Could crowdsourcing hold the key to early wildfire detection?

USC researchers develop low-cost wildfire detection system to accurately detect wildfires minutes—even seconds—after they ignite

University of Southern California

The 2023 blaze in Lahaina, Hawaii, which claimed more than 100 lives and burned 6,500 acres of land across Maui, is a tragic example of how rapid wildfire spread can make effective response efforts impossible, resulting in the loss of life and property.

What if technology could help people detect wildfires earlier? The solution could already be in your pocket: a mobile phone.

USC computer science researchers have developed a new crowdsourcing system that dramatically slashes wildfire mapping time from hours to seconds using a network of low-cost mobile phones mounted on properties in high fire threat areas. In computer simulations, the system, FireLoc, detected blazes igniting up to 3,000 feet away and successfully mapped wilderness fires to within 180 feet of their origin.

Detecting wildfires within seconds of ignition

Presented at ACM SenSys on Nov. 5, the paper, titled “FireLoc: Low-latency Multi-modal Wildfire Geolocation,” serves as a proof of concept, according to the researchers. But how would it function in the real world?

“It’s a stepping stone towards broader wildfire mitigation efforts in the future.” Xiao Fu

For the user, it’s simple. Residents and businesses near high-risk areas would install an affordable, weatherproof mobile phone in their backyard or on their building, connect it to a power source, and point the camera toward nearby trees and brush.

Behind the scenes, complex multi-modal analysis and computer vision models process the data, gathered from the phone’s basic cameras and sensors, rapidly detect wildfires, often within minutes—even seconds—of ignition.

The system prioritizes privacy by focusing on areas with minimal human activity and primarily captures images of vegetation and wilderness. Adapted object localization techniques also ensure the system zeroes in on fire risks without inadvertently capturing images of people or homes.

Sustainable co-existence with extreme climate

For people who live and work on the periphery of open spaces that traditionally teem with parched fuel sources such as grass, shrubs, and timber, such a rapid response could mean the difference between life and death—or having a home or losing it.

In Southern California, the technology could serve as a model for how to best protect people and homes in wildland-urban interface (WUI) locations such as the Hollywood Hills, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the San Gabriel Valley.  What’s more, the entire set-up would cost less than $100, said lead author Xiao Fu, a computer science PhD student.

“FireLoc envisions a future that we will provide a more effective wildfire response, providing better support in the WUI, and more sustainable co-existence with an extreme climate,” Fu said. “It’s a stepping stone towards broader wildfire mitigation efforts in the future.”

The paper is co-authored by Barath Raghavan, Fu’s advisor and an assistant professor of computer science, Peter Bereel, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and students Yue Hu and Prashanth Sutrave.

Robust testing of wildfire environments

Traditional wildfire detection methods—such as lookouts, satellites, and drones—each have their drawbacks, including high costs, inconvenience, slow response times, and limited battery life. Consequently, firefighters often depend on human observation to spot new fires, which makes it difficult to pinpoint a fire’s exact location.

“This is also very overwhelming for the fire departments, especially in rapidly developing fires like the one in Paradise,” said Fu, referring to the deadly 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, which killed 85 people.

The team evaluated the effectiveness of their mapping tool by running a simulator based on data from the 2019 Getty Fire, which burned 745 acres in Los Angeles. By adopting a real-world 3D model of the terrain and simulating realistic wildfire scenarios, they assessed the system’s overall performance, including its ability to accurately localize wildfires and its scalability.

Each camera was positioned to mimic the typical height of a residential second story or rooftop, approximately 30 feet above ground level. The results were clear: By adopting FireLoc, the researchers successfully detected more than 40% of wildfires in the target area with only four cameras.

“The simulator allows us to have robust testing of wildfire environments. We’re able to control the scalability – like increasing the number of cameras—is accuracy going to improve? Is coverage going to improve?” Fu said.

Reframing the problem and coming up with a solution

While the location information from the cameras is incredibly important, crowdsourcing plays an equally pivotal role. Requiring only electricity, an Internet connection and the phone (in a weatherproof holder), the software would automatically take pictures every, say, 30 seconds.

“Given several locations, the system is able to optimize where would be the best location to set up additional cameras for wildfire monitoring," said Fu.

When several cameras detect possible smoke or a fire, they would transmit that information to a cloud server which stitches the multiple images together using digital elevation models, computer visions techniques, and other sophisticated computing tools.  This is a complex and critical process, Raghavan said, but you don’t need high-quality images. An algorithm would determine where the cameras should be placed to optimize coverage.

“We’re combining all the information from the images in a way that solves the problem,” Raghavan said. “That’s the solution part of our paper. But we also reframed the problem – that is, how can we map fires as quickly as possible? This paper does both: reframing the problem and coming up with a solution.”

As far as the researchers know, this is the first smart, low-cost crowdsourcing system specifically designed for wildfire detection.

Testing the system in real-world conditions would require community members to mount smartphones on their properties to act as wildfire sensors—the team plans future participatory studies to understand how people would engage with the technology. If deployed, would the researchers themselves join in?

For Fu, an outdoor enthusiast with a deep love for nature, it’s a no-brainer.

“My whole life, I have worked for green unions and environmental events,” said Fu, who grew up on her family’s fruit farm in the tropical region of Hainan, China. “Even when I can’t get outside because I’m working, I can still look at the photos of the trees and the vegetation, and that makes me happy. I hope this technology will help to protect our natural landscapes in the face of extreme climate change.”

 

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Subject of Research

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Article Title

FireLoc: Low-latency Multi-modal Wildfire Geolocation

 

IMO Honors Lahaina Responders With Bravery at Sea Award

The fire at Lahaina, as seen from a Coast Guard response boat on August 8 (USCG)

Published Oct 20, 2024 4:55 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Friday, the IMO honored Coast Guard members and good Samaritans who responded to the Lahaina wildfire last year. Their actions saved or assisted dozens of local residents who were attempting to flee the devastating blaze that swept through the city.

On August 8, 2023, a major wildfire started on the outskirts of Lahaina, Maui. Propelled by winds from a strong high-pressure weather system and fueled by tall grasses, the blaze swept into the city that evening, destroying over 2,200 buildings and killing more than 100 people in a matter of hours. Survivors said that the  evacuation was self-organized, with little guidance or warning from city officials, and traffic hampered the movement of those who attempted to flee by car. Dozens escaped a firestorm on the waterfront by jumping into the harbor. The severity of the situation and the effectiveness of the response were exceptional: Coast Guard responders and good Samaritans rescued 20 people along the shoreline and assisted about 40 more over the course of August 8-9.

