Maui Wildfires Blamed on Climate Change, but Government Was the Real Problem

The New American ^ | August 13, 2023 | James Murphy

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The catastrophic wildfires on Maui have spurred many to speculate on what caused such a tragedy on an otherwise lush tropical island. And, of course, many in the climate cult are simply closing their eyes, covering their ears, and shouting that climate change is the cause of this tragedy, and that everyone of us with our use of fossil fuels is personally to blame.

As of this writing, at least 93 are dead and the community of Lahaina lies in smoldering ruins as firefighters struggle to contain blazes on the island. People have been stunned to hear about a wildfire, of all things, devastating a tropical paradise. Such things are only supposed to occur in dry areas such as the American West or Australia — not on a lush tropical island.

And many are blaming climate change, perhaps not for the fires themselves but for leading to conditions that could allow such a conflagration to occur.

Climate change is “leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we’re seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher said. “What these … catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.”

Officials in Hawaii pleaded ignorance when asked why more wasn’t done to get people out of the fire’s path.

“We’ve never experienced a wildfire that affected a city like this, so this is something we’ve not experienced before,” said Governor Josh Green.

“We have experienced wildfires across the state and they’ve been tragic, but usually tragic in open space,” Green added. So, they knew wildfires were a possibility, they just didn’t know they were possible in places where people resided?

[wjcsux]

Clowns to the left of me jokers to the right…

[blueunicorn6]

I’ve looked at videos of Lahaina before the fire.

It wasn’t a lush tropical paradise.

It had lots of old wooden buildings.

[volunbeer]

What a weak article. The real causes:
1. The pineapple plantation companies left Maui.
2. The pineapple fields were no longer irrigated and fell into ruin.
3. Non-native, highly flammable invasive grasses took over the fields.
4. Nobody was responsible for controlling the explosive growth of the grasses.
5. The tall, combustible grasses grew right up to the edge of Lahaina.
6. The government did not demand fuel load reduction programs.
7. The government KNEW of the fire hazard posed by the grasses and did nothing.
8. The government run warning system that falsely alarmed incoming Russian nuclear attack failed to go off.

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Pretty good list but I would change 6 to say the government blocked fuel load reduction problems in the name of “environmentalism”. We see this all over the left coast. It sounds like a Canadian company purchased much of the farmland there and its just sitting - maybe Hawaii should think about requiring them to maintain the land?

However, unlike many here and in conservative media (seemingly) I am not sure about the conspiracy ideas being floated for the fire. When you have that kind of windspeed it is inevitable that you will have tree tops and large branches flying out of trees. When they make contact with two power lines you create a burning branch and/or arc severing of the transmission lines. In the conditions you accurately describe that will result in a fire.

The height of the dry grasses and unkempt overgrown fields means you will get one helluva fire and spot fires in front of the fire front. It’s an ugly scene.

[Beowulf9]

What did the article mean by this?

“...nor, perhaps most importantly, did it cause the government to not prepare to fight such fires with the huge fuel buildup it allowed”

[Beowulf9]

What Russian nuclear attack?

[wjcsux]

We are starting to see Climate Scientists retire, secure their pensions and tell us the truth.

[knarf]

High winds knocked down a transformer which immediately sparked, urged on by aforementioned high winds.

Act Of God.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Human caused CO2 emissions does not consider that the total amount of CO2 produced by man for the whole of the industrial age.

Carbon dioxide emissions are a red herring.

The solubility of CO₂ in water is inversely proportional to temperature

Since CO₂ is soluble in water and the oceans cover a majority of the Earth's surface, the oceans sequester more CO₂ than any other CO₂ sink.

Because of the inverse solubility of CO₂ with temperature, the colder the oceans get, the more CO₂ they can absorb.

Conversely, when the oceans get warmer, they expel CO_2.

Atmospheric CO₂ therefore follows global temperatures, it does not cause them.

You can see the yearly global atmospheric CO₂ fluctuation as the oceans warm and cool with the seasons in the NOAA graph below.

The "settled science" that CO₂ causes "climate change" is criminal sophistry.

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[twister881]

The cause of wildfires in Hawaii is the same as in California: DEMOCRATS.

[SkyDancer]

So the temperature rose to 420F due to climate change and the whole area self combusted?

[SuperLuminal]

This is a brilliant description of the bureaucratic response of all governments (local-to-federal-to-planetary) to any potential type of “potential” disaster...

The “climate-change” card is equivalent to the “race” card...

[AnthonySoprano]

.
Crazy Senator Mazie wants EVs mandated for every Hawaii Garage and Driveway.

If you think that Fire was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I knew it had to be Trump, Climate Change or Jock itch that was causing the Maui Wowie Wildfires.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Nah, doing that doesn’t further the revolution. The revolution is always the issue (or is it “the issue is always the revolution”?). If they fixed the vegetation, they wouldn’t get a conflagration and the opportunity to blame Global Warming to enslave us all.

[stanne]

Why do editors do this

Climate cabge is blamed.

People are blaming climate change for the fires.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Re trees, the article where I picked up that info also said that non-native pine trees have taken over and squeezed out the native tropical vegetation. The pine trees have, of course, a huge load of highly flammable resin. The article said that their pine cones, catch on fire, explode, and the burning seeds are transported on the wind rapidly spreading the fire.

So it is yet another case of non-native vegetation out-competing the native vegetation leading to massive forest fires.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“fuel load” is the dead vegetation in fields and forests that can catch fire.

The huge fuel load is an enormous problem on the left coast because environmentalists want dead trees to naturally decay rather than cut them down and remove the lots. Without forest management, the forests get overcrowded and become unhealthy. The forest floor is littered with dead logs from previous fires. Brush grows rapidly on the forest floor. (here in Idaho you can drive anywhere and see the undergrowth in the pine forests is cut and piled up - it is burned off in the winter).

“Fuel load” is a huge problem in parched, combustible grassy fields. The “fuel load” is all the dead grasses that burn very hot and the flames move at very high speeds. The “fuel load” was not managed because all the pineapple plantation companies left Maui and abandoned their plantations. The government failed to either mow the grass down itself and bill the land owner or force the land owner to keep the grasses under control.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"What Russian nuclear attack?"

See 2018 Hawaii false missile alert. It was a suspected missile attack by North Korea, not Russia (my faulty memory).

The Hawaii alarm system sent out a false alarm to residents that they were under missile attack.

[drwoof]

Awesomely summarized.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks. Maybe I should become a “journalist”?