On this picture taken from video, Maui Emergency Administration Company Administrator Herman Andaya speaks throughout a information convention in Wailuku, Hawaii, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
AP | Mike Householder
The pinnacle of Maui County’s emergency administration company resigned on Thursday, a day after he defended his resolution to not activate sirens throughout catastrophic wildfires which have taken greater than 100 lives.
Maui Emergency Administration Company administrator Herman Andaya cited well being causes for his resignation, which took rapid impact.
Andaya was requested Wednesday whether or not he regretted not activating emergency sirens as wildfires unfold throughout West Maui: “I don’t,” he mentioned at a press convention
Andaya mentioned the sirens are primarily used for tsunamis and the general public is skilled to hunt greater floor. Escaping to greater floor would have been harmful in the course of the wildfires, he mentioned.
“We have been afraid individuals would have gone ‘mauka,'” Andaya mentioned, utilizing a Hawaiian phrase for mountainside. “And if that was the case they might have gone into the hearth.”
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen mentioned he would announce a alternative for Andaya quickly: “Given the gravity of the disaster we face, my staff and I shall be inserting somebody on this key place as shortly as potential,” Bissen mentioned in an announcement Thursday.
No less than 111 individuals have perished within the blaze as of Wednesday, with the dying toll anticipated to rise as search canine proceed to comb the wreckage of the devastated historic city of Lahaina. The inferno is the deadliest wildfire within the U.S. in additional than a century and the worst catastrophe in Hawaii state historical past.
State and native emergency administration officers face rising scrutiny over whether or not they did sufficient to alert the general public because the wildfires unfold.
Hawaii Lawyer Basic Anne Lopez introduced on Thursday that she is going to faucet an impartial investigator to evaluation the state and native response to the wildfires.
“This shall be an neutral, impartial evaluation,” Lopez mentioned in an announcement.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Inexperienced mentioned Wednesday the evaluation just isn’t a prison investigation.
“It isn’t a prison investigation in any means,” Inexperienced mentioned. “Proper now we’re working to learn how we are able to be sure that it is protected as we undergo hurricane season, as we cope with the fact that there shall be fires month in and month out for the many years to return.”