In a ceremony at the J. Walter Cameron Center in Wailuku, Hawaii, the International Maritime Organization presented five Coastguardsmen and four good Samaritans with its Honours for Exceptional Bravery At Sea award for their role in the response. The award recognizes those who risk their own lives to save others or prevent damage to the marine environment. The highest-level award is granted to nominees who perform the "most outstanding act of bravery in a situation of grave danger to themselves or others and under very difficult conditions." 

Typically the awards are announced and presented at IMO headquarters on a major occasion, but in exceptional circumstances, the ceremony may be held elsewhere - in this case, Hawaii. 

“Attempting to rescue those in peril is among the noblest of human undertakings,” said Arsenio Dominguez, secretary general of the International Maritime Organization. “The courage and professionalism displayed . . . are truly noteworthy.” 

At the same event, the United Services Organization honored Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Marzilli, a boatswain’s mate from Coast Guard Station Maui, as its 2024 USO Coastguardsman of the Year. 

Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Joshua Marzilli was the coxswain in charge on scene, and he and his crew arrived at Lahaina to respond to reports of up to 100 people who had jumped into the water to escape the fires. The surface conditions were hazardous for swimmers, including 25-knot winds, three-foot seas and less than 10 feet of visibility near the shoreline from the heavy smoke. 

Working from outside the reef line in the dark, Joshua and his crew used a loudhailer, searchlights and a visual search to look for survivors. They spotted lights on shore and determined that there might be people stuck on the beach. 

Marzilli volunteered to jump in and swim to shore on a tether line. The first attempt was not successful, and his crew hauled him back to the response boat. Instead, he worked with a good Samaritan boat nearby, which donated two surfboards and an inflatable dinghy to help them get over the reef. An off-duty lifeguard from the good Samaritan vessel joined Marzilli, and they paddled together on the surfboards, carrying lifejackets. They retrieved two children from the shore and paddled back out through the surf to bring them to safety. Marzilli continued to help on shore and afloat through the night, rescuing three people on the beach with the Maui Fire Department and two more independently with his response boat crew. 

Coast Guard Sector Honolulu also presented 26 local skippers and crew members from the Trilogy II, Expeditions, Majorie Ann, Reef Explorer, and Ali’i Nui with letters of appreciation, and it awarded Coast Guard Lt. Dylan McCall with a Coast Guard Commendation Medal.

“Their selfless actions exemplify true heroism, and we are deeply grateful for their bravery and dedication. Together, they transformed a moment of despair into a testament of hope and humanity for the community of Maui," said Coast Guard Capt. Aja Kirksey, commander, Sector Honolulu. 

Broken power lines caused deadly Maui wildfire, new report shows

BURY THEM!

KIARA ALFONSECA and LEAH SARNOFF

ABC
Wed, October 2, 2024 

Broken power lines caused deadly Maui wildfire, new report shows

A report has found that broken power lines caused the deadly August 2023 wildfire in Maui.

The wildfire on the Hawaiian Island killed 102 people and destroyed more than 2,200 structures, causing more than $5 billion in damages.

The nearly 300-page report released Wednesday comes from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which worked with local officials like the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety to determine the cause.

The fire was initially blamed on the combination of high winds and dry weather. However, the investigation found that the widespread destruction was caused by a single fire that started by the "undetected re-energization of broken utility lines, which caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation," Maui Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said during a press conference Wednesday.

The investigation found no definitive conclusion with how the ignition started, Ventura said, but noted that the report found the fire cause to be accidental.

"The origin of the fire was the overgrown vegetation at and surrounding utility pole 25 off of Lahainaluna Road," according to the report. "The cause of the fire was the re-energization of broken utility lines which caused the ejection of molten metallic material (sparks) to fall to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below."

The investigation also ruled out the possibility that there had been two separate fires. "This, in fact, was one fire," Ventura said.


PHOTO: Maui Mayor Richard Bissen stands before the Kuhinia Maui Paddle Out remembrance event honoring Lahaina wildfire victims on Aug. 8, 2024 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Mario Tama/Getty Images, FILE)

The wildfire was the fifth deadliest in U.S. history and the worst natural disaster in Hawaii's history, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. It sparked several other investigations centered on police response and the response from state and Maui county agencies.

In the days before the Aug. 8 wildfire, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued a red flag warning of "gusty winds and dry fuels" creating a risk of "extreme fire."

PHOTO: An aerial image taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows a person walking down Front Street past destroyed buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

Fingers were pointed between the local agencies and companies connected to the fire. A report from state Attorney General Anne E. Lopez found that there is no evidence that Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Maui Fire Department, Maui Police and others had developed plans to deal with such a fire risk.

A preliminary Maui Police Department report in February found that the understaffed police force grappled with communications and equipment issues that hadn't been anticipated. The police investigation didn't address the utility's potential culpability for the fires, the origin of the blazes or the fire crews' response.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 14, 2023 a view of destruction from Hwy 30 days after a fierce wildfire destroyed the town in Lahaina, Maui, Aug. 14, 2023. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE)

MORE: Native Hawaiians fighting to take control of Maui's water rights amid wildfire cleanup

The report found that police went without proper protective gear while juggling frantic traffic evacuations and that emergency dispatch for the island was overwhelmed by a call volume it was unable to handle. It also noted that suspended cables and downed electrical wires were strewn across roadways, cutting off what could have been critical routes for escape.

In August, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced a historic $4.037 billion settlement to resolve claims arising from the tragedy. The settlement addresses roughly 450 lawsuits filed by individuals, businesses and insurance companies in both state and federal courts against seven defendants -- state of Hawaii, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Co., Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum/Charter Communications.

They say they "undertook significant efforts to find a resolution that addresses the needs and ensures the well-being of plaintiffs, all affected individuals, and their families," according to a press release from Green's office.


Deadly Maui fire erupted from earlier blaze believed to have been extinguished, investigation finds

Associated Press
Wed, October 2, 2024 

The wildfire that killed at least 102 people on Maui last year erupted from an earlier brushfire caused by downed power lines that firefighters believed they had extinguished, officials confirmed, Wednesday as they presented their findings on the cause of the tragedy.

