It was quite a shock for me to see Lahaina. I had visited those quaint little buildings on Front Street and sat under that magnificent 150 year old banyan tree. I could never imagine something like this could happen. https://twitter.com/i/status/1689775569653977088
A one point, the fire was on 3 sides of a building, stopping at the property line of what appeared to be a house. With the exception of a few trees, even the yard was untouched.
How can that happen? They say unprecedented winds from hurricane Dora were blowing so it’s a little hard to understand how this house could be completely untouched.
Another odd thing, many of the streets and walkways are clean which is unusual if there is debris flying all over the place from wind and fire.
The first thing that popped up in my mind when I saw these pictures was the people evacuated from Turkey the day before the massive earthquake. Earthquakes don’t generally give warnings, but somehow the West knew to evacuate them, and now this totally unexpected fire in Maui, the likes of which they’ve never seen with the same tidy little streets like in Turkey.
I’d wonder if the picture above were photoshopped if I hadn’t seen an ariel view of the entire coastline with smoke filling the air. Very odd. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/09/maui-wildfires-deaths-lahaina-hawaii/
There’s some bizarre allegations of NASA cover-ups and misinformation flying around in the wake of the recent solar activity that impacted our atmosphere. Not only are these theories wrong, they are born from individuals who pay too much attention to Hollywood’s interpretation about how the sun should act.
First and foremost, there is no causal link between the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were launched from the sun over the last week and the deadly forest fires that currently consume vast swathes of land surrounding Moscow.
One source even went so far as accusing NASA of withholding data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to prevent the public from knowing about the full extent of a recent M-class solar flare that was observed on the solar surface. UPDATE: They have since admitted, unsurprisingly, they “may have jumped the gun a bit.”
Although this is currently some low-level conspiracy/confused chatter, there is a common misconception that solar storms are associated with extreme geological and atmospheric effects on Earth. The sun cannot produce solar flares or CMEs that physically burn the landscape, if it did, I doubt complex life would have had much of a chance at evolving over the last few billion years if our planet was constantly being sterilized.
When the sun generates a coronal mass ejection, a huge “bubble” of magnetism is accelerated through the solar atmosphere (the corona). Trapped within the magnetic field are highly energetic particles called plasma. Using words like “huge” and “highly energetic” to describe this phenomena may give the impression we are dealing with some Death Star-like weapon, but you’ll be glad to hear that we’re not.
On Aug. 4, the CME that was launched from the sun three days earlier hit the Earth as predicted by space weather scientists; the chain of events from the solar surface to the Earth’s atmosphere had been observed, tracked and accurately forecast.
Aurorae erupted at high latitudes, providing sky watchers with a beautiful display as the “highly energetic” particles from the CME funneled into our atmosphere, slamming into atmospheric gasses, producing light.
It was one of those rare occasions when solar physicists were able to see a flaring event near the surface of the sun and follow its effects all the way into our atmosphere.
But could this solar storm (and others following it) have heated up our atmosphere so much that it created conditions conducive to forest fires in Russia? In a word: no.
But there is a scenario where the secondary effects of a solar storm could spark a fire if the conditions are already hot and dry enough. [Editor Note: The weather was perfectly within normal ranges on August 7: Temp 80, Precipitation .01, Wind 14 MPH, Humidity 72.3%)
The Russian fires were raging long before the CME interacted with our atmosphere, so the theory that the solar storm had something to do with these wildfires is already terribly wrong.
Although the solar storm/wildfire link is weak – CMEs don’t alter climate systems and they don’t act like a cosmic blowtorch – there is one situation where a solar storm onset could spark fires.
On Sept. 1-2, 1859, our planet was hit by the largest recorded solar storm. The “Carrington Event” was named after English amateur astronomer Richard Carrington who observed some extreme sunspot activity erupt on the sun. A day later, aurorae erupted and could be seen as far south as Hawaii – a sign of intense magnetospheric activity.
The CME that hit Earth was obviously something unprecedented, something that hasn’t hit the Earth since. Powerful electrical currents were generated through our atmosphere, overloading telegraph networks. These basic networks overloaded, sparking and failing.
