Fires in Maui

[GromsDad]

They need to flood the area with money. Give people the ability to thrive while their town is being rebuilt. This would generate optimism and be a huge disincentive for people to sell out to carpetbagger developers. I would love to see FEMA lap up every available condo in Kaanapali for the next year, up towards Honokowai too. And give the people spending money. I know a lot of residents north of Lahaina depend on tourism but those locals will spend and many people who worked in the Lahaina Tourist Industry can easily gain employment in the Lahaina Rebuild Industry. And IMO Kihei and Wailea tourism is probably OK.

The problem is that people need to relocate and then they'd have to relocate again after things are rebuilt. Its not like my family did after Hurricane Sandy where we basically camped in our damaged house while we made repairs for the next six months. Had my house been unlivable or completely gone I probably would have bought something somewhere else and sold my lot and never moved back. It took two years for houses to be rebuilt and that's in New Jersey with easy access to building materials and labor........not on an island in the middle of the Pacific. On a side note, if you're a young surfer with skills in the trades there is probably a great opportunity for work and build a life in Hawaii beginning in a couple of months when the rebuilding begins.

 

[PJ]

After 9/11 in NY City they blocked off the immediate area around Ground Zero with portable fencing at first, real fencing later. They had certain streets blocked off, some by National Guard troops in vehicles. They brought down Caterpillar 40 foot trailer sized 1 Megawatt generators to power the office buildings (my cousin was manning one) and they opened the Stock Exchange about a week later. Ground Zero became a sensitive place for families of the fallen and they were very involved in the planning of what would be rebuilt at the site - it took years to agree on. The focus everywhere else was getting everything back running.

A big lesson of post 9/11 was the people working on search and recovery at ground zero had only about a 33% wear rate of respirators. There was a truckload of proper NIOSH rated respirators there a day or so after 911 but the workers didn’t really want to wear them and because many of them were searching for people they knew the OSHAA people didn’t feel that they had the moral authority to hard line enforce the respirator rules. I saw some people in the hole with those cheap single elastic band white paper respirators and I could not believe it. Probably the biggest fear was Asbestos but I had worked nights in the Twin Towers during the Asbestos remediation just before 9/11 so it had been removed – I saw it gone – or as much as they could get to. But the aftermath has been horrible with so many first responders getting really sick and dying from what they were breathing during the recovery. The 9/11 debris was trucked to Fresh Kills Landfill for further recovery of bodies, DNA identification, etc. which went on for years. The Fresh Kills workers had about a 98% wear rate of NIOSH respirators and no one got sick.

So if you know anyone there – a proper NIOSH rubber respirator with cartridge filters is probably necessary – and be careful of dust coming out of your clothes, too - no matter what the EPA says. The EPA said the air around Ground Zero was safe and it wasn’t.

 

[Mr Doof]

Probably 10 to 1 land to structure value for the average home if we are talking about the original late 50s early 60s single wall builds that are prevalent throughout the islands. Remodeled or new construction probably 5 to 1.

This is just based on the home I have on Oahu.

Thanks.

This sort of knowledge is what allows people to figure out the whole 'do I stay or do I go' thing.

 

[PRCD]

Thanks.

This sort of knowledge is what allows people to figure out the whole 'do I stay or do I go' thing.

Most are going to sell to Josh Green's friends because their insurance riders don't cover the cost to rebuild when everyone's trying to rebuild at the same time.

 

[r32]

850 still missing.

Leave politics out of this thread plz.

 

[2surf]

[They] did the locals dirty. So messed up!

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[JSC]

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Westernization? What century is this person living in?

Hawaii has been a territory of the United States since 1898 and a state since 1959 -

The old Lahaina that went up in flames was a remnant of the plantation agriculture culture of the previous century, specifically sugar cane, when Maui was a rural area and far from the mainland with a very small visitor industry.

Buildings were made of wood, to house plantation workers and small shops to serve their mercantile needs.

The Pioneer Inn was a big hotel, enough to serve the entire island.

It's different now and plantation days are part of the distant past -

The rebuild will be all about serving the luxury tourism market, after all Maui is known as "The Rich Haole Island" isn't it?

 

[Sharky]

In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged barricades survived | AP News

Maui residents who disobeyed barricade survived fires: AP | The Hill

 

[JDJ]

There needs to be moral and legal accountability for this decision and the public officials involved.

 

[Nick Kron]

#MauiFire on X (AKA Twitter) is devastating. Real Life Horror Show! I want a time machine because this $hit is out of control. I have a feeling 2024 is going to be messed up and it spooks me out. I was able to kind of ignore clown world until Maui got raped.

 

[hammies]

There needs to be moral and legal accountability for this decision and the public officials involved.

Yes, that would be beneficial insofar as our natural desire for revenge is satisfied, and people are not naive in thinking it will have any other positive effect on their situation.

