Three deadly fronts, with the worst in Lahaina, make this the worst blaze in the United States in the past hundred years, surpassing the tragedy that occurred in California in 2018, when the campfire killed 85 people and devastated the city of Paradise.
State officials said earlier this week there are 99 confirmed deaths. They were children, parents, grandparents, residents who could not escape. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Monday that the number of fatalities is expected to rise “very significantly” over the next 10 days as rescue and recovery operations progress. It may take weeks before there is more concrete insight into the number of victims and the damage caused by the fires, caused by a combination of effects during Hurricane Dora.
“We had never seen a fire hit a city like this,” the governor had said, in one of the first responses to Lahaina’s devastation. The official described the fire ignited by the winds of a hurricane passing hundreds of miles away as a “shock.”
“I think we’re seeing this in many parts of the world, fires from California to Colorado,” Green said, pointing to climate change as one of the reasons for the disaster. “It’s difficult, at a time when global warming is accompanied by increasingly strong storms and droughts,” he stressed. “Climate change is here and it’s affecting the islands, and I think we’re seeing that with this fire.” Fires in Hawaii have quadrupled in recent decades, and Green said it could be the state’s worst natural disaster ever. The governor, who has already issued five emergency proclamations related to the fires, estimated the damage at about $6 billion (5.4 billion euros) as his administration asked tourists to leave the island, with many hotels to shelter the displaced.
President Joe Biden approved the disaster declaration on August 10, granting access to federal emergency funds to help Maui residents. Maona N. Ngwira, head of FEMA – the federal emergency response agency – was appointed as the coordinator of recovery operations in the affected areas.
How it all started
The exact source of the fire has yet to be determined, but Maui was within conditions the U.S. National Weather Service classifies as “red flags” when the fires broke out: gusts of wind, low humidity, lack of rain and dry vegetation. .
“We don’t know what started the fires, but the National Weather Service told us we were in a red flag situation,” Major General Kenneth Hara, commander of the Hawaii National Guard, said at a news conference.
The Service had already noted this in a message before the fires started. “While Hurricane Dora will move far south without direct impact here, the strong pressure gradient between the hurricane and high pressure to the north poses a threat of damaging winds and drought-related wildfires,” the agency warned at the time. . .
The danger was confirmed. The strength of Hurricane Dora (Category 4) passing more than 430 miles away sent wind gusts of 66 mph in Maui, creating the conditions that led to the blaze. This has been accompanied by a drought that has been worsening in the archipelago for more than two decades and the spread of invasive weeds, a dry vegetation that covers much of the territory.
Several survivors told how hell broke out in the city in record time and the officers were also taken by surprise by the speed of the flames. Not having time to escape, many residents had to throw themselves into the sea to survive. Some were rescued by the Coast Guard, others failed to make it.
Mike Cicchino was one of those who survived. He left the house to see what happened to the power poles and was surrounded by flames and running neighbors. He and his wife tried to flee by car, but many streets were blocked by police due to problems caused by high winds. Authorities eventually ordered residents to flee in the direction the fire would devastate. Cornered, Mike and his wife threw themselves into the sea and spent eight hours in the water. Other residents had to do the same. A trail of completely burnt-out vehicles was left on the roads along the sea.
“The fire reached the water,” Cicchino said on the NewsNation broadcast. “The way I can explain it is like a bomb that kept going off.” There were burning boats in the ocean and videos show the surface of the water bubbling with heat. “If I drown, don’t worry, save yourself,” Cicchino told the woman.
Both survived, but others were less fortunate. The aftermath is almost unspeakable.
Kihei resident Clint Hansen told MSNBC. “It’s shocking to think that the places where we grew up no longer exist, to be afraid of your friends because you can’t communicate with them, to see images of people being burned alive in the streets, people in a panic. “
Richard Olsten, owner of a Maui helicopter tour operator, flew over the disaster area and told the local radio station it “looked like a war scene” where a bomb had been dropped.
Whose fault is it?
The initial shock and panic give way to anger and calls for accountability. In the reports of many survivors, from radio to television, there is a constant indication that there was no warning of what was happening. Hawaii has the largest sound alarm system in the world, but this was not used to urge residents to evacuate. Mike Cicchino pointed out that around noon, the first fire that broke out was considered contained. A few hours later he threw himself overboard for his life.
“There were no sirens, evacuation alerts, text messages, police or firefighters,” the survivor said. “We only knew there was a fire because we saw smoke and people running.” Even radio information was sparse. “I feel like this could have been prevented,” he criticized.
One of the problems was the power and mobile network outages, which prevented even those who tried to call the emergency services from getting help,
Firefighters also reported problems controlling the flames. Some of those who fought the fire as it approached Lahaina told the New York Times that the hydrants were running dry or producing such low water pressure that it was impossible to contain the fire and the flames got out of control.
Keahi Ho, one of the firefighters, told CNN he is still not pointing the finger at the county or company. “Any blame to the county or response is misplaced. Lahaina is a 150-year-old city and the infrastructure is what it is,” he said. “The Maui firefighters responded with a heroic effort.”
Ho added that “this was an extreme wind and fire that no company of any size could have stopped.”
In addition, according to Maui’s water supply official, John Stufflebean, the fire melted the pipes and prevented the backup generators from being activated to keep the water flowing.
Votes also went up over the weekend against the electric company that manages Maui Electric’s network, Hawaiian Electric. The company was accused of failing to implement an emergency plan to reduce the likelihood of a fire caused by weather conditions; for example, as reported by the Washington messagethe company did not cut power in areas where the strongest gusts of wind were expected and where there was a significant fire risk.
Maui Electric responded through a spokesperson, who told CBS News that steps have been taken to mitigate the risk. But a lawsuit against the company came out early this week, in which prosecutors allege the fires were started by sparks from power lines blown to the ground by high winds. The investigative process will take a long time as authorities pull bodies from the rubble.
“It happened so fast, everything exploded, cars, buildings, everything was on fire,” resident Brittany Harris told the Los Angeles Times. “People threw themselves into the sea to escape, but even in the ocean people died from smoke inhalation,” he said. “My friend, whose husband is a police officer, said there were bodies everywhere. There are bodies in the trees.’
Horror goes hand in hand with anger. “Were there enough warnings? I don’t think so,” cried Sefo Rosenthal. “If people have to jump into the water, that’s not enough of a warning.”
THE PORTUGUESE HERITAGE IN HAWAII
Maui is one of four islands where there is a strong presence of Portuguese descendants, with a long history of mayors of Portuguese descent and influence in gastronomy. In the archipelago, which has a population of 1,442 million, it is estimated that about 10% of the population is of Portuguese descent, mainly from Madeira and the Azores.
Last weekend, the State Department confirmed that there are unreachable Portuguese descendants in Lahaina. Hawaiian authorities are expected to publish the list of fatalities to find out if any people of Portuguese descent are included.
Source: DN
