From an emergency communications perspective, the following is very interesting. This is the Hawaii ARES net discussing wildfires, power outages, sirens which didn’t sound, communications outages, refugee status, and other observations from ham operators at the scene and across the state.
Very interesting to listen through this. There are a few things of interest (time stamps available):
1. Many people on the net commented upon the general lack of preparedness, lack of local communication, and lack of infrastructure (for example, only 1 road in and out of town). Many of these have been concerns for decades.
2. The speed of the spread of the fire was also commented upon by many. I am a local firefighter and I can tell you — fire can move fast, which surprises many people.
3. However, what should not be surprising was the speed of the fire under the local conditions. Listen to the commentator at 34:20: he was above the fire and saw the start of the fire and its spread; the local fire department deployed and *thought* they had contained the fire. However, the winds were blowing at a steady 50-60mph, with gusts of 70-80mph. Obviously, under hurricane conditions, the fire will move — and move quickly. Why so few people acted in recognition of this is a key question.
4. The same commentator (above) also said that sirens DID sound. However, he also noted (35:32) that nobody could hear anything — “You couldn’t even hear a person standing next to you. Sirens would have been worthless.” Which seems rather obvious, considering the WX conditions.
5. The commentator at 40:00 (Glenn) touches upon this, and his advice is important to remember: situational awareness. Be aware of what is around you. His comment was that not enough people were taking the weather into consideration, but were instead inside and “hunkered down” in front of the TV or computer. His key observation, though, was that evacuation orders need to be made early.
6. Regarding evacuation orders, many commentators noticed that *none were given*. This is curious, especially given the WX conditions. As was noted at 42:36, what will happen in the event of a tsunami? Indeed. In the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, fires broke out during and immediately after the earthquake. Even though tsunami sirens started sounding within minutes, less than 10% of people along the coasts started to move inland to safety — with catastrophic results. Of course, in the case of Lahaina, with only 1 road into and out of the town, and with that road blocked by the fast-moving fire, the only direction that offered safety was onto the beach and into the ocean.
7. As many commentators suggested, the lack of local authority might have been part of the problem. Evacuation orders are issued by state government headquarters, which is located on a different island (the Big Island), with different local WX conditions. Also curious, according to commentators, the emergency repeater located on Mauna Kea (on the Big Island) can only be activated by the Governor — and was still down the day after the fire.
8. An interesting note was the possible role of stored propane tanks in the town of Lahaina. According to one local commentator (32:15), it seemed that explosions that spread the fire faster might have been caused by the mass collection of these tanks at local businesses in the town.
9. Also interesting was the rejection of a local ham link by the Red Cross (36:54) “because they had cellphone and sat phones distributed…”
10. Finally — and absolutely most worryingly — was the comment at 11:35 by K6PI that, according to the ARES net, there was at least “1 fire deliberately set by a guy in a green SUV.” Was this a random act by “an arsonist in the community” or something worse?
Obviously, more news will shake out over time. It is still unclear as to how exactly the main fire started; but what is clear is that the mass deaths in Lahaina town itself could have been avoided if proper care had been taken.
What we can all learn is that we are not prepared enough for what may come, no matter how well prepared we think we are. Learn from this horrible example. Recheck your gear, provisions, and comms. Redouble efforts at starting or strengthening local networks. Create, and continuously test, multiple routes of evacuation. Do not rely on someone else to take care of you — they probably won’t.
73 VC RS-43
N6ood@arrl.net…take care…mahalo
At the 11:35 mark, Bill KH6PI notes that there were 2 fires. One was a cooking fire and the other was arson. This is inconsistent with current reports that power lines were the cause.
This callsign is a correction to the callsign listed above.
It seems he may have been confusing two accounts. What he was reporting reflected what came out about the same time related to two fires on Hawaii (not Maui), which references one cooking fire that got out of control, and another deliberately set, where police are investigating reports of a man on a green ATV seen in the area.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/top-stories/2023/08/10/hawaii-island-police-investigate-arson-as-cause-of-the-ka—wildfire