Investigation finds complacency, neglect contributed to Maui wildfire destruction

HONOLULU (KHNL/KGMB/Gray News) - A long-awaited investigation of the Lahaina fire disaster said that complacency and neglect contributed to the catastrophic destruction.

The 518-page report from the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), which was contracted by the Attorney General, includes many specific details of what went wrong before and during the fire.

The authors of the report said there were many factors that contributed to the disaster, but that the government and the community didn’t take the threat seriously and therefore weren’t prepared when it happened.

Attorney General Anne Lopez said she agreed with that conclusion.

“Changing attitudes isn’t easy,” she told a crowded press conference. “One of the things I learned in this report is that, unlike other places on the mainland, a red flag day is almost like a normal day in Hawaii.”

On Aug. 8, 2023, there was a red flag warning and predictions of damaging high winds, but the FSRI found that Maui County agencies did little or nothing to prepare.

The report said, “There appears to be a statewide culture of dismissing and/or under-recognizing wildfire risk.”

Steve Kerber, FSRI Executive Director, said the attitude is not new.

“The conditions that made this tragedy possible were years in the making,” Kerber said.

The report cited poor maintenance of the electrical system, fallow, overgrown fields, and neighborhoods with big houses on crowded narrow streets.

It also cited a history of poor communication between county agencies, including the police and fire departments, so that even during the crisis, “the MFD and MPD never connected to establish a unified command.”

It also said the mobile command truck was not even used.

Derek Alkonis, the FRSI lead on the report, said that was a major failing.

“Having both the fire department and the police department co-located at an incident command post, alongside with Hawaiian Electric, with the water company, with the road department to ensure the roads are maintained and stay open, and those lot gates stay open,” he said was needed to facilitate fighting the fire and enacting evacuations.

There was also chaos in the Emergency Operations Center, which wasn’t fully activated until 4:30 p.m. when half of Lahaina was already burning.

According to the report, MEMA Director Herman Andaya was on Oahu and another staff member was unavailable.

“There were more roles than there were MEMA personnel, which may have led to some overlap and gaps within essential functional areas,” the report said. “It appears there was a lack of clarity as to who was filling each role, and what their corresponding responsibilities were.”

The report also said some of the staff were not fully trained in the agencies’ web-based management software, which may be why much of the usual EOC documentation was never produced.

“Things need to change, and preparedness is where it starts,” Alkonis said.

The report said the public was also not warned sufficiently.

Sirens were not the issue, since only one in the fire zone would have worked anyway. The report said sirens weren’t even discussed among the agency.

Text alerts, dependent on cell service, weren’t working either.

The report found that “even when people were told to evacuate and conditions seemed obvious that evacuation was necessary, many refused because there did not appear to be official notification that danger was imminent.”

The loss of cell service due to the winds and then the fire also impacted agency communications, even though police and fire radios were operable.

“How do you create resilient forms of communication? Besides using a cell signal, there needs to be something more ... especially in an event like this,” Alkonis said.

The report also highlighted heroism “... given the conditions and limited resources available, the front-line firefighters, police officers, medics, Coast Guard members, lifeguards, and ordinary Lahaina residents made an extraordinary number of rescues — often at great personal risk.”

Lopez, and Deputy Attorney General Ciara Kahahane, said the report’s findings need to be taken seriously all across the state — by government, business and the general public.

“These conditions exist across the state of Hawaii,” Kahahane said. “And in addition to an approach from the government, we also need the involvement of every single member of the community to really buy into fire preparedness and prevention, to take red flag warnings and other aspects of fire preparedness seriously.”

Lopez ended the press conference by stating the administration is “committed to ensuring that we don’t sit on these recommendations.”

“That we learn from the past and that we move forward in a collaborative manner with county agencies with other organizations and individuals to ensure that we create a safer Hawaii,” she said.

The third final stage of the Attorney General’s report will make recommendations for systemic change to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again.

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