When a wildfire broke out on Maui last August, some firefighters on the Hawaiian island carried victims over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their vehicles. One of them rode a small motorcycle into a burning neighborhood over and over again, leading people away from danger one by one.
But despite dedicating almost all the personnel and cars available, that August 8, 2023, the Maui Fire Department could not tame those unprecedented fires, which ended up causing 101 deaths in the historic city of Lahaina, according to one of the the reports published this week about the tragedy.
Firefighters “risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of fires and save lives,” according to the report released Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, and now “face questions about what they could have done differently.” a reflection that will likely persist for the rest of their careers.”
It is the first of two reports of the deadliest U.S. fire in a century to be released this week. The other was prepared by the Attorney General of Hawaii and will be published this Wednesday, with a chronology of the hours before, during and after the event.
The firefighters' report describes the hardships and dire conditions they faced in the Lahaina fire, as well as the deployment of resources elsewhere, the rapid burning of structures amid extreme winds, and downed power lines that They made movement difficult.
The document identifies 17 specific problems—including a shortage of fire trucks, a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties, and a lack of equipment—and makes 111 recommendations aimed at preventing similar disasters in Hawaii. the future.
“The hydrants began to lose their water supply,” the authors said, “it is unknown whether the large number of burning houses caused the water connections to fail or whether the supply tanks were not filled due to the loss of electricity due to the morning".
The report describes how a truck became trapped between downed power lines and rapidly approaching flames. A crew member was able to leave in a smaller vehicle and bring police officers back to evacuate the crew. They settled on the side of the truck, one of them unconscious, to avoid the extreme heat before being rescued.
All of this occurred before 4:30 p.m. (local time), according to the report. “There were firefighters fighting the fires in Lahaina, at the same time they knew their houses were burning,” said Fire Chief Brad Ventura this Tuesday, in a press conference in Kula. “There were firefighters who rescued people and kept them safe for several hours while they continued to evacuate others,” he added.
Ventura said he was “incredibly proud” of the response, but believes the department can always improve.
One of the recommendations is that the department keep all reserve vehicles ready to go. According to the report, it took up to an hour to deploy the additional engines that were waiting for large incidents, because they had to be supplied with the appropriate equipment. The report does not specify what they were missing.
It also describes the chaos that ensued after the fire got out of control. Around 6:00 p.m., he says, fire trucks passed over downed power lines carrying evacuees to safety. One group stumbled upon a couple who had found a baby, and another pulled people from the water near the dam after they jumped into the ocean to avoid the flames.
Likewise, the report asserts that a repeater allowed radio communications to be maintained even though mobile phone towers and damage to fiber optic cables had interrupted the mobile phone network, but they were overwhelmed for "various" reasons not specified.
Other recommendations include creating a state mutual aid program and an evacuation plan for residents and tourists who speak different languages.
Many of the factors that contributed to the catastrophe are already known: the strong winds that hit the island had downed power lines and torn off parts of roofs, and debris blocked Lahaina's roads.
Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged that one of its power lines fell and caused a fire in Lahaina early on Aug. 8, but the company denies it caused the flames that swept through the city later that day.
About 40% of Maui County's firefighting resources were already busy fighting other wildfires elsewhere on the island.
A smaller team of firefighters was tasked with controlling any outbreak in Lahaina. That crew controlled the morning fire and even declared it extinguished, and then went to lunch. When they returned less than an hour later, flames had broken out in the same area and were moving quickly toward a major subdivision.
“Our firefighters are well trained and equipped. “They are basically forced to make decisions every day with the best information available,” Giesa said about the fact that the group left the place first. “Our crews did everything they normally do on fires,” he added.
Cell phone and internet service also went down in the area at times, making it difficult for some to call for help or get information about the fire. And emergency officials did not use Hawaii's network of emergency sirens to warn Lahaina residents. The report also recommends that the mobile phone system be analyzed.
Strong winds sometimes made radio communication difficult for first responders, and 911 operators and emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed by hundreds of calls.
Police and electrical crews tried to move people away from roads partially or completely blocked by power lines. Meanwhile, people trying to flee the burning neighborhoods crowded the few roads into and out of the city.
The traffic jam left some trapped in their cars when the fire reached them, and others who were near the ocean jumped out to escape.
The report also highlights a vulnerability rooted in the drastic changes Maui has experienced since the arrival of Westerners and the conversion of the land to pineapple and sugar plantations in the 19th century. When these closed at the end of the 20th century, the lands became covered in invasive weeds. This and the prolonged drought created a “volatile fuel bed,” the report states.
About 3,000 properties were destroyed when the fire swept through Lahaina, causing an estimated more than $5.5 billion in damage, according to state officials.