The catastrophe that overtook Maui, particularly the old port town of Lahaina has been on everybody's news feeds. The images and video of what happened during those seven deadly days has shocked and horrified everyone. The speed at which the fires overtook the area are still incomprehensible. Today, August 26th, 115 people have been confirmed as having died. But despite over 40 teams of searchers, over 388 people still remain unaccounted for.
The genesis of this terrible occurrence lay in a combination of meteorological conditions. Hurricane Dora crossed the Pacific from its birthplace off the southern coast of Mexico but NOAA and the National Hurricane Center forecasted the track would pass well south of the Hawai'ian Islands. This is hurricane season for the Central Pacific and such things are to be expected. The initial disappointment was that the system was too far away to send some desperately needed rainfall to the state.
Hawai'i is in drought. No surprise there, as we are manifestly not alone. As a result, during the summer dry season, wildfires are a frequent occurrence around here. The county FD's spend as much or more time suppressing fires in brush country as they do dousing structure blazes in towns. Much of the grasslands in the state now largely consist of non-native invasive grasses. They have overgrown many areas, and yes, they can be mowed, but this is the tropics and even during drought, plants grow rapidly and wildly. Adding to that are the persistent trade winds blowing out of the northeast at double-digit speeds. Fires can be fanned by those winds and spread rapidly. The FD's are vastly experienced, and justifiably proud, at putting these blazes down, but one has to feel sympathy for them hauling heavy hose lines, tools, and other accoutrements up steep terrain while wearing protective gear under the brutal summer sun.
But this situation was different. As Dora passed to the south, two huge high pressure systems were churning away in the Gulf of Alaska. In the atmosphere, air always moves from high pressure to low pressure, and the relative proximity of these systems created what is called "a steep pressure gradient" over Hawai'i. If you've ever looked at a real weather map, you can see the lines of pressure, called isobars. In the situation in Hawai'i, those lines were very close together. Anytime you see that, you know that the winds will be howling.
The NWS warned days before that sustained winds would be around 40 kts (nautical miles per hour) with gusts running 60 to 80 kts. A Red Flag Warning for extreme fire danger was issued statewide. Government officials, emergency managers, and fire departments were all holding their collective breaths.
Another complication involved the above-ground power poles carrying electrical lines across the islands. There is a creeping suspicion that Hawai'ian Electric (HECO) knew that those poles probably would not withstand the high gusts.
During the day on August 7th, poles began to fall in many places. Before 11:00 pm, a security camera at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, located in what is called "upcountry Maui," captured a bright flash, which was thought to be a tree falling on a powerline. Power was lost momentarily, but the center's generator kicked on. When the camera went live again, the forest was ablaze. That fire was reported to authorities just after midnight and fire crews responded.
Around 6:30 am, a three-acre brush fire was reported around Lahainaluna Road near Lahaina. Evacuations were ordered, and Fire crews pounced and despite the high winds, the fire was declared contained by 9:00 am, with the perimeter enclosed by a control line. But by 3:00 pm, the upcountry blaze had grown to 1,000 acres in and around a residential area. Fire crews swarmed the area. Around that time, the initial fire near Lahaina blazed up again, reignited possibly by a downed power line. With the winds now blowing at upwards of 50 kts, that fire exploded in two hours and was moving on Lahaina at speeds estimated at 60 mph.
In case you've forgotten your highway math, that's one mile every minute.
The fire was now moving so fast that county officials could not keep up. The winds pushed embers ahead of the fire line and began to set structure fires in Lahaina about 4:30 pm. Witnesses say they heard a gas station explode. Sirens and cell towers had been consumed. Maui Police Chief said in a press conference that many people had been found in their beds, apparently asleep as the fire rushed through.
Maui PD had closed several roads due to live downed power lines, Residents trying to escape were instead funneled down onto Front Street. A traffic jam ensued, and those vehicles, and their occupants, were overtaken by the fire. Other people, ironically, ignored the road closures and fled around the barricades. It appears that most, if not all of those people escaped successfully. Some people jumped into swimming pools trying to survive.
Around 5:45 pm, the U.S, Coast Guard began receiving reports about people in the water off Lahaina, where they had gone to escape the flames, there being no other options. The heavy smoke caused breathing difficulties, and the tide began pulling them out to sea. Ships and boats were immediately dispatched. To date, it is unknown how many were saved.
at 9:45 pm, Maui Mayor Richard Bissel issued an emergency proclamation, advising people that if they weren't in an affected area, to shelter in place. Another fire in the Pulehu/Kihei area broke out during this time.
The first break occurred at 3:15 am when the NWS cancelled the High Wind Warning. As the wind speeds began to ramp down, the FD crews began to make headway against the fires.
As August 9th dawned, firefighters continued to battle three large fires, upcountry, Pulehu, and the Lahaina fire, although by then the town had been reduced to ashes.
That's it. Those are the facts as reported. Predictably, the finger pointing has begun by those who believe they can benefit from media coverage. Investigations and inquiries will go on for months, if not years. One official has already resigned.
But for the rest of us, we are way beyond caring for anybody's career or who gets the ultimate blame. If there is such a thing. As of today, 8/25, 115 are known to have perished. There are still around 388 unaccounted for. According to experts, temperatures in the fire reached 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the same temperature that existed inside the Trade Center Towers on 9/11. At that temperature, everything melts or vaporizes. Wood, aluminum, brick, steel...humans. Maui's Police Chief in a press conference shocked the press corps by talking about finding human remains that turned to dust at the slightest touch. DNA samples are being collected from family members of the missing in hopes that closure can be found. 27 of the 115 have been thus identified but given the scale of destruction there are many doubts that most of the victims can be identified, if even found.
The fires are still not extinguished. FD crews are still on all three sites chasing hot spots. Given what's happened, they will likely stay there until everything is well and truly finished.
There are now some 500 specialists from FEMA here, some on Maui, the rest joining us elbow-to-elbow in the State Emergency Operations Center and in another adjacent building. They will likely be here for at least a few months trying to put people's lives back together. I've watched them in action and I am deeply impressed by the sincere concern and sheer hard work they're demonstrated. The federal government comes in for its share of complaints. But there's nothing to be found here. These are good people and I've been proud to share this task with them.
But we aren't kidding ourselves. This was the biggest disaster to hit the Hawai'ian Islands, and that says a lot for a state with several active volcanoes, and hits by at least three major tsunamis. The town will be rebuilt, as will the thousands of homes. Schools will open, families will resume at least the residue of their normal lives. Eventually, tourists will return and Front Street will once again fill with folks from around the world with nothing more in mind than a fun day. The grass and trees will grow back, the scars will eventually be erased.
But for the people of Maui, and by extension the people of Hawai'i, this will be an open wound for a long, a very long time. One thing that Mainlanders will never understand is that we are not just residents. We are more than neighbors. The Hawai'ian word is "Ohana." It is translated as "family," but as meanings go, that is simply insufficient. When one feels pain, we all feel pain. When one experiences loss, it is shared by all. Even though most of us never knew the lost, we still grieve. As the people of Maui struggle to put their lives back together, we will be there for them in so many ways, directly and indirectly.
It's what Ohana does.
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