The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze — the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century — was long known to have emerged in the afternoon, in the same area as blaze that began early that morning. Driven by strong, erratic winds, the fire raced through the historic town of Lahaina, destroying thousands of buildings, overcoming people trapped in their cars and forcing some residents to flee into the ocean.

It has been unclear whether the blaze was a rekindling of the morning fire after firefighters spent hours dousing it or a separate one. The answer could prove significant to questions about liability for the destruction, though a tentative $4 billion settlement has been reached.

In presenting their findings, officials with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maui Fire Department did not address liability, but found that it was a rekindling of the morning fire.

The rekindling was most likely caused by high winds that blew undetected embers into the dry gully, they said.

A Hawaiian Electric power line fell early on the morning of Aug. 8, sparking a fire in overgrown brush near the edge of town. Fire crews responded and stayed for several hours until they believed the fire was extinguished. After they left, flames were spotted again and though firefighters rushed back, they were no match for the wind and flames.

Pictures and crosses are displayed at a public hillside memorial to Lahaina wildfire victims on August 1, 2024 in Lahaina, Hawaii. August 8 marks the one-year anniversary of the Maui wildfires which killed 102 people and devastated the historic community of Lahaina in West Maui. Hawaii Governor Josh Green has announced that parties involved in the wildfire lawsuits against the government and utilities are nearing a settlement of claims which will total about $4 billion. - Mario Tama/Getty ImagesMore

Communication between the police and fire departments was spotty, cellphone networks were down and emergency officials did not activate the emergency sirens that might have warned residents to evacuate. Power lines and poles had fallen in many locations throughout town, and police blocked some roads to protect residents from potentially dangerous power lines. First responders also had trouble getting a firm answer from Hawaiian Electric representatives if the power had been cut to the area.

The blocked roads contributed to gridlock that left fleeing people trapped in their cars as the flames advanced. Others died in their homes or outside as they tried to escape. The death toll surpassed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise.

In the months since, thousands of Lahaina residents have sued various parties they believe to be at fault for the fire, including Hawaiian Electric, Maui County and the state of Hawaii. The defendants have often tried to point fingers at each other, with Hawaiian Electric saying the county shouldn’t have left the first fire unattended, and Maui County contending the electric utility failed to take proper care with the power grid. Exactly who was responsible for clearing brush and maintaining area has also been a point of contention among the defendants, along with the utility’s lack of a public safety power shut-off program.

A few days before the one-year anniversary of the wildfires, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced a $4 billion settlement. That’s the amount the defendants — including Hawaiian Electric, the state, Maui County, large landowners and others — have agreed to pay to settle claims.

But the deal is tied up in court, awaiting a decision from Hawaii Supreme Court on whether insurance companies can go after the defendants separately to recoup what they’ve paid to policyholders. Lawyers for people seeking compensation fear allowing insurance companies to sue Hawaiian Electric and others will subvert the deal, drain what is available to pay fire victims and lead to prolonged litigation.

Maui community implements changes after deadly wildfire
Gina Mangieri
Wed, October 2, 2024 


HONOLULU (KHON2) — In the wake of the deadliest fire in the U.S. in over a century, officials took steps to prevent future disasters in Maui. Gina Mangieri reported from Lahainaluna Road, where the fire originated.

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Residents were eager to learn what improvements had been made to enhance community safety. The focus was on the electric system; utility poles were replaced and reinforced to better withstand future incidents.

Maui Fire Chief Ventura emphasized the importance of underground utilities but acknowledged the costs involved.

“We’ve been proponents for underground utilities for years, but it’s expensive, and that cost will be passed on to homeowners,” he said.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) expressed regret over its operations contributing to the fire and implemented changes to its protocols, including a power safety shutoff program and measures to prevent automatic re-energization of power lines.

Another key concern highlighted in investigations was the issue of unmaintained brush.

County codes required vegetation to be no more than 18 inches high within 30 feet of a home. Community members, like Shane Treu, who recorded the initial spark of the fire, noted that the area had previously been overgrown, exacerbating the fire risk.

One fire by re-energization caused Lahaina fire: ATF report

Kamehameha Schools, the landowner in the area, improved vegetation management and established larger fire breaks.

Mangieri reached out to Kamehameha Schools to learn more about ongoing efforts.

“We recognize that we can do better. Steadfast in our commitment to be responsible land stewards, we are using all sources of information and guidance to improve our efforts to manage our lands,” said Kamehameha Schools.

However, some residents, including Treu, raised concerns about access to emergency escape routes, noting that locked gates could hinder evacuation efforts.

“I was told to get myself cutters,” Treu said, highlighting the urgency of the situation.

In response, Chief Ventura announced plans for inspectors to assess vegetation management across Maui County before the fire season.

“We plan to identify high-risk areas and notify landowners if vegetation needs to be managed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stated that the fire was deemed accidental but refrained from commenting on potential liabilities or criminal implications.

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Mangieri will continue to investigate these concerns, including the use of emergency evacuation routes.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.

A new immersive cinema is helping firefighters to better prepare for megafires

The Conversation
September 30, 2024 

Man with fire Photo: Shutterstock

As summer approaches, the threat of bushfires looms. Earlier this month, an out-of-control blaze in Sydney’s northern beaches burnt more than 100 hectares of bushland, threatening nearby homes.

Climate change is making bushfires larger, hotter and faster. Previously unthinkable catastrophes, such as the “Black Summer” megafires in Australia in 2019/2020 and the ones that ravaged Maui, Hawaii, in August 2023, are becoming more common.

Firefighters put their lives on the line to battle these fires. Yet many are not meaningfully and comprehensively prepared to respond to erratic and extreme conflagrations. This increases their chances of being injured, or worse. It may also hinder their ability to make the best decisions.

To help address this, the University of New South Wales’ iCinema Research Centre has created iFire. This cutting-edge training system allows firefighters and emergency responders to virtually teleport into a burning landscape and train for the real thing. It could revolutionize the way we prepare for other natural disasters as well.
Megafires are becoming more common

The rate of extreme fire events has doubled over the past decade. These fires can combine with the atmosphere to produce their own weather systems, generating multiple fire fronts. As the planet continues to warm, this situation will only get worse.

Much current research is focused on understanding these worsening fire threats. This is vital. But data and charts don’t meaningfully prepare firefighters for how to respond to such extreme, unanticipated fires.

