It makes zero sense to block escape routes.
Who ordered the road blocks? The chief of police? It seems every government official conspired to kill all those poor people. If the plan was to burn out the natives and claim their property, we will soon know.
We have forest fires quite often here in the pine barrens, often with only one road in and out of towns. I would think if Maui fire departments would have focuses on keeping the road open so people could escape, but then then again they didn’t have water to do even that.
Just like we quickly knew who killed Kennedy.
As for the possibility of a plan, see post 118.