John P. Rafferty writes about Earth processes and the environment. AFP via Getty Images. According to an analysis by the Honolulu Civil Beat last November, the company had been lagging, with 51 percent of Maui County still on the old system. None of the fires burning in Maui have been completely contained, officials said Thursday. Fire The Washington Post, the Associated Press and ABC News reported that there's evidence that blown power lines may have caused the historic blaze. Treu used a garden hose to spray water during fires caused by snapped electrical cables falling to the dry grass below and quickly igniting a row of flames. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Maui firefighters have now gained control over a wildfire in Paia that burned more than 370 acres Saturday. The fires broke out on three islands: Hawaii, Maui and Oahu with the deadliest fires being on Maui. Thats why, even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek reader support. Fires burned across multiple Hawaiian islands these maps show where. There are ways that the authorities can limit this destructive cycle, tropical fire specialists emphasize. He smelled smoke. These cookies do not store any personal information. Please enter a valid email and try again. Maui wildfires of 2023 | Causes, Damage, Death, & Facts Officials try to determine a fires start by assessing video evidence and interviewing witnesses. Marshall said Whisker Labs reached out to Hawaiian Electric offering them his findings but also did not hear back. Whelton said officials need to go further with their do-not-drink advisory and tell residents to stop bathing with the water, too. Published Aug. 10, 2023 Updated Aug. 14, 2023 The fires in Hawaii would be shocking anywhere killing at least 36 people, in one of the deadliest wildfires in the United States in modern history. Maui's iconic Lahaina town, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, is now reduced to ashes by raging fires. [1/3] A view of burned debris after wildfires devastated the historic town of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, U.S., August 10, 2023. Fact checking a bizarre claim that government direct - AllSides Aug. 11, 2023 3 AM PT. There are ways that the authorities can limit this destructive cycle, tropical fire specialists emphasize. Varieties like guinea grass, molasses grass and buffel grass which originated in Africa and were introduced to Hawaii as livestock forage now occupy nearly a quarter of Hawaiis landmass. Native to the African savanna, guinea grass and fountain grass, for example, now cover a huge portion of Hawaii, and they provide fuel for wildfires, as Cynthia Wessendorf has written in Hawaii Business Magazine. Police arrived, blaring megaphones to evacuate. Across the street, Carly Agbayani woke up at 5 a.m. sweating next to her husband. The raging inferno sent toxic fumes and material spewing throughout the town and into the sea, and whenever the next big storm hits, it will flush even more contamination into local waters. In Lahaina, the electricity powers the pumps that provide the water and so that was also a critical need during that time, Ms. Kimura said. When Hawaiis last sugar cane plantation shut down in Maui in 2016, it marked the end of an era when sugar reigned supreme in the archipelagos economy. And firefighters on the island have made progress in controlling the blazes, allowing officials to search for survivors and assess the damage. He tapped a stash of leftover N95 masks from the days of covid-19 to venture outside the next day. The process of alerting residents to the danger was severely hampered by the toppling of several telephone and electric power poles in the area by high winds earlier that day, which had cut power needed for wireless services and telephone lines used for 911 emergency communication. That discharge means sparks could be spewing into the wind and onto dry trees and grasses, It is unambiguous that Hawaiian Electrics grid experienced immense stress for a prolonged time, Marshall said, comparing the fluctuating data to the grids stable readings from weeks and months prior. He has served as The Timess Brazil bureau chief, Andean bureau chief and international energy correspondent. The document listed West Maui as having a highly likely probability, or a more than 90 percent chance, of wildfires each year on average. Wind speeds reached as high as 107.8 km (67 miles) per hour on Maui and up to 132 km (82 miles) per hour on the island of Hawaii. Even as the fire retreats, danger remains for Maui residents as they return to the charred wreckage of their neighborhoods. Dani Anguiano, Helen Sullivan and agencies. What to know about the Maui fires, damage and death toll - The Attention turned to the utility But over the last century or so, humans introduced a variety of nonnative grasses to the state, such as guinea grass, which is often used as feed for livestock. On August 8th, 2023, the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui a popular tourist spot was destroyed by a fire that seemingly came out of nowhere. 