Maui residents may not have been warned as wildfires approached because no alarm sounded

Survivors of Maui’s deadly wildfires say they received no warning of the impending danger, despite the state boasting a state-of-the-art siren alert system.

Hawaii emergency management records show no record that the state’s 400 warning sirens were triggered before Tuesday’s wildfires, according to the Associated Press.

Residents in the town of Lahaina were burned to death as they tried to flee in cars, others were trapped in their homes, and dozens more had to leap into the ocean as wildfires fuelled by Hurricane Dora and severe drought conditions tore through parts of Maui and Big Island.

A spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency told the AP that alerts were sent to mobile phones, television and radio stations, but downed power and cell phone coverage may have limited their reach.

The wildfires had moved from brush to inhabited areas so quickly that it was impossible to get word to the emergency management agencies responsible for alerts, Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura told the Associated Press.

As the death toll rose to 67 on Friday, with many more deaths expected, survivors on Maui questioned why the alert system appeared to have failed.

JD Hessemer, a business owner in Lahaina, told CBS News he decided to evacuate early on Tuesday morning just before fire swept through the town.

“I received nothing at no point in time. I got nothing on my phone,” he told the network.

“We kind of just figured it out on our own,” another Lahaina resident, Tiare Abraham, told CBS News. “I realised when it was time to go when the smoke was so dark, we could not see anything outside.”

Hawaii officials describe the sirens as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, which acts as a first line of defence against natural and human-caused events.

The system consists of 400 sirens spread throughout the island chain and is used to warn residents about everything from tsunamis and volcanic eruptions to terrorist threats.

Lahaina and other parts of West Maui had been identified as being at risk of wildfires in Maui County’s hazard mitigation plan.

Low staffing levels at local fire departments and a lack of off-road vehicles, combined with strong wind gusts of up to 80 mph (128kms) made fighting brush fires especially difficult, officials said.

A specialist Federal Emergency Management Agency search and rescue team with cadaver dogs arrived on Thursday night. The teams will go door-to-door searching for survivors and assessing casualties.

In 2018, a false emergency alert stating that Hawaii was under a ballistic missile attack caused mass panic on the island.

The message sent to mobile phones and aired on television stations stated that missiles were “inbound” and to seek immediate shelter. “THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the all-caps alert said.

The false alert was attributed to human error and inadequate safeguards, and two officials later resigned.