So, like lightning strikes can cause fires in dry, wooded regions (Editor Note: Having spent considerable time in Hawaii because I had an account there, it is never dry; only very humid.) it is conceivable that a powerful CME could overload unprotected and isolated power lines, causing sparking and starting fires.
There is no indication that any recent CME . . . has been powerful enough to spark wildfires. . .
https://www.seeker.com/can-solar-storms-cause-wildfires-1765087584.html
***
Having been in a fire in my own community, I learned a couple of things:
1) Unless you have a community alert system, which wouldn’t work in a fire caused by a sun flare, you may have no idea something is happening in your neighborhood until it’s too late. (Had someone in Colorado, another state, not called me and asked me if we were OK, I wouldn’t have known anything about it.)
2) No one tells you when you need to evacuate because they don’t know where the wind will blow. The wind can carry an ember farther than you might expect, setting off whole other fires. It’s better to get out sooner rather than later. Within 30 minutes of gathering my family together, 3 of the 4 exists of our community were blocked.
3) People forget there could be children and pets home alone. Consider giving keys to neighbors you trust that are generally home to make sure your family is OK.
4) Have some Holy Water around. I sprinkled my house and when a neighbor I didn’t know very well saw me. Without saying a word, he held out his hands. I threw him the bottle and he sprinkled his house, as well. The fire stopped before it came to our street.
My Daughter’s School a Block Away
***
And then there is this:
@rootsrestoredwellness Maui Fires Lahaina, Kihei, Kula Update 8-12-23 🔥 😞 💔 find me ar T.me/rootsrestoredwellness #quantumhealing #heartcenter #rootsrestoredwellness #energyhealing #energyhealer #ascension #shadowwork #innerchildhealing #traumahealing #traumarecovery #ancestraltrauma #ancestralhealing #spiritualawakening #spiritualjourney #innerchild #healingjourney #spirituality #newearth #newearthtimelines #innerhealing #corewounds #recovery #feelbetter #levelup #365forReels #healed #mauifires #lahainafire #mauifire #hawaiifires #hurricanedora #kulafire #makawaofire #maui #hawaii #motherearth #refiningfire #cleansingfire #lahaina #mothermaui #kiheifire #haleakala #mauifireupdate #fema #redcross #mauifoodbank #hungryheroes #hungryheroesofhawaii #wewantanswers #mauistrong
Not one month ago, the Governor of Hawaii enacted an Emergency Housing Proclamation that, rather specifically, outlined the process of dealing with human remains found on development sites. It’s not uncommon to find pre-colonial remains on construction sites in Hawaii, but it has almost always delayed larger projects for an indefinite amount of time (sometimes years). Now, 60 days max (14 days for non-native bones). The rebuilding effort in Lahaina, what will be built and by whom, will be telling. Lord have mercy.
https://governor.hawaii.gov/chiefhousingofficer/emergency-proclamation-relating-to-housing/
I have some experience with home construction in the islands and the reason that building survived may be a lot less interesting than people think. If you zoom in you can see the parallel lines on the roof. That’s because it’s a standing seam metal roof and they don’t burn. Someone willing to spend the extra money in the islands on a metal roof is generally the same person to build out of concrete and that doesn’t burn either. The other homes are most likely less expensive wood-frame construction.
Why would someone build a fireproof home on the water? You wouldn’t, but you might build a storm-resistant home. Many of those happen to be nearly fire-proof.
As to the rest of the blog post, I make no claim of experience and don’t offer an opinion.
The fire that wiped out Lahaina, Maui last week has caused a lot of people to reach conclusions about its cause. I won’t offer any conjecture on that, but I will say that I’m not surprised that it happened.
Honolulu is 82 miles from Lahaina and was stuck in the same weather pattern while Hurricane Dora slowly passed in a straight line far south of the archipelago. Our seasonal trade winds blew freshly off the Pacific, but the unusual factor was the relative coolness and dryness of the winds. It tends to be hot and humid this time of year, even with the trade winds blowing. Last week, the hurricane churned in a counterclockwise pattern to our south, and the winds speeding westward along the northern edge of it combined with the customary trades headed west off the southern edge of the high pressure system to our north. This combination of factors produced a slingshot effect that intensified our winds for several days.
