Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii is on fire

This breaks my heart.

I can’t imagine living in such a nice placed and losing everything I own, my loved ones and friends.

I also think of the wildlife that’s lost, suffering through burns, losing their homes.

This is so sad.

 

Devastating beyond words. In effect complete destruction.

Death toll at 55 right now.

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/11/1193...ic-lahaina-banyan-tree-appears-still-standing

 

My wife lived in Hawaii for years so this really hits home. Very sad to see the affect it’s having and will have on the residents there.

 

Was planning on going to Maui in march. Will have to think about changing plans

 

Read the only bodies they’ve counted so far were found outside of buildings

 

Crews work to identify many of the 93 victims found so far in Maui wildfires, now the deadliest US fire in over a century | CNN

 

No one told Boebert that Biden declared a state of emergency two days before she called him out for not doing anything. We really are living in the stupidest timeline.

Lauren Boebert on Twitter: "There is a total crisis in Maui. 3000 destroyed homes. 80 people dead. Where’s Joe Biden? On vacation of course. There is no bottom for this president." / X

 

And there many people in the right-wing echo chamber who will take her at her word although the real impact of her tweet will be nil considering that they wouldn't vote for Joe Biden in any event.

 

seems like that they had cobbled together a water system and never built a proper system capable of providing proper fire protection. another case of not wanting to pay a rate for water that allows for a proper system to be built and maintained. this mught have been stopped early if the system was in place to supply the proper volumes to the hydrants.

As Inferno Grew, Lahaina’s Water System Collapsed (msn.com)

During the frantic moments on Tuesday after a wildfire jumped containment near a residential neighborhood in Lahaina, Hawaii, firefighters rushing to slow the spread were distressed to find that their hydrants were starting to run dry. Hoping to control the blaze as it took root among homes along the hillside nearly a mile above the center of town, fire crews encountered water pressure that was increasingly feeble, with the wind turning the streams into mist. Then, as the inferno stoked by hurricane-force gusts grew, roaring further toward the historic center of town on the island of Maui, the hydrants sputtered and became largely useless.

“There was just no water in the hydrants,” said Keahi Ho, one of the firefighters who was on duty in Lahaina.
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The water system in Lahaina relies on both surface water from a creek and groundwater pumped from wells. Persistent drought conditions combined with population growth have already led officials at the state and local level to explore ways to shore up water supplies, and they broke ground on a new well two months ago to increase capacity.
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One firefighter described how his truck tapped into a hydrant to try and contain a blaze that had taken root in a cluster of homes, only to find water pressure so weak that the fire promptly jumped beyond their efforts to contain it. Another firefighter who arrived on scene after the fire was already raging said he encountered a scene of chaos and soon was told that there was no water to put the fires out. Crews were forced to focus on evacuations, he said, picking up people who were stranded and pointing others toward the fastest routes to safety.

 

If only there was a source of water somewhere in the vicinity of Lahaina that could be tapped in case the hydrants became problematic.

 

state official denied release of water to west Maui water districts that requested it to help fight fires..a whole string of FU's led to this catastrophe

Who is M. Kaleo Manuel? Hawaiian official under fire over refusal to release water for raging Maui fires (msn.com)

As per the news outlet Honolulu Civil Beat, M. Kaleo Manuel delayed the release of water on August 8 even after knowing that western Maui was burning down as there was a long-standing dispute between his office (Department of Land and Natural Resources Commission on Water Resource Management) and West Maui Land Co. which is responsible for managing agricultural and residential subdivisions in West Maui.

In fact, when the latter requested DLNR to approve the emergency release of water to fight the fires, it was the deputy director M. Kaleo Manuel who went on a water standoff.

The media source cites that Manuel demanded that the West Maui Land Co. get permission from a ‘taro' (also called ‘kalo'), which happens to be a native Hawaiian traditional farm located downstream from the company's property and used water as its main cultural resource. Eventually, the permission was granted and Manuel gave a green signal to the release of water, but by then the fire had spread too far and destroyed everything in its way.

Another source called Raw Story also reported how West Maui Land Co. was not the only company that requested the release of water, there were others including Launiupoko Irrigation Co., Launiupoko Water Co., Olowalu Water Co., and Ha'iku Town Water Association. All of them were refused by Manuel, even though none of them had any disputes with DLNR, unlike West Maui Land Co.

 

It was shut off because water is to be revered, not so much used.

 

Watching some of those early vids and the fires sprouting around the electrical wires and winds, would water have made a difference? Like the entire bay front went up, more remote area, less resources available. I saw the population was like 20k unk on tourists added. That was early reporting though.

 

That would require a whole different set of pipes and trucks with pumps. Draft hydrants and potable hydrants cant use same pipe network and most firetrucks dont have pumps required to pull water up through the draft hydrants