“Experiential preparedness” is the missing element.

It helps firefighters prepare by virtually experiencing and rehearsing how to respond to real and future extreme fires through immersive scenarios. This can be done in a large-scale, three-dimensional cinema or on a smart tablet or phone.

Simulating the fireground

The iFire collaboration builds on iCinema’s award-winning iCasts immersive training system for mine workers.

Since it was developed in 2008, iCasts has exposed and trained thousands of miners and planners in simulations of known threats before they go underground. This has resulted in a dramatic reduction in serious injuries at Australian mine sites and many lives saved.

iFire takes a similar approach. It uses a combination of mathematical modeling of actual fires provided by CSIRO’s Data61 research institute, advanced visualization and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to recreate immersive simulations of three real case studies: a pine plantation fire, a grass fire and the 2020 Bridger-Foothills fire in the United States.

The system puts fire crews in the centre of these simulated firegrounds using immersive cinematic scenarios. The crews feel as though they are physically present. They can experience the fire from any point of view – aerial or on the ground – at any point in time, and interactively engage with it.

Importantly, the scenarios are not static reproductions of past events. Fire crews and incident commanders can adjust variables to experience the influence of changes in conditions. For example, they can change the air temperature or wind direction and see how this affects the dynamic behavior of the fire in real time.

This allows them to better perceive risks and practice making key decisions in preparation for when they are on the actual firegrounds and under enormous pressure to act fast.
A more advanced system

iFire is already in the hands of those who need it. It has recently been installed at the Fire and Rescue NSW Emergency Services Academy in Sydney using a 130‑degree, three-dimensional, cinematic theatre.

The UNSW iCinema Centre and Fire and Rescue NSW will use iFire to develop training modules for frontline response. These modules will provide simulations where fire crews practice how to be situationally aware in the face of an unpredictable fire situation. They learn how to make the best decisions in managing the unfolding fire.

But the iFire team is working towards building a more advanced AI system that learns the underlying and unforeseen patterns of fire behavior to create more precise and detailed simulations of these unpredictable fires.

This will enable incident commanders and firefighters to engage with unanticipated fireground threats and better prepare to protect people and property under threat from flames.

The longer-term goal is that the iFire system will ultimately enable firefighters on a tablet or any other smart screen device in any location to experience the look and feel of a possible future fire scenario in real time. This won’t be as immersive, but it will be effective for use in the field when managing a fire and will improve tactical and strategic responses.

Although iFire has been specially designed for firefighters, the technology behind it can be tweaked for many purposes. For example, it can be used to help better train and prepare emergency service workers for other natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes.


Dennis Del Favero, ARC Laureate Fellow and executive director, iCinema Research Centre, UNSW Sydney; Michael J. Ostwald, Professor of Architectural Analytics, UNSW Sydney, and Yang Song, Scientia Associate Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Property owners profiting as Maui residents are forced from their homes

Nick Grube, Honolulu Civil BeatProPublica

August 14, 2024 

Burned palm trees and destroyed cars and buildings in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii(AFP)

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. 

Reporting HighlightsTempting Offers: State and federal officials looking to house victims of the Maui wildfires offered lucrative rates to convince property owners to sign up.
“FEMA Fever”: Tenants, housing advocates, government officials and even landlords say those high prices have encouraged property owners to chase the money.
Soaring Prices: People who have been pushed from their homes are contending with a housing market where the median rent has jumped 44%. Some said they haven’t found permanent homes.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

A year ago, after a deadly wildfire displaced thousands of residents of Lahaina, Hawaii’s governor and lieutenant governor invoked a state law blocking most evictions and prohibiting price gouging. The emergency order soon became a tool to prevent widespread displacement of all Maui residents, including people struggling to pay rent because they had lost work due to the fire.

Despite that order, some Maui property owners have capitalized on the crisis by pushing out tenants and housing wildfire survivors for more money. Among those displaced: a couple and their two young children who, according to court records, were evicted so their landlord’s son could move in while renting his own home to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s housing program for $8,000 a month.

Some property owners have brought in more than twice the going rate for a long-term rental by signing up with FEMA or another aid program. They have received lucrative property tax breaks for housing wildfire survivors, in some cases worth more than $10,000 a year.

Other landlords have forced out tenants and sought people who will pay more. Over the course of several months, one landlord tried to evict his tenants for different reasons, even claiming that Maui’s mayor needed to use the house as a “command center to rebuild Lahaina.” (A spokesperson for the mayor said that claim was false.) After the tenants moved out, two of them saw their ocean-view apartment listed online for $6,800 a month rather than the $4,200 they had paid. Asked about the higher price, the landlord told Civil Beat and ProPublica that the apartment has been cleaned up and is now furnished.

Complaints about evictions and rent increases have circulated for months. Housing advocates say Gov. Josh Green’s administration hasn’t moved aggressively enough to tighten the rules and that the Hawaii attorney general has overlooked abuses.

Even before the fires swept across Maui, rental housing on the island was among the most expensive in the country. The loss of so many homes was bound to increase prices. But tenants, housing advocates, government officials and even landlords say high prices offered by FEMA, the state and private aid organizations have encouraged property owners to chase the money. State Sen. Angus McKelvey, who lost his own home in Lahaina, called it “FEMA fever.”

Jo Wessel, a Colorado landlord, said she tried to sign up with FEMA after her tenants fell behind on their rent and electricity bills. She said a property management company working for FEMA offered her $6,500 a month, which according to court records was more than twice what she charged for the two-bedroom condominium in Kahului. Although the governor’s order bars evictions for nonpayment of rent or utilities, Wessel told Lea and David Vitello and their two children on Jan. 6 that they had five days to pay up or leave, according to documents reviewed by Civil Beat and ProPublica. Two weeks later, FEMA inspectors knocked on the Vitellos’ door to see if their home was suitable for wildfire survivors. “We didn’t see it coming,” Lea Vitello said.

The Vitellos refused to leave when their lease expired at the end of January, and Wessel eventually took them to court. It took until April for the Vitellos to find a new place and move out. Wessel said the delay caused her to miss out on the FEMA contract, but she was able to sign up with a nonprofit housing program willing to pay about $400 more per month than what she was charging the Vitellos. Wessel said she thought the Vitellos had taken advantage of the governor’s order and that they still owe her money. Although the Vitellos left a few months ago, Wessel’s court case against them continued until this week, when a judge dismissed it.

