Hawaii taps outside investigator as wildfire response scrutiny grows

Hawaii will hire an independent investigator to look into how state and native agencies responded to catastrophic wildfires which have left greater than 100 people dead, the state attorney general said Thursday.

“This might be an impartial, independent review,” said Attorney General Anne Lopez in an announcement. The investigator might be from a third-party, private organization with experience in emergency management, in line with the attorney general’s office.

The choice to tap an out of doors investigator comes as questions mount over whether emergency management officials did enough to warn residents as wildfires rapidly spread in West Maui last week, leaving the historic town of Lahaina in ashes.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said during a press conference Wednesday that it just isn’t a criminal investigation.

“It isn’t a criminal investigation in any way,” Green said. “Straight away we’re working to learn the way we are able to be certain it’s secure as we undergo hurricane season, as we cope with the fact that there might be fires month in and month out for the many years to return.”

Green ordered the attorney general last week to launch a comprehensive review of the wildfires. As calls grew for an independent investigation, Lopez decided to go together with an outsider.

At the least 111 people died within the blaze and 1000’s have been left homeless within the deadliest wildfire within the U.S. in greater than a century, and the worst disaster in Hawaii state history.

Lahaina, a town of about 13,000 people, was devastated within the blaze. Greater than 2,700 structures were destroyed at an estimated value of $5.6 billion, in line with Green.

The Maui County Emergency Management Agency has come under fierce criticism for not activating warning sirens in the course of the blaze. The agency’s website lists wildfires as situations through which the sirens will be activated. Alerts were sent via text message, television and radio, in line with the agency.

Herman Andaya, director of Maui’s emergency management agency, defended his decision to not activate the sirens in the course of the blaze. Andaya said the sirens are used primarily for tsunamis and the general public is trained to hunt higher ground after they are activated. Fleeing to higher ground would have been dangerous in the course of the wildfires, he said.

“We were afraid people would have gone ‘mauka,’ Andaya said during a press conference Wednesday, using a Hawaiian word for mountainside. “And if that was the case they might have gone into the fireplace.”

“I also needs to note that there are not any sirens on the mountainside where the fireplace was spreading down, so even when we had sounded the siren it might not have saved those people on the mountainside,” Andaya said.

The wildfires spread suddenly and rapidly last week, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora and fueled by drought conditions within the state.

The reason behind the blaze has yet to be determined, however the utility company Hawaii Electric is under growing scrutiny. 4 separate lawsuits in Hawaii state court allege that the corporate’s downed power lines played a job in sparking the fires.