According to emergency management records for Hawaii, there is no evidence that sirens were blasted prior to people fleeing from the Maui wildfires that killed at least 55 people and destroyed a historic village.
Officials instead sent out alerts via radio, television, and mobile devices, although their reach may have been constrained by severe power and cellular disruptions.
With nearly 400 sirens placed around the chain of islands to warn people of various natural disasters and other risks, Hawaii has what the state characterizes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world.
However, many survivors claimed in interviews on Thursday that they were not alerted to their peril in advance by sirens or other sounds and instead discovered it when it was too late to prepare.
Gov. Josh Green issued a warning that while search and rescue efforts go on, the death toll is expected to increase. According to Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr., cadaver-sniffing dogs were sent in on Friday to help with the hunt for the remains of people killed in the blaze.
Thomas Leonard, a retired mailman from Lahaina, a town with a long history, didn’t discover the fire until he smelled smoke.
Thomas is 70 years old. Earlier on Tuesday, the town was without power and a cellular connection, so there was no real-time information available about the threat.
When automobiles nearby started exploding, he attempted to flee in his Jeep but was forced to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore. He spent hours hiding behind a seawall while being covered in hot ash and cinders by the wind.
When firefighters finally came, they led Leonard and the other survivors out of the burning building.
At least three wildfires broke out on Maui this week, racing through the island’s parched bush due to a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane.
Lahaina was left in a grid of gray, ashen wreckage after the most severe one, which was sandwiched between the blue ocean and lush green mountains. Building skeletons buckled beneath roofs that collapsed in the fire.
The smell of burning persisted; boats in the harbor were charred, and palm trees were set on fire. After touring the town’s ruins with the mayor on Thursday morning, the governor remarked, “There is no doubt that it feels like a bomb was detonated on Lahaina.
At least three wildfires broke out on Maui this week, racing through the island’s parched bush due to a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane. Lahaina was left in a grid of gray, ashen wreckage after the most severe one, which was sandwiched between the blue ocean and lush green mountains.
Building skeletons buckled beneath roofs that collapsed in the fire. The smell of burning persisted; boats in the harbor were charred, and palm trees were set on fire.
After touring the town’s ruins with the mayor on Thursday morning, the governor remarked, “There is no doubt that it feels like a bomb was detonated on Lahaina.
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