Lahaina Maui burned down

[Chrisj CMA]

I lived on Maui for my high school years. Been going back to visit family for many years. Lahaina was an historic city. It was the center of whaling for Hawaii way back in the last century. I believe it was also the first capital of Hawaii.

A drought which is not unusual for the island contributed to high fire risk. A hurricane a couple hundred miles to the south put Maui on the bad side and 80 mph winds fanned a small brush fire to catastrophic proportions in mere hours.

So far 36 people died and thousands lost their homes and businesses.

My brother doesn’t know yet if his house made it or not.

Please pray for the people of Maui. This is a catastrophe like the big earthquake in SF or a Katrina like in NO.

[DIGGER]

We had reservations for our first visit to Hawaii  for our 50 th wedding anniversary.   Rented a house for 10 days in Lahaina leaving November 10.    Don't know what will happen now.

[Valkorado]

I was fortunate enough to visit Lahaina many years ago.  Such a quaint little town.  What a tragedy.

[Chrisj CMA]

We had reservations for our first visit to Hawaii  for our 50 th wedding anniversary.   Rented a house for 10 days in Lahaina leaving November 10.    Don't know what will happen now.

That house probably does not exist any longer

[DIGGER]

We had reservations for our first visit to Hawaii  for our 50 th wedding anniversary.   Rented a house for 10 days in Lahaina leaving November 10.    Don't know what will happen now.

That house probably does not exist any longer

My son is good on a computer and sent me a picture of the house.  Just a slab now.

[Chrisj CMA]

Can you please ask your son to try the same thing with 36 Palena Pl Kula Maui?  I think cell service is bad and my brother lives near the upcountry fires. TIA

[Chrisj CMA]

Can you please ask your son to try the same thing with 36 Palena Pl Kula Maui?  I think cell service is bad and my brother lives near the upcountry fires. TIA

After several tries I just got through to my brother. He’s driving up the mountain to check on his house. Praise God he says it has started raining in the area of the fire.

[DIGGER]

Can you please ask your son to try the same thing with 36 Palena Pl Kula Maui?  I think cell service is bad and my brother lives near the upcountry fires. TIA

He tried but couldn't find anything   Sorry

[Chrisj CMA]

Can you please ask your son to try the same thing with 36 Palena Pl Kula Maui?  I think cell service is bad and my brother lives near the upcountry fires. TIA

He tried but couldn't find anything   Sorry

Sincere thanks. I think my brother dodged the bullet. Should hear more tomorrow. For now, no news is good news.

[Chrisj CMA]

So there are five separate fires. None of which are completely contained. The worst one, the Lahaina fire is reportedly 80% contained. The up country one near Kula is contained except for inaccessible areas like some steep valley areas. Hopefully no more structures will be threatened. Death toll is up to 55 and counting. It’s a really sad time for Hawaii. There are fires on the big island as well. I apologize I don’t have detailed information on that. I’ll try to get more on the big island fires.

Added:  From what is being reported the Big Island fires haven’t burned down any structures and I can’t find any reports of injuries or casualties. The main fire there is 60% contained and all the roads are reopened. That’s all I can find so far.

[carolinarider09]

Should we post followup information here regarding the probably cause (not yet mentioned) and or other issues such as system design for the power system or start a new thread or just leave it. 

[Chrisj CMA]

Should we post followup information here regarding the probably cause (not yet mentioned) and or other issues such as system design for the power system or start a new thread or just leave it. 

The only cause I heard floated was downed power lines and hurricane force winds.

[carolinarider09]

What I just heard on the news had to do with downed power lines and the fact that the utility did not have proper power shut controls.  So I searched for a story and it may have not been downed power lines specially but the lack of a "program" or "requirement" to turn off power flowing through downed power lines.

See the link below.