Those who have been forced out are contending with a housing market where the median rent has jumped 44% since before the fires, according to an Argonne National Laboratory study released last week. Some people who’ve been pushed out since the fires told Civil Beat and ProPublica that they haven’t yet found a permanent home.

Peter Sunday, whose family was evicted so their landlord’s son could move in, said he paid just $1,900 a month for their three-bedroom cottage and that the cheapest place he has found since is twice as much. He, his wife and their two young children have moved from place to place while they search for something stable.

Malcolm Vincent, the landlord’s son, said in a court filing that he lived in a garage on family property after he rented his home to FEMA and while he was waiting for the Sundays to leave. When called by Civil Beat and ProPublica, Vincent said he was busy and hung up. In response to a text message, he wrote, “Stop.” Ann Siciak, the Sundays’ former landlord, did not respond to interview requests.

State and federal officials said they didn’t intend for their housing programs to encourage landlords to kick people out to make room for wildfire survivors, but they had to offer lucrative rates in order to secure housing quickly. “We’re not incentivizing,” FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton said in an interview. “What we’re doing is being competitive.”

The Green administration acknowledged that “some bad actors have not complied” with the governor’s order. Officials urged tenants to report unscrupulous landlords to the state attorney general.

Green said in an interview that he, too, has heard about landlords who have kicked out tenants to make more money, but he said they “represent the extreme minority.” Much more common, he said, are stories of people who did the right thing and provided shelter to thousands of people.

“I was very clear that we didn’t want to displace anybody, but there are a million different forces at play here,” Green said. “Every moment, every week, you just had to try to prevent predatory behavior. There’s a lot of that. That’s one of the lessons I learned from this crisis.”

State officials pointed to a sharp drop in eviction cases filed in court since the fire as evidence that the governor’s order is “doing what it was designed to do: stop unlawful evictions and keep families and survivors housed.”

But tenants’ rights groups and lawyers said court cases, the only public paper trail of evictions, don’t show the complete picture. It’s time-consuming and risky for a tenant to fight an eviction in court; if they lose, they’ll have a record that could make it harder to rent another place. Many tenants simply move out after getting a notice to vacate the property, even when they think their landlord is breaking the law.

“We know this is happening,” said Jade Moreno, a researcher and policy analyst for the Maui Housing Hui, a tenants’ rights organization. “We hear the stories all the time.”
“The Greed Is Sickening”

Although most people refer to FEMA when they complain that emergency housing programs have skewed the market, the state of Hawaii pays similar rates for its own program. And in November, in an effort to entice property owners, the governor revealed just how much money could be made housing people who were homeless after the fire.

Thousands of wildfire survivors were living in hotel rooms at the time, costing the state at least $1 million a day; meanwhile, vacation rental homes that would have been cheaper sat vacant. So Green announced that the state would pay a premium to anyone who housed survivors.

For landlords who typically rented to locals, the numbers offered by the state were stunning: $5,000 a month for a studio or one-bedroom home; $7,000 for a two-bedroom; $9,000 for a three-bedroom; and $11,000 for a four-bedroom.

Early on, FEMA also concluded that it would have to pay vacation rental rates. FEMA won’t publicize what it pays, saying it varies by property. But contracts reviewed by Civil Beat and ProPublica show the agency has paid $5,000 to $9,050 for a one- or two-bedroom unit. For three- and four-bedroom homes, it has paid $9,000 to $11,400, according to two landlords who spoke to Civil Beat and ProPublica.

Once people knew what they could get, Maui-based property manager Claudia Garcia started getting calls. Property owners, many of whom lived on the mainland, asked if Garcia could help them lease to FEMA or raise their rents to keep pace. She said she refused because she didn't want to help them take advantage of the crisis. “The greed is sickening,” said Garcia, whose firm manages more than 100 rentals on the island. “It’s just not right what they’re doing.”

The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii got calls, too, but from tenants. In the first seven months after the fire, the number of Maui residents who sought help with evictions grew by 50% compared with the seven months before the fire, according to the organization.

The high prices offered by the state and FEMA forced at least one nonprofit that was sheltering victims of the fire to bump up its offers to property owners. “Short-term rental owners did shop us,” said Skye Kolealani Razon-Olds, who oversees the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s emergency housing and recovery programs. “They provided us with FEMA rental rates and asked if we could match it.”

Razon-Olds said the nonprofit has received 19 complaints from tenants who said they were being forced out of their homes so their landlords could rent to FEMA. She said her organization convinced FEMA to stop dealing with those owners.

In February, six months after the fire, FEMA announced that it would reject properties if it learned tenants had been illegally forced out “so landlords could gain higher rents from the FEMA program.” Officials told Civil Beat and ProPublica that FEMA has found fewer than 10 cases in which a landlord wrongfully ended a lease in order to participate in the housing program. In all those cases, FEMA removed the properties from the program.

State and federal officials characterized their rates as a compromise between vacation rental and long-term rates. The rates publicized by the state are maximums, state officials said; in practice, Hawaii is paying significantly less — about $228 per night rather than $267. That works out to about $6,800 per month rather than $8,000.

After state and local officials raised concerns, FEMA asked the Argonne National Laboratory to study whether housing programs had caused property owners to increase rents or displace residents.

Researchers concluded that the loss of housing in the fires was the biggest factor in the rapid increase in rental prices and that there wasn’t enough data to know how much housing programs had contributed. However, they noted that the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection received about 700 housing-related complaints from August 2023 to April, most related to lease terminations or rent increases. Those complaints and subsequent investigations, researchers wrote, indicate that the “behavior of some landlords may have changed leading to secondary displacement or increased costs for some renter households outside of the burn area.”

One landlord, however, said it wasn’t until she was approached by a property management company working for FEMA that she decided to house wildfire survivors. The company offered Mara Lockwood $7,000 a month — about $2,300 more than what she had collected for her two-bedroom condo overlooking Maalaea Bay.

Lockwood took the deal, not just for the extra income, but because she would be exempt from property taxes for at least a year, which she said will save her about $12,000 annually. But she was conflicted. As the owner of a Maui real estate company, she saw the asking prices for rentals rise, and she kept hearing stories of people getting pushed out of their homes so that their landlords could earn more money.

