Report cites communications failures
HONOLULU » As wildfires ripped acrossmaui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released Wednesday.
Communications problems also were encountered by the Hawaiian Electric Company, with officials unable to confirm that power lineswere de- energized until well after flames had caused widespread damage, the report from the Hawaii attorney general said.
It was the second of two major assessments out this week about the deadliest U. S. wildfire in a century. A report released Tuesday by thewesternfire Chiefs Association
detailed the challenges facing themaui Fire Department during the unprecedented series of 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 alongwith Steve Kerber, vice president of the Fire Safety Research Institute.
“When Attorney General Lopez contacted us, clearlywewere 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 f lames broke out, meteorologists warned that strengthening winds resulting from a hurricane south of Hawaii could create an extreme risk of wildfires on Aug. 8. “Confidence in the development of critical fire weather conditions this many days away is quite rare, andwe believe that thiswarrantsaheads up to you,” a National Weather Service
forecaster said in an email to fire contacts Aug. 3.
The day of the fire, the winddriven 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” resulting from 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 “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, a tourist hot spot.
Only then did Andaya respond that he had “better come home tomorrow.”
By that time areas in Lahaina had been evacuated, according to a situation report by Andaya’s agency. Front Street had been closed alongwith the Lahaina bypass road, another key thoroughfare. In Lahaina alone, 29 utility poles were reported downed. There was no immediate response to attempts Wednesday to reach Andaya, who resignedaug. 18, via phone, email and social media.
Fire crews also had been trapped in the inferno, according to staffing logs included in the report. About 4: 30 p. m., two engines were destroyed. A firefighter from one of the engines had to rescue the crews using a police department SUV, according to the logs.
The report also described a breakdown in communication between police, firefighters and emergency officials after cell networks went down. The police and fire departments had to communicate using their handheld or car radios on closed channels that public officials and others could not listen to.
Meanwhile a stretched and limited dispatch center had single operators monitoring five or six channels at a time to keep up with what was happening.
The attorney general’s report is the first phase of a comprehensive assessment that includes a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire. It said investigators relied on “all known available facts” related to the fire and to the steps that local, state and federal agencies took to prepare.
It reconstructs a timeline of the Lahaina fire using social media posts, dispatch records, emergency communications and other sources.
Phase 2 will focus on how Maui’s fire protection system functioned, specifically what conditions fed the inferno, attempts to stop its spread, and evacuations. The third phase will try to answer the critical question, “How do we prevent this from happening again?”