My heart aches when I hear the daily terrible news about Maui and the rising death tolls.
As a former, now retired emergency manager with over 30 years’ experience, both in the private and government sector, it astounds me that this even happened.
I have over 38 years active and reserve Coast Guard experience having been recalled 13 times during my reserve time, mostly to work as a senior officer on disasters. I worked on Hurricane Katrina (five times), Hurricane Ike, Haiti earthquake port recovery and Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to name a few.
I have also been a civilian emergency planner for the state of Washington, Columbia County, Oregon, and The Evergreen State College.
I hold a master’s degree in emergency management, I’m a lifetime member as a certified emergency manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers and also hold a master exercise practitioner certification from FEMA.
The above is mentioned to highlight my expertise and to back up my personal observations on the Maui fires. I personally got involved with Hawaii when I was hired for two years working as a civilian Coast Guard planner in Honolulu developing emergency plans including Maui.
So, everyone is asking: what went wrong? There are all types of speculation out there and there will be a thorough investigation.
Personally, based on the recent information, I question how the emergency manager was hired with such a minimal, if any, background in emergency management.
One of the most frequent issues in times of disasters is a failure of communications. The island warning system was intentionally not activated, something I cannot wrap my brains around. What was the backup solution? Nothing? While the previous county emergency manager stated the alarm system was strictly for tsunamis, it has now been reported it is an ‘all hazard’ alarm, thereby contradicting his statement. He also stated it was not activated because he feared people would run toward the fire, which I find incredulous.
It has also now been reported a similar wildfire occurred in 2018 that had threatened Lahaina; however, some residents state no actions were taken to correct any deficiencies.
That would have been a great opportunity to study and learn to develop a realistic plan.
I have no doubt that the upcoming investigation will be exhaustive and complete. I do hope that the next emergency manager has the qualifications for this position.
All hiring personnel, in all types of organizations, should understand the need to hire qualified and experienced emergency managers. Those who hired this manager with zero experience need to answer questions as well.
Maui has a population of roughly 170,000 people; they deserved better. At the end of the day, this will go down as the most horrific wildfire in modern U.S. history and something that should have never occurred.
Steven Craig
Centralia
