Vox Sentences - How Hawaii's wildfires got so deadly

Monday, August 14, 2023:

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Spotlight: Why the fires in Hawaii became so deadly

In other news: The erosion of church and state, why folding chairs are popping up on your feeds, and the crushing reality of a seventh-grade mom. 

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How Hawaii’s fires became the deadliest in a century

Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP

Large wildfires were once rare in Hawaii — not so much anymore. Over the last week, several wildfires have burned hundreds of acres in Hawaii, utterly decimating Lāhainā — the heart of Maui — killing almost 100 people as of Monday morning, burning multiple homes and businesses, and forcing people to flee into the ocean for safety. It’s the deadliest American wildfire blaze in the last century. 

The lowdown: There are a confluence of factors that made the fires especially deadly including…

• Dry vegetation and drought. Dry, hot weather provides the foundation for extreme wildfires by sucking moisture out of vegetation and essentially turning it into kindling. 
• Strong winds. While Hurricane Dora — which is now a typhoon — didn’t hit Maui, the winds that preceded it helped fire spread.

• Invasive species of grass are providing lots of fuel. Humans have been bringing more non-native grass to Hawaii, some of them are the sort that burn more quickly than native species.

I spoke with our environmental reporter Benji Jones about how the sheer size of the fires, as well as a cascade of infrastructure problems, made them extraordinarily bad, and how climate change made them worse. 

“Residents had little time to evacuate,” he said. “There may have also been some issues with the island's warning systems. Outdoor warning sirens apparently didn't go off. And while residents may have received warnings directly to their phones, we know that cell service was down in parts of the island, so they may have never received them.”

The takeaway: Climate change isn’t only making natural disasters more intense and frequent — it’s also switching up the types of disasters people see. 

“The bottom line is that we can no longer trust past extremes, and past weather, to figure out how to prepare for the future,” Benji said. “This is where climate science is really valuable. There's plenty of data forecasting how the climate will change in different regions. Now is the time to prepare.”

What’s next: Although President Joe Biden approved Hawaii’s disaster declaration — which allows the state to tap into federal recovery resources — last week, some locals have expressed frustration at the speed of aid. 

Hawaii’s tourism industry is also exacerbating the problem. Tourists have continued to fill hotels and rentals, leaving locals without places to stay, and are putting a strain on the supply of essential resources, like water and food. Native Hawaiians have pleaded on social media for tourists to cancel their vacation plans out of resource concerns for years, but the wildfire has brought those sentiments to the forefront.  

“Maui, and particularly Lāhainā, just suffered their worst natural disaster in recorded history,” Benji said. “One hundred percent of the focus among locals is on responding to this disaster, searching for survivors, and helping people and businesses recover. This is the time to help or get out of the way, not to play in the waves where people recently fled for their lives.”

Read Benji’s full piece here.

📣   What are the biggest questions you have about the Maui wildfires? Let us know by filling out this form!

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