Maui locals accuse fire crews of allowing fire to restart: ‘They could’ve saved everybody else’

[Kamaji]

Maui locals accuse fire crews of allowing fire to restart: ‘They could’ve saved everybody else’

By Emily Crane
August 18, 2023

Horrified Maui locals have questioned why a fire sparked by a downed power line was left to restart and spread just hours after it was declared contained — claiming that lives could have been saved if crews hadn’t abandoned it so quickly.

Multiple residents in the now-devastated town of Lahaina say they witnessed the moment flames started shooting out the damaged electrical system just after 6.30 a.m. on Aug. 8, including one man who filmed harrowing videos of the fire tearing down a hillside.

As the death toll rose to 111 as of Friday, the locals — who say that early morning fire played a part in sparking the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century — insist the blaze should never have led to so much tragedy.

“Why did they leave?” Dominga Advincula, 55, said of the fire crews in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If they could wait an hour or 30 minutes … that small fire in the afternoon? They could’ve saved everybody else.”

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/18/maui-locals-accuse-fire-crews-of-allowing-fire-to-restart/

[jafo2010]

No excuse for such poor planning and poor execution to prevent fires.  And with such devastation, there clearly was zero ground planning to prevent major fires.  Just no excuse.  Many should be terminated.

 

[libertybele]

Such a tragedy and right now a lot of finger pointing is going on. How much of what we're hearing is true?  Someone obviously dropped the ball and made some wrong calls.

[mystery-ak]

Maui company says request for water to fight wildfire delayed several hours while state consulted with farmers
At least 110 people were killed in the August 8 wildfire on the island of Maui
By Andrew Mark Miller , William La Jeunesse Fox News
Published August 18, 2023 6:37pm EDT | Updated August 18, 2023 8:29pm EDT

A Hawaiian company says that its efforts to divert water to fight a devastating wildfire last week were delayed for hours while a government agency, led by a man who has pushed for "water equity," consulted with local farmers.

The West Maui Land Company, which manages several agricultural and residential subdivisions along with water jurisdictions, says that it requested water the day of the catastrophic wildfire in Maui from the Commission On Water Resource Management but was initially denied for several hours.

The company alleges the reason for that delay was that the commission had to clear the move with local farmers. By the time the request was granted, several hours later, the company says it was too late.

"We followed the process. The process failed us," Glenn Tremble, an executive with West Maui Land Co., told Hawaii Public Radio in an emailed statement.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maui-company-says-request-water-fight-wildfire-delayed-several-hours-govt-consulted-farmers

[rangerrebew]

COINCIDENCE? Maui neighborhood was winning against catastrophic wildfire until water was deliberately cut off
08/18/2023 // Belle Carter // 480 Views
 

The Lahaina residents, using their own water hoses, battled hard with the raging wildfire in Maui to help out the local fire department when the blaze jumped containment near a residential neighborhood. At one point, it appeared they were winning until the water supply was cut off.
Ross Hart, a resident of Maui for the last 40 years, recalled how he and his neighbors were fighting, keeping the blaze at bay, keeping it off of the properties, then the water shut off. "Even the firemen that were patrolling could not refill their trucks. The fire just grew. The sparks started blowing over, and it just beat us in the end," Hart lamented. After the water went out, he said there was nothing they could do but to get in their cars and leave the place, only to come back in the morning to see the whole place all burned down and leveled.


He told the New York Times, "You can't fight fire when you don't have water… Just throwing dirt on it doesn't cut it."

According to the report, the blaze took root among homes along the hillside nearly a mile above the center of town and the fire crews encountered increasingly feeble water pressure, with the wind turning the streams into mist. Then, as the fire stoked by hurricane-force gusts grew, roaring further toward the historic center of town on the island of Maui, the hydrants sputtered and became largely useless.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-08-18-maui-neighborhood-fought-wildfire-until-water-shut-off.html

[PeteS in CA]

Since the water was cut of to much more than their neighborhood, yes, it was a coincidence. A stupid coincidence, as far more than just one neighborhood was affected, but definitely stupid.

[240B]

The guy in charge of the water was a 'far-out hippy progressive'. When asked why he did not allow water to be used against the fire, he went in to some kind of new age "equity" speech about how using water on the fire would be 'unfair' to the water ... or something like that. Nobody understood what his ganja brain was trying to say.

He has since been "reassigned". I do not know what that means, but I do know that he lost his job in terms of having anything to do with water management.

[Kamaji]

Hawaii official concerned with ‘equity’ delayed releasing water for more than 5 hours as wildfires raged: report

By Isabel Vincent   
August 19, 2023

Access to water should be predicated on “conversations about equity,” according to the Hawaii official under fire for delaying access to water during the Maui wildfires.

M. Kaleo Manuel, former deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, waited for more than five hours to release water during the wildfires that devastated Maui, according to reports.

In a livestream debate hosted by the University of Hawaii last year, Manuel described water as a sacred god.

“Let water connect us and not divide us,” said Manuel, referring to water distribution on the island. “We can share it, but it requires true conversations about equity…How do we coexist with the resources we have?”

A former Obama Foundation leader — part of a program by the former President’s non-profit to help participants with coaching and “practical skill building for social change” — Manuel said he considered water an important tool for social justice.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/19/hawaii-official-worried-about-equity-over-water/

[Kamaji]

[Smokin Joe]

I'd bet the folk burned out were not all Haoles.

[unite for individuality]

The guy in charge of the water was a 'far-out hippy progressive'. When asked why he did not allow water to be used against the fire, he went in to some kind of new age "equity" speech about how using water on the fire would be 'unfair' to the water ... or something like that. Nobody understood what his ganja brain was trying to say.

He has since been "reassigned". I do not know what that means, but I do know that he lost his job in terms of having anything to do with water management.

He deserves much worse than just being "reassigned."
He deserves to be prosecuted for several hundred counts of reckless homicide!