Hawaii Gov. Josh Green unveiled plans for the state to potentially buy property in the coastal city of Lahaina, which was devastated by the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green… “I’m already thinking of ways for the state to acquire this land”… 🚨 pic.twitter.com/pN78wPcNy6
— Pelham (@Resist_05) August 15, 2023
“I’m already thinking of ways for the state to acquire these lands so that we can put them into housing for the working population, put them back into families or make them open spaces in perpetuity as a memorial to the people who they lost”. Green commented amid the ruins.
“We want this to be something we remember after the pain passes as a magical place. Lahaina will rebuild. The tragedy right now is the loss of life. Buildings can rebuild over time, even the banyan tree can survive, but we don’t want this to become a clear space where people from abroad just come and decide they’re going to take it. The state is going to take it and preserve it first.”
Green expressed concern about foreign investors exploiting the disaster. In another briefing, Green reinforced his dedication to safeguarding the land for locals. He shared that he discussed with the Hawaii attorney general “options to put a moratorium on any sale of property that has been damaged or destroyed.”
“It’s going to be a long time before any growth or housing can be built, so you’re going to be pretty ill-informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here,” he remarked, stressing, “I’m going to try to allow anybody from outside our state I’m not buying any land until we get through this crisis and decide what Lahaina should be in the future.”
According to Honolulu Civil Beat, the fire destroyed more than 2,000 structures, three-quarters of which were residential. The death toll is around 100, but that number is likely to rise as search operations progress.
Attorneys seeking litigation over the fire believe the deadly wildfire that was brought under control was started by electrical failures.
“All the evidence — videos, witnesses, burn progression and remaining utility equipment — points to Hawaiian Electric equipment as the source of ignition of the fire that devastated Lahaina,” said Mikal Watts, who has earned millions of settlement dollars in other wildfire cases. .
Strong winds last Tuesday intensified wildfires on Maui, turning them into fast-spreading wildfires. Surprisingly, local or state emergency agencies did not activate outdoor warning sirens.
The Hawaii Emergency Services Administration confirmed Friday, “Neither Maui nor HI-EMA activated warning sirens on Maui during the forest incident.”
Instead, residents relied on three other warning channels: mobile device alerts, local radio and television stations, and Maui County’s notification system for subscribing residents.
“Sirens are used to alert the public to seek additional information; they don’t necessarily indicate an evacuation,” emergency officials said.
Concerns are growing about the adequacy of warnings, especially as Hurricane Dora’s winds in the central Pacific Ocean caused power outages and hampered mobile communications.
Many believe emergency alerts were inadequate during the escalation of the crisis, leading to confusion in what is now being called one of Hawaii’s most catastrophic natural disasters.
“We were not warned. Nothing,” West Maui resident Lisa Panis said in a phone interview. “No siren, no alarms, nothing.”
There are an estimated 93 fatalities from the Maui disaster Sunday morning. Two victims’ identities have been confirmed due to DNA testing. Only three percent of the burned area has been covered so far by the authorities. It has already become the deadliest wildfire in modern US history.
A particularly unfortunate aspect of the Hawaiian tragedy is that many of the victims appear to be children. An anonymous source claiming to be a “whistleblower” gave his insight into local conditions.
“I just reported a whistleblower: What you’re not hearing from our local government: I just came out of a meeting where someone from the mayor’s office briefed me on developments that are being held in public . I’m not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t want to stir up trouble, but that’s what I’ve heard.”
“The number of fatalities is expected to be more than 500 but less than 1,000,” the source continued. “Many of the fatalities will be children who were at home because school was cancelled. The parents were working and were not there to evacuate the children. The children had no idea they had to leave and when they realized that the their houses or apartments were on fire, it was too late. The government is worried about how we will react when we know that the fire department left the fire earlier in the day and claimed it was 100% contained, knowing that it was expected winds to 70 mph in the afternoon.”
“This goes against all fire control protocols,” the source added. “The fire department should not have left the original fire unattended. They fear public calls for accountability will be more than they can control and protests and riots will occur. They plan to close Lahaina for several months. It will take months to clean up hazardous and environmental pollution. They won’t have enough housing for all the displaced people. This morning there were 2,000 people missing. They have a list they’re trying to track. Today they found 700. But there are still 1,300 missing.”
“They are very worried that the community will panic when they find out how not a single fire truck responded to the fires,” the source said. “The emergency sirens didn’t go off (hurricane sirens) and the loss of life could have been reduced with better emergency management that completely failed. I’m not trying to make waves or cause trouble, but I was so angry and sad when I found out how many children had died that I knew I had to post this and let everyone know what I learned. It’s time for our officials to stand up and tell the truth and face the music. They fail the boys of Lāhainā.”
“Our government is full of incompetent nepotism. The fire chief is the son of the former fire chief. We must hold officials accountable for the mistakes they have made. Please don’t hate the messenger. I’m just passing on what I learned today,” the source concluded. “God bless Maui and Lahaina! Please pray for all the victims.”
Trust in government has been so shattered that the Maui fire has given rise to elaborate conspiracy theories. This report that Hawaii is looking to buy the land certainly won’t help.
NOW READ:
‘This was not a natural disaster’: ‘Whistleblowers’ raise disturbing questions about deadly Maui wildfire
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