When trade winds hit the windward/eastern sides of our islands they are disturbed and redirected by the mountains. In a strong trade-wind pattern such as the one we had last week, the wind is often accelerated as it blows along the channels between the islands and downslope through narrow mountain valleys on each island. We have all seen the video footage of gale-force winds and storm-force gusts racing down the streets of Lahaina carrying the fire with it. Once it hit the dried-out wooden buildings along historic Front Street, there was no way to save them from destruction.
Here on O’ahu, the trade winds blew fresh on the rural windward side of the island, but they were strong and gusty at the bases of the narrow valleys in Honolulu on the leeward side. The same sort of accelerated wind energy rendered Lahaina helpless as it went up in flames in short order.
This is our annual dry season, but our weather last week was particularly dry. There were few passing squalls even on the wetter windward sides of the islands. Even the humidity has been comfortably low this summer. When you consider that Lahaina is perpetually hot and dry with dusty streets, the dry weather pattern of last week made conditions particularly ripe for a brush fire.
God rest the souls of those in Lahaina who so quickly perished in last week’s blaze.
“They are very worried that the community is going to freak out when they find out how not a single fire truck responded to the fires. The emergency sirens were not activated (hurricane sirens) and loss of life could have been kept down by better emergency management which utterly failed. I’m not trying to make waves or stir up problems but I was so angry and sad when I found out how many children are dead that I knew I had to post this and let everyone know what I have learned. It’s time for our officials to stand up, tell the truth, and face the music. They failed Lāhainā guys”
https://open.substack.com/pub/tierneyrealnewsnetwork/p/there-was-a-massive-wildfire-on-the?r=qtj2o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Everyone: Read Galatians in your Bible. The answer lies there. Infiltration almost but NOT complete. Faith in Christ alone not Christ plus human law/ action. Christ alone.
See theburningplatform.com for interesting facts about this fire. Also naturalnews.com has a podcast for the 15th (linked at top of the first page) which half way through gives evidence of plans for turning the island into a high tech prison. Is it true alarms never sounded and fire trucks never responded?
And the Maui Police Chief, John Pelletier, he was the incident commander covering the Strip when a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets on a country music festival, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. Just one more anomaly.
Things get curiouser and curiouser, don’t they?
Fire does Strange Things. I’ve seen pictures of past fires in California where one house was left unscathed while all the surrounding houses were burnt to a cinder. It would be wise to stop speculating and coming up with elaborate reasons for anomalies. Also, my understanding is that there was ton of non-native, invasive species that are flammable in dry weather (and which Maui tends to have dry weather at this time every year) and which hadn’t been cleared away after agriculture (sugar cane farms) had stopped being practiced and which the government (run by the same people who moved there from California?) neglected to practice due diligence in land management.
RE: “”It would be wise to stop speculating and coming up with elaborate reasons for anomalies.”
What “elaborate reasons?” I was dismissing how a sun flare could cause a fire when the sun is particularly active.
The weather was not dry. The humidity was higher than normal on August 7: Temp 80, Precipitation .01, Wind 14 MPH, Humidity 72.3%. Normal is around 60% humidly and the sugar fields were cleared in 2016/2017 when they started raising cattle on them. The winds, however, were probably fierce, but having had a timeshare outside of Lahaina, that is not unusual.
.
“Fire does Strange Things.” I heard this same remark regarding the fires in Santa Rosa a few years ago.
Look at Dr. Judy Wood’s extensive research on the “strange fires” on 9/11.
Maybe it’s true that Strange Fires do Strange Things.
Here’s some interesting info: https://youtu.be/jT7EVUveMwk
Bottom line: the natives didn’t want to sell their land and don’t want to live in Commie Blocs.
Great Turley video – thanks for sharing it!
Turley is right: Trust of our leaders is at an all time low. There are many irregularities/inconsistencies in the official “party line” on what happened with the fires in Lahaina and on the rest of Maui. We are under no obligation to believe the “official narrative” simply because it appears on 60 Minutes.
We should not feel shameful or embarrassed about questioning the party line.
It’s not our problem if most of us could easily believe that many of the wicked oligarchs who govern us wouldn’t hesitate 2 minutes to burn native Hawai’ians out of their own land in order to take over the beautiful island of Maui.
