Maui Fire Department report on details of deadly wildfires, need for more equipment and mutual aid plans

HONOLULU– When wildfires broke out on Maui last August, some firefighters carried victims on the backs of downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another rode a motorcycle into a burning neighborhood repeatedly, moving people away from danger one at a time.

But despite dedicating nearly all of its personnel and vehicles to the fight on August 8, 2023, the Maui Fire Department was no match for a series of unprecedented fires, including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina, according to a newly released report.

Maui Fire Department workers “risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of fires and save lives,” according to the report, released Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, and are now “ wrestling with questions about what they could do.” they did differently, a reflection that will likely persist throughout the rest of their careers.”

It was the first of two major assessments of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century released this week. Hawaii’s attorney general is expected to release the first phase of a comprehensive report Wednesday that will include a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire.

The department’s report describes the difficulties and harrowing conditions faced by firefighters returning to the reigniting Lahaina fire, including many resources being mobilized elsewhere, structures quickly catching fire amid extreme winds, and downed power lines, making it difficult to movement of resources.

It identifies 17 specific challenges facing the department — including poorly stocked fire engines, a lack of mutual aid agreements among Hawaii’s counties, and limited equipment — and makes 111 recommendations aimed at preventing similar disasters in the future.

“The worst case scenario happened, the hydrants began to lose water supply,” the authors wrote. “It is not known whether the large number of burning houses caused water connections to fail or whether water supply tanks were not filled due to the loss of electricity early in the morning.”

The report describes a truck trapped between downed lines and rapidly approaching flames. A crew member was able to leave in a smaller vehicle and bring officers to evacuate the crew. They huddled next to the truck, one of them unconscious due to a medical emergency, to avoid the extreme heat before being rescued.

All of this happened before 4:30 pm, according to the report.

“There were firefighters fighting fires in Lahaina because they knew full well their homes were on fire,” Fire Chief Brad Ventura said during a news conference in Kula on Tuesday. “There were firefighters who rescued people and kept them in their apparatus for several hours while they continued to evacuate others.”

Ventura said he is “incredibly proud” of the response, but believes the department can always improve.

One recommendation is that the department keep all reserve vehicles ready for use. Extra engines that were on standby for major incidents took up to an hour to activate, according to the report, because they needed to be fueled with the appropriate equipment. The report did not say what was missing.

The report also describes the chaos after the fire got out of control. Around 6 p.m., they say, fire trucks drove over downed power lines, transporting evacuees to safety. One crew found a couple who had found a baby, and another pulled people from the water near the seawall after they jumped into the ocean to avoid the flames.

The report says a repeater allowed radio communications to remain operational despite cell towers and fiber optic cable damage taking down the cellular network, but they became overloaded due to “a variety” of unspecified reasons.

Other recommendations include creating a statewide mutual aid program and an evacuation plan for residents and tourists who speak different languages.

Many of the factors that contributed to the disaster are already known: a windstorm that hit the island knocked down power lines and destroyed parts of roofs, and debris blocked roads in Lahaina.

Hawaiian Electric acknowledged that one of its power lines fell and caused a fire in Lahaina early on Aug. 8, but the utility denies that the early morning fire caused the flames that burned the city later that day.

Approximately 40% of Maui County’s firefighting resources were already busy fighting other wildfires in a different part of the island.

A smaller firefighting team has been tasked with dealing with any outbreaks in Lahaina. This crew brought the morning fire under control and even declared it extinguished, then took a lunch break. When they returned less than an hour later, flames had broken out in the same area and were quickly moving into a large subdivision.

“Our firefighters are well trained, they are well equipped. They are basically forced to make decisions every day with the best information available,” Giesa said of the crew’s departure. “It’s 20-20 hindsight, but our crews did everything they normally do in a fire.”

Cellphone and internet service also went out in the area at times, so it was difficult for some to call for help or get information about the fire. And emergency authorities did not use Hawaii’s extensive network of emergency sirens to alert Lahaina residents. The after-action report also recommends that authorities conduct an analysis of the island’s cellular system.

High winds at times made it difficult for rescuers to communicate on their radios, and 911 operators and emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with hundreds of calls.

Police and electricity crews tried to move people away from roads that were partially or completely blocked by power lines. Meanwhile, people trying to escape the burning neighborhoods crowded the few roads entering and leaving the city.

The traffic jam left some trapped in their cars as the fire reached them, and others who were near the sea jumped out to escape.

The report also highlights a vulnerability rooted in the dramatic changes Maui has undergone since the arrival of Westerners and the conversion of land to pineapple and sugar plantations in the 19th century. When these closed in the late 1900s, the fallow land became covered in invasive grasses. That and prolonged drought created a “volatile fuel bed” for the fire, the report says.

Approximately 3,000 properties were destroyed when the fire ripped through Lahaina, causing more than $5.5 billion in estimated damage, according to state officials.

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Lauer from Philadelphia. Audrey McAvoy contributed.