During the inferno that devastated part of the island of Maui, wiping entire towns off the map and possibly killing more than a thousand people (once a full assessment can be made), people on Maui begged state officials to allow West Maui stream water to be diverted to fill up reservoirs for firefighting. That request went to M. Kaleo Manuel, Deputy Director of Hawaii's Commission on Water Resource Management, and he delayed approval of that water for five hours - five hours in which the once-contained fire exploded. By the time the approval was received, workers were unable to reach...
