Hawaii wildfires: Maui emergency chief quits after sirens criticism
Herman Andaya – Maui’s emergency management chief – has quit following backlash over the failure of the alarm system in last week’s devastating wildfire.
He quit just one day after he attempted to defend the agency’s failure to activate its alarm system.
Andaya had no prior experience in emergency management and has quit citing “health reasons”.
Many residents believe a better emergency response could have saved more lives.
So far, at least 111 people have been declared dead and more than 1,000 remain missing.
Maui did have a sophisticated emergency system, which included 80 sirens around the island, that was tested on the first of every month. But on the day of the fire, the sirens remained silent.
Andaya initiated he did not regret that decision because he feared the sirens – most often sounded for tsunamis – would have sent some in Lahaina running into higher ground, and potentially into the path of the blaze.