Maui Disaster Was 100% Caused By Human Failure

 One government official who had zero qualifications to be an emergency management leader chose not to warn the residents of Maui that a wildfire was raging, and another chose to withhold the necessary water that was required to fight the fire.

With wildfires ravaging West Maui on Aug. 8, a state water official delayed the release of water that landowners wanted to help protect their property from fires.

The dispute involved the Department of Land and Natural Resources' water resource management division and West Maui Land Co., which manages agricultural and residential subdivisions in West Maui as well as Launiupoko Irrigation Co., Launiupoko Water Co., Olowalu Water Co. and Ha'iku Town Water Association.

DLNR delayed releasing water requested by West Maui Land Co. to help prevent the spread of fire, sources familiar with the situation said.

Specifically, according to accounts of four people with knowledge of the situation, M. Kaleo Manuel, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and DLNR's deputy director for water resource management, initially balked at West Maui Land Co.'s requests for additional water to help prevent the fire from spreading to properties managed by the company.

In 2022, two Maui senators, Gil Keith-Agaran and Lynne DeCoite, introduced a measure to push DLNR to allow fresh water to be used to fight fires and pointed to West Maui as being particularly vulnerable.

The bill noted that "In 2019, West Maui suffered from an active fire season in which wildfires scorched twenty-five thousand acres of land." It would have required DLNR to "Cooperate with the counties and reservoir owners to develop protocols and agreements for the use of reservoir waters for fire safety purposes." 

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/08/17/maui-disaster-was-100-caused-by-human-failure-n571878