111. See it right there, he says, swinging the camera to a downed wire in now-charred grass, thats the power line that started it. fires The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire.. Utilities often use technology known as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or Smart Meters, which track and report problems in real time. And in 2021, in Maui Countys own wildfire prevention report noted that grasses serve as tinder and rapidly roadside shoulders while for calling for the reduction of alien plant life.. Maui fires Six dead, dozens injured in Hawaiian blazes as it happened The average area burned each year in wildfires, which tend to start in grasslands, has increased roughly 400 percent in the last century, according to the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, a nonprofit group. As tourism eclipsed the plantations in importance, the shift away from sugar cane and pineapple plantations allowed tropical grasslands to grow untended, bolstering what fire specialists call a grass-fire cycle. the Maui Fires Its an important example of how hurricanes and wildfires both of which are set to become more extreme under climate change interact with each other. These plants are known to outcompete native grasses, and they grow incredibly quickly after rainfall, which can produce an enormous amount of fuel for wildfires. The Lahaina fire, one of several that broke out last week on Maui, was 85% contained late Sunday, Maui County officials said. The islands have long had arid stretches of lava fields and drier grasslands, with rainfall varying from one side of an island to the other. As for West Maui, the report painted a picture of a demographic particularly vulnerable to the ravages of wildfires. Not wildfires, read sticker text on a video shared Aug. 11 on Instagram. But there are some important differences between California and Hawaii. The powerful blaze has almost completely destroyed the historic town of Lahaina. Maui fires. In addition, studies that considered trends in Hawaiis rainfall indicated that some 90 percent of the state had experienced at least some decline in overall rainfall between 1920 and 2012 and that rainfall amounts at higher elevations had fallen by more than 30 percent between 1990 and 2015 during the states wet season (November to March). The simplest reason parts of Maui are burning is that its hot and dry summer is the dry season. An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. How did the fires start? In 2020, for instance, a hazard mitigation plan prepared for Maui County said that the area of West Maui where Lahaina, the town devastated by the blaze last week, is located had the highest annual probability for wildfires of all the communities in the county. Moreover, after fires ravage certain areas the nonnative grasses quickly sprout and spread, displacing native plants less adapted to wildfires, making the cycle more destructive. El Nio brings increased rainfall to South Americas west coast but brings drought conditions to the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiian Electrics stock price has fallen around 68 percent since Aug. 7, the day before the wildfire started, to about $12 on Thursday. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Fact-checking a bizarre claim that government direct Meet at Kula Marketplace or Kula Lodge (Call Kyle Maui Economic Opportunity has started the MEO-Maui Fires Fund to help place those who lost their homes in Maui fires into safe and secure housing as soon as possible. Fast growing when it rains and drought resistant when lands are parched, such grasses are fueling wildfires across Hawaii, including the blaze that claimed at least 93 lives in Maui last week. Wildfires could become more frequent in the future as drought conditions become more frequent and more intense with climate change, it went on to say. Mark Ross works on burned fence on his property that was destroyed by last weeks fire in Kula, Hawaii, on In the aftermath of the wildfires, thousands of displaced Maui residents were taken to shelters and evacuation centres on the island, which included hotels abandoned by tourists who had been evacuated to other islands or to the U.S. mainland. The Hawaiian Islands do see wildfire from time to time, but the catastrophic Maui fires were spawned by a striking mix of factors, including climate change. The grim numbers just keep getting grimmer. the Maui Its not just like a campfire smell. According to sensor data, power in parts of Lahaina came back on briefly from 6:10 a.m. through 6:39 a.m. before going out again. The company, which told utility commissioners in an emergency filing last week that it expected damage to its grid to be extensive, has already completed an immense amount of work. Although the fire continued to burn in Lahaina throughout the night, U.S. Coast Guard boats arriving offshore were able to evacuate several people trapped along the coast. Workers have also quickly repaired many of the poles and lines, including those near where residents say the fires started. newsletter. Caused the Maui Fires Maui The entire town is being destroyed by an intense wildfire, forcing residents to sheek shelter in the ocean.Make no mistake, climate change is making scenes like this more frequent. 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