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Re: HIEMA head: It took hours for stupid blue state to understand full scope of Lahaina disaster
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byte detective
Sep 4, 2023, 2:17:23 AM9/4/23
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On 07 Jun 2023, Posner <now...@protonmail.com> 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/
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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