Sirens were never activated on Maui during the wildfires because they’re not meant to be used for that type of emergency. That’s the official word from the state and county.
Experts and community leaders say it’s time to change that strategy.
The state and Maui County say emergency sirens are normally used for hurricanes and tsunamis. But some people say wildfires have become a regular threat, so we should use whatever resources are available to warn residents about them.
“During the summer months, when the dry season, all our leeward sections, including the island of Hawaii where I live, we are at risk for wildland fires almost every year, you can count on it,” said Ed Teixeira.
He spent 12 years as vice-director of the State Civil Defense, now known as the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. He points out that the state can even use different tones, which it did for residents near the Puna Geothermal Venture, in case of a sulfur dioxide leak. He says sirens grab people’s attention and give them extra time to do what they need to do.
That’s how we basically are accustomed to in the state of Hawaii, wherever you are or you hear a siren at a different time other than 11:45 on the first day of the month, it is time to stop, hear the siren, turn on something, find out why the siren is going,” said Teixeira.
“This is a sad wake up call for us, but again when we come to making sure people are safe they get the alerts that they need. We gotta build some redundancies, we gotta do better. We’ve got to use every tool in our toolbox,” said Congresswoman Jill Tokuda.
She says sirens are especially helpful in alerting those who live in remote areas, where cell phone service and television signals can easily go down. The state senator for West Maui also agrees that changes need to be made.
“Hopefully this can be looked at and applied going forward to improve the system, to prevent another needless tragedy, to prevent another family from having to wonder about losing their home, about losing their family’s lives, losing their business,” said Sen. Angus McKelvey.
McKelvey is also the chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee, which will look into what can be done better.
“All of this needs to be investigated, there needs to be public inquiries,” he said.
We reached out to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency for comment and there’s been no response.
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