MISSION: To Ensure the Lahaina Fire Tragedy Will Be the Last Time Hawaii Emergency Management so Poorly Serves the Public

The cause of the August 2023 wildfire that destroyed Lahaina, Maui and killed at least 101 residents is still unknown at this writing. What was immediately obvious was the absence of any effective alert to the public. Authorities failed to activate the so-called "tsunami warning" siren system, even though it could have at least alerted residents to their peril. Many survivors angrily complained they received no warning whatsoever.

Emergency communications planners must stay abreast of best practices in their field, just like doctors, scientists, professionals, and experts in all disciplines. Had officials within the Maui Emergency Management Agency implemented the lessons learned after California's major wildfires in the past decade, they would have been prepared to meaningfully respond to the wildfire's threat to Lahaina,

CHORE and a companion website -- WildfireCrisis.com (loads slowly at the Internet's Wayback Machine archive) -- have advocated major reforms in emergency communications that incorporate a medium hiding in plain sight: AM Radio. Unlike cell phone networks that fires destroy and digital programs that require registration, radio stations rarely fail in a wildfire. No fire can outrun radio signals. 

Here is CHORE's proposed model to vastly improve emergency outreach to the public. It was drafted in 2018 following several emergency management failures to adequately inform citizens about the fires that were closing in on them.

Add radio to the communications plan

Develop plans that specifically designate AM radio broadcast stations as critical communications links during wildfires. This can only work if agencies aggressively publicize the stations (see below).

But don't throw out the tech-reliant channels

Every new commo thing that comes along deserves a seat at the emergency alert table — social media, police cars equipped with high-low sirens (new in California), and more. Use them, but don’t fall in love with them. Radio broadcasts are more accessible and faster than every other method to send alerts. 

Bring back what worked!

You probably have to be at least 30-40 years old to recall the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), which was phased out in the 1990s. The national system designated at least one emergency broadcast station in each major community. Those stations had emergency electricity generators to stay on the air during power outages. Focus on reenergizing the link between emergency responders and broadcasters.

Publicize, Publicize, Publicize

Citizens need to know where to turn during emergencies to find information that will keep them alive. The EBS network worked because of relentless publicity of and by the designated emergency broadcast stations during the quiet times between emergencies. Officials would routinely remind the public about the station’s link to critical information. The EBS goal was to eliminate confusion and doubt about where citizens can find life-saving information as a crisis emerged.

A way to make this proposed system work during a crisis

Once civilians are in grave danger, as was the case in California's Redding, Wine Country, and Paradise fires, the system of emergency alerts would be activated, but unlike those incidents, AM radio would be an official part of the mix. Public information officers and other official spokespersons (battalion chiefs, incident commanders, etc.) would include the designated station in their outreach. A public information officer (PIO) would be sent to the radio station to be a conduit for evacuation orders from the field straight to the public over the radio. If not actually positioned at the station, PIOs and others would push this critical information to the public over the designated station(s). There’s not a station owner or general manager alive who’d refuse the opportunity of being THE go-to station for news and information critical to the community.

After Lahaina's unimaginable tragedy, agencies are obligated to review their crisis communications plans and ensure they benefit from the well-documented lessons learned in other tragedies.  

Volunteerism on all levels can help repair a broken emergency system. Private organizations and companies with communications expertise (e.g., advertising agencies and public relations firms) have contributions to make. 

All of this must happen in Hawaii. There can be no more excuses, no more deaths due to communications mistakes.

Lessons Learned in the Paradise and other California Wildfires Were Apparently Lost on Maui; Warning Sirens Went Unused in Lahaina Fire, Officials Relied on Networks with History of Failure Elsewhere

 

Hawaii officials have been explaining why Maui's siren network wasn't activated in last week's Lahaina fire, which killed at least 111 people. The explanation attracting the most attention was offered by a Maui official:

“Sirens have not been used for brush fires. It is our practice to use the most effective means of conveying an emergency message to the public during a wildland fire…” He included alerts sent to cell phones as one of those “most effective means.”

That was unfortunate. Mainland agencies have learned that cell phone-based networks – ones used by Maui’s Emergency Management Agency – frequently fail during fires. And they can’t match radio’s coverage and speed. (Evening Update: Citing health concerns, this official has submitted his resignation.)

This same official offered other explanations for not activating Maui’s sirens:

·      “We were afraid that people would have gone mauka. and if that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.” 

·      “I heard (the wind) was very loud, so they wouldn’t have heard the sirens.”

·      People would have thought there was a tsunami. That’s what sirens are used for.

Those wouldn’t be concerns after an education campaign that would condition the public to turn on their radio to Maui’s emergency broadcaster when they hear sirens. In California, Napa County's grand jury issued a grand jury report after the 2017 Wine Country Fires (pictured) that said “radio saved the day.” The report recommended:

“Napa County should negotiate an agreement, in conjunction with the County’s municipalities, to formally incorporate plans to utilize local radio station KVON into  existing and future Disaster and Hazard mitigation plans in the County by June 30, 2019.”

Hawaii is the most geographically isolated place on earth, but that's no excuse for distancing itself from crisis communications experiences and lessons learned elsewhere.

More than 100 Died in Lahaina Fire after Maui's Crisis Communications Plan Failed

This blog has promoted emergency communication reform since its first post on October 17, 2006. The evidence that reform is desperately needed builds with each wildfire tragedy, and the Lahaina, Maui fire during August 8-9 is the latest. 

A continuing theme here at CHORE: Warning messages intended for a mass audience require a mass medium. No wildfire can outrun a radio broadcast. Radio is the fastest and most accessible mass medium for life-saving messages to the masses. Cell phone networks and other channels are nice to have, but they’re no substitute for fast-as-lightning AM radio, which rarely if ever fails during a wildfire.

This isn’t rocket science, but as we’ve learned repeatedly in the past decade, far too many communications planners just don’t get it. 

 

A Journalist Reports

 

A retired journalist who was vacationing on Maui has provided compelling validation of this blog’s promotion of AM radio as a key component of public agencies’ emergency communications plans.

 

Katy Bachman and her husband were staying 10 miles from Lahaina, Maui when a wildfire destroyed the town. More than 100 people died, and with hundreds still unaccounted for, the final total could be unimaginably much higher. 

 

"We had no idea where the fires were -- or that there even were fires," she said days after returning to the mainland. “We searched for radio stations while we were sitting there charging, and that's when we heard that there were these fires and that Lahaina was being threatened…. There was no cell service and no power.” 

 

Investigations are underway. We’ll eventually know why Maui’s emergency siren network wasn’t activated and whether radio alerts were broadcast. The tragedy that is Lahaina demands reform.