Fire report details breakdown

Maui emergency agency’s chief was off island as blaze spread

HONOLULU — As wildfires ripped across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the crisis, while a communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released Wednesday.

Communications problems were also encountered by the Hawaiian Electric Company, with officials unable to confirm that power lines were de-energized until well after flames had caused widespread damage, the report from the Hawaii attorney general said.

It was the second of two assessments about the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. A report released Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs

Association detailed the challenges facing the Maui Fire Department during the blazes, including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina.

Attorney General Anne Lopez presented the latest report at a news conference with Steve Kerber, vice president of the Fire Safety Research Institute.

“When Attorney General Lopez contacted us, clearly we were paying a lot of attention to what was going on in Lahaina and really had the same question that she had. How is it possible that something like this could happen?” Kerber said.

The new report said that five days before the flames broke out, meteorologists warned that strengthening winds from a hurricane south of Hawaii could create an extreme risk of wildfires on Aug. 8.

The day of the fire, the wind-driven flames traveled at the “incredibly fast” rate of about a mile in 90 minutes, according to Kerber.

The Maui Emergency Management Agency had posted to Facebook on Aug. 6 about a “serious fire and damaging wind threat” because of dry conditions as Hurricane Dora passed.

The agency’s administrator, Herman Andaya, was off island at a conference on Oahu on Aug. 8 as the fires intensified. His call and text records show that he was getting updates from Gaye Gabuat, an administrative assistant. After a series of evacuations in Lahaina, Gabuat told Andaya that “multiple people look overwhelmed,” according to the report. Andaya asked if he should come home, to which Gabuat responded, “It may look OK.”

After the fire had been burning for more than five hours, Gabuat told Andaya that flames had reached Lahaina’s Front Street. Only then did Andaya respond that he had “better come home tomorrow.”

Andaya resigned Aug. 18.