As the death toll rose to 111 on Wednesday, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency defended not sounding sirens as flames raged.
LAHAINA, Hawaii — The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, who has been under fire for not activating disaster sirens during last week’s wildfire response, resigned Thursday, citing health reasons.
Andaya said he was afraid the sirens would have prompted people to flee into mountains or inland, where fires were burning.Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez said Thursday that an outside organization will conduct “an impartial, independent” review into the government’s response to the fires. “My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is victimized from a land grab,” Green said at a news conference. “People are right now traumatized. Please do not approach them with an offer to buy their land. Do not approach their families saying they’ll be much better off if they make a deal. Because we’re not going to allow it.”
He pointed to an announcement by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen on Aug. 8 saying the fire had been contained. That lulled people into a sense of safety and left him distrusting officials, he said.“I can’t answer why people don’t trust people,” Bissen said. “The people who were trying to put out these fires lived in those homes — 25 of our firefighters lost their homes.
The 2020 census found more native Hawaiians living on the mainland than the islands for the first time in history, driven in part by a search for cheaper housing.
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