Vilma Reed initially realized there was a fire threatening Lahaina when she noticed it a few yards (meters) from her house.
She, like many others who escaped the fast-moving firestorm that killed at least 89 people on the Hawaiian island of Maui, had no official warning or evacuation order.
“Remember when we discovered there was a fire? When it was right across the street from us”, the 63-year-old explained.
She further said, “The mountain behind us caught on fire and nobody told us, Jack”.
Reed crammed her daughter, grandson, and two beloved cats into the car and drove out of town.
“I raced a line of fire to get my family out”, she continued.
The source of the frightening conflagration was still unknown Saturday, but experts say that whatever caused it, a confluence of events meant that it spread very quickly.
The unrestrained spread of flammable non-native plants, the volcanic geology that causes drying down-slope winds, an extremely parched winter, and churning hurricanes hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the southwest are all examples.
However, in a state that is no stronger to natural disasters (Hawaii has earthquakes, active volcanoes, a history of tsunamis, and is frequently affected by violent tropical storms), the lack of warning from authorities has perplexed and angered many.
Hawaii congresswoman Jill Tokuda said, “We underestimated the lethality, the quickness of fire”.
“It’s not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions. We saw this before in (Hurricane) Lane”, Tokuda continued.
“We did not learn our lesson from Lane (in 2018) — that brush fires could erupt as a result of churning hurricane winds below us to the south”, Tokuda added.
The fire knocked out power and inhabitants of Lahaina informed media that they didn’t have mobile coverage– a regular method used by authorities to alert locals to danger.
The same power outage would very probably have made it difficult for locals to watch television or listen to the radio, two other channels where official warnings are issued.
However, the more powerful outdoor warning sirens intended to alert islanders to danger did not sound, according to the Hawaii Emergency Services Administration (HI-EMA) on Friday.
Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, said it was too early for me to tell whether the absence of sirens was due to a technical malfunction or a deliberate decision by operators.
Anne Lopez, the state’s attorney general, announced on Friday that she was beginning an investigation into the timeline of the fire, including critical decision-making at the time the flames were spreading.
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