“Kicking somebody out to rent to FEMA to make more money is a horrible thing to do to people,” Lockwood said. “But when you’re given an opportunity and money is involved — and you have to follow the money — then some people are going to do that.”
“That’s What The Law Allowed”

For every case in which it’s clear a tenant is being kicked out so their landlord can make more money, there are many more that aren’t as obvious, said Nick Severson, the lead housing attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii. “Sometimes we’ll have emails or texts or statements from the landlord that say, ‘I need you out of here so I can rent this for $8,000 a month to FEMA,’” he said. “But usually it’s not that lucky. It’s a little bit more covert, which makes it hard to push back on.”

That’s partly because the state law prohibiting price gouging during an emergency provides landlords with some wiggle room. Renters can be evicted if a landlord or family member is moving in or if the renter has violated the terms of their lease, as long as it’s not related to nonpayment of rent, utilities or similar charges. And landlords can push people out at the end of a fixed-term lease without providing any reason. In several cases reviewed by Civil Beat and ProPublica, landlords have cited those exceptions in evicting tenants and have gone on to rent their properties to wildfire survivors for more money.

Property owners acknowledge that they’re bringing in more money through housing programs than they did before the fire. According to the Hawaii attorney general, the governor’s emergency proclamation prevents landlords from raising their rent unless it was agreed to before Aug. 9 or the landlord can show their costs have increased.

And yet the attorney general has held property owners accountable in relatively few cases. The office has concluded that landlords violated the governor’s order in just 28 of the 200 complaints of illegal evictions and rent increases it had received as of June 3. (Another 30 were still under investigation.) Fenton, the FEMA administrator, said the attorney general’s office concluded that just one of the cases FEMA referred had violated the proclamation. The attorney general’s office can levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day, but it hasn’t.

“We have the emergency proclamation, but it doesn’t prevent anyone from evicting tenants and raising rent,” said Anne Barber, a Maui real estate broker who works with Garcia in her property management firm. “There is no accountability.”

The attorney general’s office said in a written statement that it “provides people with opportunities to do the right thing and correct their actions. If individuals continue to choose not to comply, then the Attorney General can and will seek legal remedies.”

The Green administration said it has revised the emergency proclamation to address the needs of the community; at one point, the governor added language barring unsolicited offers to buy property in areas affected by the fires. But, administration officials said, the governor’s power is limited. For example, they said he has no authority to force landlords to extend leases. Green’s staff said lawmakers must look at the price-gouging law and make needed changes.

In one case, Maui landlord Gregory Lussier filed an eviction case against six people living in a four-bedroom home in Kahului. He told Civil Beat and ProPublica that he wanted the tenants out because some of them had left and the remaining ones had stopped paying the full rent, which was about $4,000, but he knew the governor’s order prohibited him from evicting them for not paying. In his Jan. 5 notice to the tenants and the eviction case he filed in court against them a week and a half later, he cited several violations of the lease, including prohibitions on pets, smoking, illegal activity, expired vehicle registrations, and obscene or loud language. Before the case went to trial, the tenants moved out.

Although Lussier rented the property to FEMA’s housing program for $11,000 a month, he said that’s not why he filed eviction proceedings. “There was no premeditated scheme to force the tenant to leave so we could get a FEMA rental agency lease,” he said in an email. However, court records call into question his version of events. Lussier said the lease with FEMA’s outside property manager started Feb. 1 and he believes he signed the rental agreement the day before. He said he didn’t explore renting to the housing program until after the property was vacant and that the process of signing up took “several weeks.” But video of a hearing shows that Lussier and three of his tenants appeared in court on Jan. 29, where the tenants denied his allegations that they had violated the lease. Lussier declined to explain the discrepancy to Civil Beat and ProPublica.

Maui attorney Jack Naiditch said he’s gotten several phone calls from property owners who want to exploit loopholes in the emergency proclamation so they can take advantage of FEMA’s prices. He said he’s turned them away: “I’m not going to put my name on the line for somebody who’s fibbing.”

But he has represented a number of property owners in court, including Sunday’s landlord; some of them have later rented their homes to house wildfire survivors. He declined to discuss specifics of their cases.

When Sunday appeared in court in April, he pleaded with the judge to let his family stay in their home. “Frankly, this is cold, your honor,” Sunday said. “A single man wants to evict a family of four to move into a home which he has admitted is for his own financial benefit and gain.”

“There’s nothing I can do about that,” the judge said. “That is what the law allows. So that needs to be taken on with the governor, our mayor or Legislature, because there are people who very likely take advantage of that.”

Four days after the Sundays received their eviction order, Green responded to residents’ complaints and made it harder to claim the exception that Sunday’s landlord had cited. Now, a landlord or family member who claims they need to move into a property must provide a sworn statement saying they’re not accepting money from an aid program to house survivors.

That same day, Sunday said, his family packed the last of their belongings as a process server threatened to call the sheriff if they lingered too long. They put most of their belongings in a storage unit and gave away all of their pets and backyard farm animals — 18 chickens, nine ducks, two dogs and a pair of cats. They have to relocate again this week.

Sunday doesn’t know what to tell his kids about the constant shuffling and when they’ll see their pets again. “I can’t give them any kind of peace,” he said, “without lying to them.”

Hawaii study shows almost 75% of Maui wildfire survey participants have respiratory issues

AUDREY McAVOY
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 


A general view shows the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. A University of Hawaii study examining the health effects of last year's deadly wildfires on Maui found that up to 74% of participants may have difficulty breathing and otherwise have poor respiratory health, and almost half showed signs of compromised lung function. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)


HONOLULU (AP) — A University of Hawaii study examining the health effects of last year's deadly wildfires on Maui found that up to 74% of participants may have difficulty breathing and otherwise have poor respiratory health, and almost half showed signs of compromised lung function.

The data, gathered from 679 people in January and February, comes from what researchers hope will be a long-term study of wildfire survivors lasting at least a decade. Researchers released early results from that research on Wednesday. They eventually hope to enroll 2,000 people in their study to generate what they call a snapshot of the estimated 10,000 people affected by the fires.

Dr. Alika Maunakea, one of the researchers and a professor at the university's John A. Burns School of Medicine, said those who reported higher exposure to the wildfire tended to have more symptoms.


Many study participants hadn't seen a doctor, he said. Some study participants said they weren’t able to because clinics had burned down or because they prioritized getting housing, jobs and food after the disaster. Maunakea urged people exposed to the wildfires to get checked.

