by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:
Just when you think that this story can’t get any worse, somehow it does. It is being reported that the wildfires that we just witnessed in Maui were the deadliest wildfires in the entire history of the United States, and according to Moody’s Analytics they caused somewhere between four and six billion dollars in economic damage. But if authorities had responded more competently, the outcome could have been much different. In fact, the fire that ultimately completely destroyed Lahaina could have been controlled if fire crews had not “left the scene even though the fire was still burning”…
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Maui locals have questioned why the blaze which developed into deadly wildfires that swept across the island was left unattended by firefighters hours before it spread.
A fire broke out on the outskirts of Lahaina at around 6.30am on Tuesday, August 8 and was declared ‘100 percent contained’ several hours later. Fire crews then left the scene even though the fire was still burning within the containment area.
But within a few hours, there was a ‘flareup’ which quickly spiraled out of control and fire crews who responded again were unable to extinguish it.
Once the fire came roaring back to life, hundreds of lives could have been saved if authorities had not put up a barricade that blocked the only paved road out of Lahaina…
As flames tore through a West Maui neighborhood, car after car of fleeing residents headed for the only paved road out of town in a desperate race for safety.
And car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30.
Have you seen photos of the lines of vehicles that were destroyed by fire right in the middle of the road?
Large numbers of people were trying to get out of Lahaina, and the only paved road out of the community became a death trap because so many vehicles got crammed behind the barricade.
But those that decided to disregard the barricade and drive around it ended up saving themselves…
One family swerved around the barricade and was safe in a nearby town 48 minutes later, another drove their 4-wheel-drive car down a dirt road to escape. One man took a dirt road uphill, climbing above the fire and watching as Lahaina burned. He later picked his way through the flames, smoke and rubble to pull survivors to safety.
But dozens of others found themselves caught in a hellscape, their cars jammed together on a narrow road, surrounded by flames on three sides and the rocky ocean waves on the fourth. Some died in their cars, while others tried to run for safety.
We are being told that the barricade had been put up to prevent people from driving over any power lines that may have been knocked over.
But when all of those people were desperately trying to get out, why wasn’t the barricade taken down?
Hopefully we can get an answer to that question.
We are also being told that “safety” was the reason why the warning sirens were never used, and Hawaii Governor Josh Green is still attempting to defend that decision…
In speaking to Face the Nation, Green reiterated this, saying that the sirens, which also were not fully functional, are used for tsunamis. “Do I wish those sirens went off? Of course I do,” he said. “And I think that the answer that the emergency administrator for Maui, who’s resigned, was, of course utterly unsatisfactory to the world. But it is the case that that we’ve historically not used those kinds of warnings for fires.”
A water official also delayed releasing more water to help firefighters battle the blaze, waiting five hours to approve a request to divert more water. He felt it necessary to consult with a local farmer on the impact of water diversion prior to releasing it. M. Kaleo Manuel resigned from his position as the deputy director of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, and was transferred to a different position in government.
The politicians are going to try to cover their rear ends, but nothing is going to bring back all of the people that have been killed.
So many children were at home all alone because the schools were closed, and many of them never even knew that the fires were coming until it was too late…
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