Maui fire disaster was 'foreseeable,' expert says: Live updates

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/11/maui-hawaii-fire-live-updates/ [login to see] 7/
"Maui fire crews battled blazes still scorching parts of the island Friday and rescue workers searched for about 1,000 people reported missing as questions began to swirl about Hawaii's emergency warning system.

The death toll from the inferno that erupted Tuesday − fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora and exacerbated by overly dry vegetation from the ongoing drought − was at least 55. But it will probably surpass 60 and make the disaster the deadliest since Hawaii became a state in 1959, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday.

Thousands of people have been displaced, more than 1,700 structures have been destroyed, and the historic town of Lahaina was leveled."

"Though officials have said the wildfires sparked and spread so quickly there was little time to warn people, one Hawaii wildfire expert said the tragedy was foreseeable.

Elizabeth Pickett, co-executive director of the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, told the Honolulu Civil Beat she co-authored a report nearly a decade ago that identified an increased wildfire risk to Maui, with Lahaina in an extreme risk area.

“We keep hearing from certain elected officials and other people being quoted in the media, ‘we had no idea, this is unprecedented,’” Pickens told the outlet Thursday. “But actually, those of us in the wildfire community, meaning our fire agencies, our forestry natural resource management community, we have long been working to increase our risk reduction efforts.”

Pickett said many recommended actions from the report to prevent wildfires have been implemented since its release, but only partially, and much more could have been done.

“It might not have been 100% preventable, but it could have been mitigated. It could have been lessened," she said.""