“There might be some problems that might manifest in the future," he said. "Please see your doctor. Just pay more attention to your health because of this.”

Two-thirds of study participants lived in Lahaina at the time of the fires. About half of the participants reported daily or weekly exposure to smoke, ash or debris.

The Aug. 8 blaze killed at least 101 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. It burned thousands of buildings, displaced 12,000 residents and destroyed the historic town on Maui.

The report shows Maui doesn't have enough pulmonary health specialists to care for those who will need this expertise, said Ruben Juarez, a professor of health economics at the university and one of the study's leaders. Researchers are talking with Hawaii's congressional delegation to figure out how to bring these resources to Maui, he said.

Maunakea said researchers want to avoid the higher cancer and death rates experienced 20 years later by people affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We'll hopefully be able to prevent this tragedy from compounding to higher mortality rates in the future, like we saw with other events like 9/11,” Maunakea said.

Dr. Gopal Allada, an associate professor of medicine specializing in pulmonary and critical care at the Oregon Science & Health University who wasn't involved in the research, said it would have been great if the study participants had undergone similar lung function tests before the fire. But he acknowledged that wasn't possible, as is often the case in similar studies.

He hopes the researchers will get funding to continue their research over time.

Allada noted most scientific studies on the health effects of wildfires have focused on what happens to people in the days and the week of exposure and less is known about the long-term effects.

He commended the researchers for showing there's a problem and for collecting data that can influence policymakers.

“This is important work that hopefully influences policymakers and people who control budgets and where trainees train and that sort of thing,” he said.

Maui fires left victims food insecure and with health issues, survey finds

Li Cohen
Thu, May 16, 2024 

It's been nine months since deadly wildfires scorched across the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing dozens of people and leaving the historic town of Lahaina in ashes. And according to a new study, people are still feeling the effects of those fires — with many food insecure and at risk for serious health issues.

The public health report, conducted by researchers at the University of Hawai'i Economic Research Organization and the John A. Burns School of Medicine, looks at the lingering impacts of the August 2023 fires that killed 101 people. Researchers will monitor and analyze these impacts for at least a decade, but already found significant issues in its first sampling of fire victims, which was conducted in February.

Researchers surveyed 679 people, two-thirds of whom lived in Lahaina during the fires. Nearly half of those surveyed reported seeing a decline in their health compared with a year ago, which researchers said "could deteriorate further if difficulties in accessing care and lack of health insurance are not addressed." Among those issues are complications with residents' cardiovascular health.

"Exposure to smoke, ash, and debris is strongly associated with worse physical health outcomes and reported symptoms," the report says. "Approximately 74% of participants face a heightened risk of cardiovascular diseases due to elevated or prehypertension levels. Kidney function may be compromised in 8-20% of participants, and up to 60% may suffer poor respiratory health."

More older adults seem to be affected physically, with 85% of those ages 65 and older reporting physical symptoms have limited their daily activities, including moderate and vigorous exercise, carrying groceries, climbing one flight of stairs, bending, walking or bathing.

MauiWES results from February 2024 show that older adults are seeing physical symptoms since the Maui wildfires in 2023 that are taking a toll on their ability to conduct daily activities. / Credit: MauiWES

Researchers also found a "notable increase in depression," among other mental health issues. Roughly 30% of participants reported feeling moderate or severe anxiety and a slightly larger percentage reported feelings of low self-esteem. Less than 4.5% said they suffered suicidal thoughts following the fires. These numbers were "significantly higher than state and local averages," researchers said, noting that the mental health impact seemed to extend beyond those who were physically exposed to smoke, ash and debris.

Having enough to eat is also a major concern, with nearly half of households in February's survey experiencing food insecurity, a rate researchers said is higher than those previously observed both locally and across the state. This impact is at least somewhat tied to employment issues also experienced since the fires. Nearly half of surveyed victims lost their jobs because of the fires, 20% of whom are still unemployed. Three-quarters of those surveyed make less money than they did before the fires.

"By studying impacts now, we're in a position to prevent short- and long-term conditions such as lung disease and cancer, which our population is already more susceptible to," researcher Alika Maunakea said.

Maunakea said many of those who reported being more exposed to the fires seem to have more symptoms, and that many of those who participated in the study haven't seen a doctor. Many say they haven't received care because their clinics were destroyed in the fires or because other essentials – like food and housing – took priority.

"There might be some problems that might manifest in the future," he said, according to the Associated Press. "Please see your doctor. Just pay more attention to your health because of this.'

As the study continues, researchers say they hope to enroll 2,000 people to participate.

Nikima Glatt, who lived in Lahaina when the fires swept through, told CBS affiliate Hawaii News Now that she worked in the burn zone during the re-entry period.

"I was a runner. I was a skater. I used to exercise a lot," she said. "And now it's difficult for me to do normal things that I used to."

Evacuations blocked and staffing failures revealed by Maui wildfire report

Graig Graziosi
Wed, 17 April 2024

Four wildfires took the lives of 101 people and caused $6bn in damage

An investigation into the disastrous Maui wildfires has revealed numerous issues with emergency preparedness on the island and coordination issues both before and while the fire tore across the landscape.

On 8 August, 2023, four wildfires burned much of Maui, killing 101 people and causing $6bn in damages. Questions arose after the catastrophe as to what went wrong and how the widespread damage and loss of life caused by the fire could have been prevented.

The new investigation, an 84-page report produced by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, seeks to answer some of those questions.


The report found that some emergency responders with the Maui Fire Department used the WhatsApp messaging service to provide situational awareness updates, but noted that not everyone in the department used the app, CNN reports.

Investigators also found that evacuation routes on the island were blocked by obstacles and evacuation procedures were hindered by communication hurdles.

A lack of preparation also contributed to the chaos on the day the fires broke out; according to the report, after the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning, there was "minimal" pre-positioning of emergency responders and fire-fighting equipment to deal with potential wildfires.

While the report points out the operational errors made before and during the wildfires, it also notes recognises the "island's limited resources," acknowledging that responders were "extremely challenged by the scope and scale of the collective incidents."

“After conducting over 200 interviews and reviewing numerous data sets, it is clear that the four major wildfires pushed the (Maui Fire Department) to an unprecedented level of strain. Despite this, the collective actions by MFD and law enforcement saved many lives and property across the island,” the report states.

Investigators found that "nearly every staff member and vehicle resource" controlled by the fire department has been deployed to assist in fighting the wildfires.

