It was when she discovered, terrified, the flames in front of her house that Vilma Reed understood that the city of Lahaina was devoured by the gigantic fire which ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui. Like many others, she had received no alert or evacuation order. “You want to know when we knew there was a fire? When he arrived in front of the house,” the 63-year-old woman told AFP in the parking lot of an evacuation center. “The mountain was burning behind our house and we were told damn it!”
At least 93 people died in these meteoric fires in Maui on Tuesday August 8, according to a report published on Sunday of the disaster whose management is bitterly criticized. The human consequences of this tragedy are much heavier than those of the last natural disaster in this American state, the 1960 tsunami which killed 61 people.
“I ran in front of the fire to get my family out,” continues Vilma Reed, who loaded her daughter, her grandson and her two cats into the car before leaving Lahaina. An investigation into the origin of this terrifying fire was opened on Saturday, but experts believe that, whatever the cause, a combination of circumstances contributed to its rapid spread. Potentially aggravating factors include non-native vegetation that burns easily and grows out of control, volcanic topography that generates desiccating downdraft winds, an exceptionally dry winter, and a raging hurricane southwest of Maui Island.
Hawaii, accustomed to natural disasters, is home to active volcanoes, undergoes earthquakes, experiences powerful and regular tropical storms, sometimes also tsunamis. The absence of warnings from the authorities caused amazement and anger among the survivors. “We underestimated the danger and the speed of the fire”, admitted on CNN the deputy of Hawaii Jill Tokuda, before lamenting: “It is not as if the power of the winds of the hurricanes, the brush fires and red flags were unknown. We experienced this with Hurricane Lane (in 2018) but it did not teach us a lesson. Bushfires can occur with the force of the hurricane winds.
This time, the fire caused power cuts. Lahaina residents have told the press that they have been deprived of mobile phone connections that authorities use to warn of danger. Power outages have certainly also prevented residents from being informed by television and radio, through which official warnings are usually issued. The loudest outdoor sirens, intended to alert islanders to danger, did not sound on Maui. On Friday, State Attorney General Anne Lopez announced the opening of a full investigation into the circumstances of the fire, saying that it will include “critical decision-making”.
Kamuela Kawaakoa now lives in a retractable tent, and feeds himself thanks to the charity of strangers. For him, the city has simply found itself left to fend for itself. “There was no emergency signal. No alert system went off, nothing, so some didn’t even know about the fire until it was too late,” said the 34-year-old. He worked in a restaurant on a tourist street in the city, which had gone up in smoke. According to him, even without cell service or electricity, we should have found a way to warn the population. “You can always call 911 without any cell service,” he said. You should be able to receive emergency alerts on your phone.”
The toll of forest fires in Hawaii, already the deadliest in more than a century in the United States, is likely to continue to rise, with several hundred inhabitants of the island still missing. Only a small part of the burnt area could be excavated. “None of us know the full extent of the disaster yet,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said. Flames reduced the seaside town of Lahaina to ashes, engulfing homes, cars, hotels and businesses. Their heat was so strong that the bodies found are difficult to identify, explained Mr. Pelletier.
So far, only two have been able to. The fire “even melted the metal”, specifies the police chief, calling on the relatives of missing persons to submit to a DNA test to help identify the victims. Of the shops, hotels, buildings and restaurants that made the charm of this seaside town of 13,000 inhabitants, there is almost nothing left. A majestic banyan tree, a tourist attraction, was licked by the flames but appears to have survived. It now stands solitary among the ruins. During this nightmare, the locals could only count on the “coconut network”, word of mouth, denounces a resident, William Harry.
In total, more than 2,200 buildings, mostly residential, were destroyed or damaged, according to the federal agency responsible for responding to natural disasters (Fema). For the Lahaina fire alone, the cost of reconstruction is estimated at $5.52 billion. Jeremy Greenberg, a Fema official, speaks of an “incredibly devastating” fire. “These types of fires, he said, can spread a distance equivalent to an American football field in twenty seconds or less.”