For some reason, I always thought that if the power lines went down and began sparking the increased sudden load would trip one of the supply breakers.  That may have been naive on my part since I made an assumption based on what happens here when power lines come in contact with themselves via downed vegetation. 

https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/hecos-fire-response-plan-lacked-a-critical-step-shutting-down-power/

[Jersey mike]

Things that make one go hmmm…

The water was shut off…

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/maui-resident-says-we-were-winning-against-fires/


and

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/how-convenient-hawaii-governor-reveals-state-plans-acquire/

[Chrisj CMA]

Yes. That was weird. Wen I spoke to my brother finally. He said there was burning embers very near his house rain nearby but not close enough. I asked if he was standing by with a hose to protect his property and that’s when he said he had no power and NO WATER. I chalked it up to the fact my brother lives up country on the side of Haleakala and maybe when the power failed maybe a pumping system went down. But it sounds like it was island wide. Very strange.

[carolinarider09]

I have not looked into to but you see some news articles saying that the state (or local government don't remember which) wants to buy the land that was destroyed by the fires.   Is that something you have heard?   

[Willow]

I have not looked into to but you see some news articles saying that the state (or local government don't remember which) wants to buy the land that was destroyed by the fires.   Is that something you have heard?  

It is in and explained in the article above linked by Jersey Mike.

[carolinarider09]

I have not looked into to but you see some news articles saying that the state (or local government don't remember which) wants to buy the land that was destroyed by the fires.   Is that something you have heard?  

It is in and explained in the article above linked by Jersey Mike.

Thanks.   Glad Jersey Mike was on top of the issue.

[Jersey mike]

There was another tidbit of info that I heard and wanted to share regarding someone on the government side of this.

In summary, I’m going off memory here it goes something like this;

Something about they’re part of the emergency response team (but I can’t locate the article) who was in charge of emergency response team for a high profile shooting somewhere else (another state) which was criticized for their response and actions at that time as well. Apparently this person left his position and that state, moved to Hawaii for this current position. There were too many people (and positions) named in articles about the fire to research each one.

It sounds like this person screwed the pooch on this catastrophe as well, so he’s 0-2 in emergency response.

[carolinarider09]

That is interesting.  I did a search and found this.  It seems to touch on the political rather than "qualifications" for the job.

Maui’s Emergency Operations Chief lacked formal experience in emergency response.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/was-mauis-emergency-operations-chief-in-over-his-head/

I have been hearing news reports about the number of deaths being far more than the number currently being published.  Just one wail of a terrible thing that happened there. 

[carolinarider09]

Two things, it has been said (by officials in Hawaii) that the purpose of the warning sirens was to warn citizens of a potential tsunami.  If a tsunami was assumed because of the sirens and the people took precautions they would move to higher ground and that would have been a big no-no for this event.

Second, someone mentioned that the utility did not take the opportunity to denergize power lines as a preemptive measure.  That is something I am not aware of as an "planned" course of action for an electric utility.  But I was never in the "line maintenance group".  

The link below discusses the above.  

https://www.theblaze.com/news/hawaii-electric-accused-of-focusing-on-tackling-specter-of-climate-change-rather-than-mitigating-known-threats-of-fuel-buildup-ahead-of-fires

Edited to add the following:   In general, the utility dispatchers make decisions on things like shutting down a section of a power grid.  I have spent little time following their activities but, from what I have seen, those guys are the best.   They make decisions for revenue generation for the company among other things.   So.....   I suspect shutting down a portion of the power grid was something they had in their arsenal of tools.   They may have been other wise occupied or told not to.  

[carolinarider09]

Just saw this on another "news" site.

What Is Going on in Hawaii? ANOTHER Fire Rages and Is Proving Hard to Contain

https://thelibertydaily.com/what-is-going-on-in-hawaii-another-fire-rages-and-is-proving-hard-to-contain/

[Chrisj CMA]

Just saw this on another "news" site.

What Is Going on in Hawaii? ANOTHER Fire Rages and Is Proving Hard to Contain

https://thelibertydaily.com/what-is-going-on-in-hawaii-another-fire-rages-and-is-proving-hard-to-contain/

I sure hope they don’t find out these fires are intentional. It’s starting to feel that way to me