XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.wildland.firefighting, hawaii.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: posted@bosley.biz   
      
   On 07 Jun 2023, Posner  posted some   
   news:u5qe38$16f3s$3@dont-email.me:   
      
   > The mass media will go out of their way to cover up this massive   
   > Democrat screwup.   
      
   HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The scope and severity of what was happening   
   in West Maui on the evening of Aug. 8 wasn’t communicated to key leaders   
   at the state level during the first 12 to 15 hours of the wildfire   
   disaster, according to the head of the state’s Emergency Management   
   Agency.   
      
   One key example of that: Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, HIEMA’s director, said   
   in an interview with HNN that no one told him anyone had died until the   
   morning after Lahaina town was reduced to ash.   
      
   “I thought everyone had gotten out safely,” Hara said.   
      
   “It wasn’t until probably the next day I started hearing about   
   fatalities.”   
      
   The revelation adds to growing questions about government’s handling of   
   the wildfire, from the earliest moments to the aftermath. The wildfire   
   tore through Lahaina town on the afternoon of Aug. 8, sending scores   
   fleeing into the water in a desperate attempt to escape the flames.   
      
   Many people died in their cars or on the street. Hundreds more barely   
   escaped with their lives.   
      
   Late in the afternoon of Aug. 8, Maui AMR ambulance crews say the   
   island’s main hospital was getting swamped with burn patients. By   
   nightfall, the entire town was erased.   
      
   The Lahaina wildfire actually started early in the morning of Aug. 8,   
   reigniting later to cause devastation. Seven hours after the fire   
   reignited, HNN spoke with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke — who was acting governor   
   that day — along with Hara to try to confirm reports of people jumping   
   into the water to try to escape the fire. “There is fire spreading very   
   quickly,” Luke said.   
      
   Reporter Daryl Huff asked, “What is happening now particularly in   
   Lahaina?”   
      
   Hara responded:   
      
   “I just got off the phone with them, Herman Andaya who’s the   
   administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, who said the fire   
   is right there on Front Street. ... Currently from the Hawaii National   
   Guard, we’re providing 30 personnel to support Hawaii County and 36   
   personnel to support Maui County. These are primarily for traffic   
   control and security support.”   
      
   During that six-minute interview, neither Luke or Hara gave any   
   indication anyone had been hurt.   
      
   On Wednesday, Hara sat down with HNN Investigates for an exclusive   
   one-on-one interview.   
      
   “I’m just here to tell my story,” he said.   
      
   Two weeks after the worst U.S. wildfire in more than a century, leaving   
   115 people dead, Hara admits the information he was getting from Maui   
   County the day of the disaster was limited.   
      
   On Aug. 7, the day before the firestorm, Hara said he decided to ready   
   National Guard resources after a red flag warning went into effect as   
   Hurricane Dora passed south of the state. Red flag warnings are issued   
   when the risk of wildfires spreading rapidly through dry brush is high.   
      
   The following day, the HIEMA director confirms he along with the   
   Department’s administrator and executive officer attended a FEMA   
   conference in Waikiki. Also on hand, Andaya, then-head of Maui’s   
   Emergency Management Agency. He has since resigned, citing health   
   reasons.   
      
   At 11 a.m. that day, Hara says they were all part of a “coordinating   
   call” with other government leaders to discuss multiple wildfires that   
   had sparked on Big Island and Maui. Then at 1 p.m., he says he left the   
   FEMA meeting in Waikiki to prepare emergency resources for the counties   
   — should they need them — from his office at the state Department of   
   Defense.   
      
   “The proper process is a request for assistance,” Hara said. “We’re in   
   support of the county. So, I can’t just deploy to another location and   
   just start doing operations.”   
      
   He says by the time Maui County officially asked for assistance, Lahaina   
   had already been leveled.   
      
   Hara said, “I’m telling you, they didn’t know how bad the fire was until   
   it was too late.”   
      
   It’s still unclear who was left in charge of Maui’s Emergency Operation   
   Center while Andaya was attending the conference in Waikiki. Also   
   unclear is when Andaya actually returned to Maui.   
      
   Nearly everyone who survived that horrific day says they were blindsided   
   by the inferno. Many residents said text alerts advising residents to   
   evacuate never came through.   
      
   Meanwhile, the island’s emergency warning sirens never sounded.   
      
   When asked about the decision not to activate the alarms, Hara   
   responded,” “I wasn’t in that decision chain.” He added, “If I was in   
   that room, right there giving advice, maybe I would have made a   
   different choice. But I don’t know. Because I didn’t have all the   
   information.”   
      
   Other than getting in a question or two at news conferences, HNN has had   
   almost no direct communication with the Maui County Mayor’s Office since   
   the night of the fires.   
      
   Over the past two weeks, HNN has sent dozens of media requests seeking   
   answers to basic questions about what emergency management officials   
   knew and when. HNN has also asked Bissen multiple times to sit down with   
   us for an interview, but have yet to get a response.   
      
   https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/25/emergency-management-head-maui-d   
   idnt-ask-state-help-lahaina-until-it-was-too-late/   
      
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