It *will* temporarily assuage their anger.
It will not bring back a lost loved one
It will not rebuild their homes
It will not rebuild their businesses
It will not provide housing and sustenance while their homes are being rebuilt
It will not provide lost income for those who lost places of employment
It will not provide lost income for those who are dependent on tourism in west Maui
It will not provide guidance and direction in preventing the rebuilding of Lahaina into another luxury tourist enclave.

 

[ElOgro]

Yes, that would be beneficial insofar as our natural desire for revenge is satisfied, and people are not naive in thinking it will have any other positive effect on their situation.

It *will* temporarily assuage their anger.
It will not bring back a lost loved one
It will not rebuild their homes
It will not rebuild their businesses
It will not provide housing and sustenance while their homes are being rebuilt
It will not provide lost income for those who lost places of employment
It will not provide lost income for those who are dependent on tourism in west Maui
It will not provide guidance and direction in preventing the rebuilding of Lahaina into another luxury tourist enclave.

Excellent post. Fix accommodations for survivors now. Argue politics later.

 

[youcantbeserious]

Yes, that would be beneficial insofar as our natural desire for revenge is satisfied, and people are not naive in thinking it will have any other positive effect on their situation.

It *will* temporarily assuage their anger.
It will not bring back a lost loved one
It will not rebuild their homes
It will not rebuild their businesses
It will not provide housing and sustenance while their homes are being rebuilt
It will not provide lost income for those who lost places of employment
It will not provide lost income for those who are dependent on tourism in west Maui
It will not provide guidance and direction in preventing the rebuilding of Lahaina into another luxury tourist enclave.

but what it will do is address Hawaii’s political culture of cronyism, graft, and incompetence in service of the visitor industry, developers, and giant landowners.

 

[ElOgro]

but what it will do is address Hawaii’s political culture of cronyism, graft, and incompetence in service of the visitor industry, developers, and giant landowners.

Eventually.

 

[crustBrother]

In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged barricades survived | AP News

Maui residents who disobeyed barricade survived fires: AP | The Hill

cant even imagine the horror

 

[Pico]

This is my friends motorcycle. Do you see the pool of melted aluminum. That was the crankcase. Liquified. He is a sound controller at a Luau. Has a studio in his home. 1389 Kahoma. He had headphones on. Knew about the brushfire over on Lahainaluna. Just another one since the stopped watering the cane. He took them off at one point and heard the fire truck up the street loudspeaking “ Evacuate!” He said he barely heard it 40 yards away. Probably the wind He walked up the driveway and joined the neighbors discussion on the street. Time to go was the consensus. 40 yards back and the fire had moved 2 football fields in a minute. Cats were not cooperating. He had yo flee with nothing. 40 yard walk. Got on his scooter leaving everything behind. One of the other tenants was stubborn and wouldn't leave. Eventually he tried but the asphalt was melting and power lines fallen. A car blew up next to him and he made it to Safeway but died on Oahu.

 

[Pico]

Rumor is bodies from the gridlock at Bubbas, Hard Rock and Longhis are washing up on Lanai

 

[Pico]

Hawaiians are attempting the land grab here along with developers. Lahaina was 80% Filipino. The rest a mix of Japanese, Portuguese and Hawaiians, Chinese and Haole. Most of the land owners Japanese but not all (My landlords were Portuguese) . Plantation descendants. Lets be honest.

 

[Muscles]

There's going to be massive law suits against the state and county

 

[Pico]

There's going to be massive law suits against the state and county

Absolutely. Im already part of one with a group of merchants. Look. The County and State had an obligation to insist that AMFAC Pioneer Mill continue to maintain the cane fields when they ceased operations. They had come in 139 years prior and reshaped the landscape grubbing stones and elevating natural water run-off. Instead they just abandoned the fields leaving dry cleared groomed patches of dry grass. There was no attempt to water or even build firebreaks in these fields when the stooped producing sugar. They had some responsibility. They put the town in peril. Anyone with a semblance of thought could see it back in 1999. And every year there were more wildfires. never however did we see the perfect storm. Tailwinds from the Hurricane and a High pressure system from up North meeting on Maui's head. Two Vita-mixes colliding in Lahaina. The fire swept down and south and then up and north. No sirens to alert any ears. To at least wonder why they were not stopping. To make it obvious it was not a drill. To awaken those sleeping. Those not listening to at least wake up and look outside. Two months ago if you submitted to the council that the town would be incinerated in two hours you would have just been labeled hostile. Police blocking off streets not just blocking access but exit as well. I had a friend stuck in the gridlock at Longhis. He turned around and through a succession pf sidewalks, parking lots front lawns (residents granting access and waving folks through) found his way south outta town. Other friends relating about the smoke so heavy that when you burst out it was like mad max or a plane coming out of the clouds, There was no wisp or waft. The town was a tinderbox. When I lived in Lahaina you could hear the homes made out of a 1983 $3K tongue and groove wooden kit home creak and crack as the sun warmed its bones. No insulation. Louvered windows. 1 inch thick T&G boards.