Maui County’s emergency management administrator on Wednesday defended the decision not to sound warning sirens in a wind-whipped wildfire that swept into the town of Lahaina.
When asked at a news conference if he regretted not sounding the sirens, Maui County Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya replied, "I do not."
Questions have been raised about warnings in the wildfires, which have so far killed a confirmed 110 people and devastated the town. Sirens, located mostly by the coastline, are primarily used for tsunamis, Andaya said. “The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” Andaya said.
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“Had we sounded the siren that night, we were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” Andaya said, using a term meaning to the mountainside. “And if that’s the case then they would have gone into the fire.”
The Maui County website about testing of the "All-Hazard Statewide Outdoor Warning Siren System" lists wildfires as among the hazards for which they can be used, as well as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.
Some members of Hawaii's state Senate are also calling for an independent third-party review.
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