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Maui’s mayor ‘not sure’ who was in charge at emergency management center as Lahaina burned
Hawaii News Now ^ | August 29, 2023 | By Allyson Blair

Posted on 08/30/2023 3:54:00 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

HONOLULU - Three weeks after a wall of fire claimed at least 115 lives and turned historic Lahaina to ash, Maui County’s highest-ranking official said he didn’t know who was calling the shots at the county’s Emergency Management Center the day the town burned.

“I’m not sure who was in charge. (Former Maui Emergency Management Administrator) Herman Andaya was still in charge. He just wasn’t present. He was in contact with his team. I guess by phone. I don’t know exactly how,” Bissen said, during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

When questioned about his whereabouts that day, Bissen said he attended a virtual meeting with other state and county leaders that morning to discuss the multiple brush fires that had broken out on Hawaii Island and Maui. But he wouldn’t tell reporters where he was the rest of the day.

“I don’t have that. I don’t have that for you,” he said.

He also couldn’t explain why the head of Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, wasn’t notified anyone had died until the following day. “I don’t know who spoke to General Hara,” Bissen said. “That’s my answer to your question.”

A reporter then asked Hara: “We don’t know how many people maybe died waiting for a response. You don’t think there was anything your agency could have done?”

Hara responded: “Personally, I don’t think so.”

For weeks Hawaii News Now Now has been asking questions on who was in charge of Maui's Emergency Command Center the night of the deadly fire.

(Excerpt) Read more at hawaiinewsnow.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: bloodytheirhands; duhimthemayorduh; fire; hawaii; hermanandaya; idunno; lahaina; maui; stupidliberals
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To: Cen-Tejas

KSM managed to incinerate a couple thousand out of NYC’s millions and plotted for that to kill thousands more. We haven’t tried him in 22 years. So why do anything to those who literally decimated a town of 13,000.


41 posted on 08/30/2023 5:37:36 AM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Biden/Harris events are called dodo ops)
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To: Recompennation

Same pages out of the dem playbook.


42 posted on 08/30/2023 5:45:32 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Global Warming causes incompetence.


43 posted on 08/30/2023 6:08:47 AM PDT by George J. Jetso
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Sure, he knows, it was a Bolshekrat.


44 posted on 08/30/2023 6:44:38 AM PDT by depressed in 06
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To: bert

It can be argued there is no one to blame.....


So why do they spend millions of tax dollars on Emergency Mgmt Centers, fire men and equipment, EMS and police systems, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.


45 posted on 08/30/2023 6:45:36 AM PDT by Liz (More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones. St Teresa of Avila)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I'll just toss this in. From last year and Maryland. Wondering if it might explain anything in this case...

Smart meter catches fire, utility company denies homeowners’ damage claim BGE: "Equipment failure due to normal wear and tear"

46 posted on 08/30/2023 6:46:05 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: mewzilla
From 2014...

Fire chiefs call for smart meter probe after blazes

47 posted on 08/30/2023 6:49:41 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: Liz

Time to face facts. It was a total black swan event.


48 posted on 08/30/2023 6:51:13 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: mewzilla
Also from 2014 and Lahaina...

What are Smart Meters? Are they wise for Maui?

49 posted on 08/30/2023 6:52:03 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Black swan...?

If we ever get the truth, I’ll bet we will find that the cause was neither rare nor unpredictable.


50 posted on 08/30/2023 6:53:50 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

No question.


51 posted on 08/30/2023 6:53:50 AM PDT by Liz (More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones. St Teresa of Avila)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Isn’t this stunning? The mayor doesn’t even know who is in charge at the emergency center?

Don’t all cities and towns and counties and states, have emergency plans, and designated people in charge if there is an emergency?


52 posted on 08/30/2023 7:17:00 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: DoodleBob
The entire municipality of Maui sounds as competent as your local DMV office our current Executive Branch.
53 posted on 08/30/2023 7:18:50 AM PDT by LouAvul (Daniel 4:17: "..the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.." )
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To: skr
"What will it take for the voters to notice how incompetent their public servants are?"

Ask the voters in San FranSicko. That's your answer.

54 posted on 08/30/2023 7:23:19 AM PDT by LouAvul (Daniel 4:17: "..the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.." )
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To: LouAvul
"What will it take for the voters to notice how incompetent their public servants are?"

Why do you think they want to legalize pot?

55 posted on 08/30/2023 7:24:00 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: DoodleBob

I say with with no offense intended to the few good DMVs out there.


Georgetown, DE.....that place would give Chik-fil-A a run for their money with speed, efficiency, courteousness, and overall great experience.


56 posted on 08/30/2023 7:35:03 AM PDT by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: Liz

Well, you seem to be confusing cause with effect.

As a long time trained disaster volunteer I can provide testimony to the disaster effect.

Although disasters are many, they are diverse and quite unequal in damages. Disaster Services can be planned in considerable detail but until a team arrives on site, plans are just plans. Remedial disaster reaction must first be determined by trained people who can make instant evaluations. Those initial evaluations can and will be revised as precise knowledge is gained over time.

You mentioned several different responders. There are several other kinds of responders depending on the specific needs. The numbers and deployment must be determined and then put to work.

But I would suspect that Florida disaster planners on say Sunday and Monday called the various electric power companies to the North to alert them for readiness. By Yesterday, they were on the interstate headed to a staging area (s) in Georgia. They are quite visible because they generally consist of a complement of ten crews/trucks.

A separate and rather strange disaster job is sourcing and managing rental cars and vans for use of those flying in from all over.

Those working to mitigate the destruction do not cause a 120 mph wind hurricane nor 7 inches of flooding rain. They do not cause an earthquake nor a wild fire. They are in disaster standby mode doing their regular workaday jobs until called.


57 posted on 08/30/2023 8:47:50 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Joe Biden is a kleptocrat)
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To: Liz

Its a government jobs program, complete with a guuaranteed retirement.


58 posted on 08/30/2023 8:51:03 AM PDT by abb
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The head of emergency management was a political hack who did nothing. When was the last disaster drill on Maui to determine if the system worked and how to fix problems?

I recall many years ago a United Airlines plane crashed at SiouxCity, IA. The director of emergency management, who I knew, had prepared the community for major disasters and less than a year before had conducted a disaster drill for a plane crash at the Sioux City airport. Coordinating a disaster response in Sioux City was daunting as the area encompasses three states with differing emergency radio systems and emergency protocols. The plan was developed, tested and problems were fixed. I would say that no place in the country was better prepared for that plane crash than Sioux City, IA and many lives were saved as a result. It is obvious that the emergency management system on Maui was ill prepared for any disaster.


59 posted on 08/30/2023 9:05:40 AM PDT by The Great RJ ( )
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To: LouAvul

That about sums it up.....I give you Biden exiting Kabul.


60 posted on 08/30/2023 9:07:08 AM PDT by Liz (More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones. St Teresa of Avila)
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