There are plenty of heartbreaking details yet to resurface about the fires that raged through Maui and leveled the seaside town of Lahaina, but there’s little doubt that government incompetence contributed to the tragedy. Precautionary measures to mitigate the island’s high fire risks had been insufficiently implemented, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fire crews had initially responded to the fire and declared it “100% contained” before it later reignited. After the fire spread, the area’s siren alert system lay silent. As people lost power and cell service, local officials warned some via glitchy messages on their cell phones; some never got the warnings at all. According to evacuees, road closures made it harder for fleeing residents to escape, trapping some in their cars as the fire roared through.
Perhaps worst of all, the Department of Land and Natural Resources “delayed the release of water that landowners wanted to help protect their property from fires” until it was “too late,” according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. Four people “with knowledge of the situation” told the local outlet that M. Kaleo Manuel, the agency’s deputy director for water resource management, “balked” at a Maui property management company’s desperate request for water. The delay reported lasted more than five hours.
According to the New York Post, Manuel had previously discussed the need for water distribution to be based on “true conversations about equity.” Formerly affiliated with the Obama Foundation, Manuel insisted last year that Hawaiians must “coexist” with resources like water.