"The emergency response system did not break but rather it found itself outmatched by the extreme weather and fire conditions," the report states. "Staff members endured shifts of 36 hours or more and risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of the fires and save lives.”

In addition to its findings, the report also provided 111 recommendations for preventing or mitigating future similar catastrophes.

Among those are recommendations for fire officials to work with local law enforcement and state officials to identify "key access routes" and to develop "contingency plans" for possible fire scenarios.

It also suggested that officials work with state emergency management to develop a multi-lingual emergency alert system to inform tourists — who are often transient on the island and who may not speak the same language — of wildfire threats.

Damaged property lies scattered in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The report noted that the Maui Fire Department was already making institutional changes — like a fleet replacement program to update its service vehicles — in response to the wildfires and commended the department for doing so.

“We commend MFD for their swift actions to address the issues identified in this AAR, rather than waiting for AAR recommendations," the report states.

While the report detailed the fire department's response, the question over what actually caused the Lahaina fire is still without an answer.

“That is still under investigation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura told reporters on Tuesday.

The report was released a day before Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez is expected to announce the first wave of findings from an investigation conducted by her office and the Fire Safety Research Institute, according to ABC News.

Ms Lopez's office said the report would analyse a 72-hour period that covered the start of the fires through the aftermath of the incident.

Maui Fire Department report on deadly wildfire details how it was no match for unprecedented blazes

JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, REBECCA BOONE and CLAUDIA LAUER
Wed, April 17, 2024 

HONOLULU (AP) — When wildfires broke out across Maui last August, some firefighters carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking people away from danger one at a time.

But despite devoting nearly all the personnel and vehicles it had to the fight on Aug. 8, 2023, the Maui Fire Department was no match for an unprecedented series of blazes including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina, according to a newly released report.

Maui Fire Department workers “risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of the fires and save lives,” according to the report, made public Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, and are now “grappling with questions about what they could have done differently, a reflection that will likely persist throughout the rest of their careers.”

It was the first of two major assessments of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century coming out this week. The Hawaii Attorney General is expected to release the first phase of a comprehensive report Wednesday that will include a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire.

The department’s report describes the difficulties and harrowing conditions faced by firefighters returning to the reignited Lahaina fire, including many resources being deployed elsewhere, structures quickly catching ablaze amid extreme winds and downed electricity lines making it hard to move resources.

It identifies 17 specific challenges faced by the department — including poorly stocked fire engines, a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties and limited equipment — and makes 111 recommendations aimed at preventing similar disasters in the future.

“The worst-case scenario happened, the fire hydrants began to lose water supply,” the authors wrote. “It is unknown if the sheer number of burning homes caused the water connections to fail or if the water supply tanks were not filled due to the early morning loss of electricity.”

The report describes a truck getting caught between downed lines and the fast-approaching flames. One crew member was able to leave in a smaller vehicle and bring back police officers to evacuate the crew. They huddled to one side of the truck, one of them unconscious from a medical emergency, to avoid the extreme heat before they were rescued.

All of that happened before 4:30 p.m., according to the report.

“There were firefighters fighting the fires in Lahaina as they well knew their homes were burning down,” Fire Chief Brad Ventura said during a news conference in Kula on Tuesday. “There were firefighters who rescued people and kept them in their apparatus for several hours as they continued to evacuate others.”

Ventura said he was “incredibly proud” of the response but believes the department can always improve.

One recommendation is that the department keep all back-up vehicles ready to go. Extra engines that were on standby for large incidents took up to an hour to deploy, according to the report, because they needed to be stocked with the proper equipment. The report did not say what they were missing.

The report also describes the chaos after the fire raged out of control. Around 6 p.m., it says, fire trucks drove over downed power lines carrying evacuees to safety. One crew came across a couple who had found a baby, and another pulled people from the water near the sea wall after they jumped into the ocean to avoid the flames.

The report says a repeater enabled radio communications to stay up despite cell towers and fiber-optic cable damage taking down the cellular network, but they were overwhelmed due to “a variety” of unspecified reasons.

Other recommendations include creating a statewide mutual aid program and an evacuation plan for residents and tourists who speak different languages.

Many of the factors that contributed to the disaster are already known: A windstorm battering the island had downed power lines and blown off parts of rooftops, and debris blocked roads throughout Lahaina.

Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged that one of its power lines fell and caused a fire in Lahaina early on Aug. 8, but the utility company denies that the morning fire caused the flames that burned through the town later that day.

Roughly 40% of Maui County's firefighting resources were already tied up fighting other wildfires on a different part of the island.

A smaller firefighting team was tasked with handling any outbreaks in Lahaina. That crew brought the morning fire under control and even declared it extinguished, then broke for lunch. By the time they returned less than an hour later, flames had erupted in the same area and were quickly moving into a major subdivision.

“Our firefighters are well-trained, they are well-equipped. They are basically forced to make decisions every single day with the best information available,” Giesa said of the crew leaving. “It’s 20-20 hindsight, but our crews did everything that they normally do on fires.”

Cellphone and internet service was also down in the area at times, so it was difficult for some to call for help or to get information about the fire. And emergency officials did not use Hawaii’s extensive network of emergency sirens to warn Lahaina residents. The after-action report also recommends that officials undertake an analysis of the island's cellular system.

The high winds made it hard at times for first responders to communicate on their radios, and 911 operators and emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with hundreds of calls.

Police and electricity crews tried to direct people away from roads that were partially or completely blocked by power lines. Meanwhile, people trying to flee burning neighborhoods packed the few thoroughfares in and out of town.

The traffic jam left some trapped in their cars when the fire overtook them, and others who were near the ocean jumped in to escape.

The report also highlights a vulnerability rooted in the dramatic changes Maui experienced since the arrival of Westerners and the conversion of land into pineapple and sugar plantations in the 19th century. When those closed in the late 1900s, the fallow lands became covered in invasive grasses. That and prolonged drought created a “volatile fuel bed” for fire, the report says.

Roughly 3,000 properties were destroyed when the fire overtook Lahaina, causing more than $5.5 billion in estimated damage, according to state officials.

___

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Lauer from Philadelphia. Audrey McAvoy contributed.

A man views homes consumed by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. The Maui Fire Department is expected to release a report Tuesday, April 16, 2024, detailing how the agency responded to a series of wildfires that burned on the island during a windstorm last August. 

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)