Trust and the privilege to govern has to be earned.
Our oligarch leaders have not earned our trust. They’ve done the exact opposite in fact…. over the past few years they’ve done a lot to lose any trust that they had.
And our oligarch leaders know very well that the trust is irretrievably broken – which is why most Leftists and most RINOs just want to do away with democracy. They no longer want to be accountable to those whom they govern!
Our political and government leaders work for us, not the other way around.
Exactly.
“…most of us could easily believe that many of the wicked oligarchs
who govern us wouldn’t hesitate 2 minutes to burn native Hawai’ians
out of their own land in order to take over the beautiful island of Maui.”
Well, they didn’t hesitate to support burning Russians out
of the Donbass and (just plain burning them in) Odessa.
“We stole the country. Why can’t we steal the land?”
Was HAARP operating, like it was two years ago
when Lytton BC burned to the ground, taking with it
Dr Charles Hoffe’s surgery and research results?
For which, see:
Did the Global Mafia Burn Down Lytton, BC?
https://rumble.com/vjo72p-did-the-global-mafia-burn-down-lytton-bc.html
[Video – 26:34]
Brendan, thank you for bringing up HAARP. The Space Fence/HAARP issue is rarely discussed, and is tossed out as a conspiracy theory. It’s at the root of a lot of these situations.
Folks, we’re being lied to by the govt. Please read the following from Larry Johnson:
“I received information tonight from a highly reliable source who is on Maui and is involved with the emergency response. The source is a person of high integrity and shared this information with a mutual friend, who passed it on to me. The source says the situation on Maui is far worse than what is being reported.
“Our mutual friend checked on the source last week and the source said the Maui government is covering up the deaths.
“The source had just returned from a big meeting on Oahu convened to coordinate the response to the disaster. The source said that there are 5000 people missing and that FEMA estimates at least 1-2000 dead on Maui, especially Lahaina. It was essentially burned to the ground and the residents were told to shelter in place. Many are probably dead.
“It is no surprise that Hawaiian authorities upped the death toll today to 106. That number will continue to rise.
“The source said that Maui authorities will not declare human remains as another countable death unless the body is complete. Really? When you have a corpse killed by being incinerated you will be lucky to find teeth. All human remains are to remain in place until a team of 6-7 forensics guys can determine no foul play. That’s gonna take a couple weeks, so the bodies will either rot, or be stripped by maggots/vermin.”
This is a catastrophe beyond imagination and the response of the State and Federal governments has been appalling. Instead of transparency it looks like the outside world is being fed disinformation in order to down play the scope and scale of the disaster.
Herman Andaya, chief of Maui Emergency Management, has resigned abruptly citing concerns for his health. Andaya has faced severe criticism for deciding NOT to sound the alarm to warn residence of the impending disaster in Lahaina. Maui has all of 80 sirens, but apparently none of them went off on August 8, that fateful day.
Shelee Kimura, chief executive officer of Hawaiian Electric, has deflected any blame for not shutting off the power to Lahaina. Downed power lines may have sparked the conflagration, but Kimura insists electricity was needed to run the water pumps that would have been needed to douse the flames. Regardless of that, she said that there was no way to shut off the power anyway. Brilliant!
Kaleo Manuel, first deputy for the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, is responsible for denying permission for the diversion of Maui’s aquifer waters to fight the fire in Lahaina until it was too late. He wanted to make sure that a local Hawaiian farmer’s taro crop wouldn’t be affected by the temporary loss of water supply. Manuel majored in Hawaiian studies from the University of Hawai’i. Obviously a cultural hire, he has now been reassigned to a different position within the government, but he has been exposed to the wrath of the local people.
Meanwhile, word on the street is that FEMA has been hampering the recovery effort in Lahaina. Local fishermen have been bypassing the logjam by running emergency supplies to volunteers on shore from Molokai, a neighboring island. Our parish has decided to contribute funds to this grassroots effort.
Lawrence can you give us the name of this grass root effort your parish is contributing to?
Tulsi Gabbard has sat down with Lahaina’s legendary surfer and voyager, Archie Kalepa, who is spearheading the grassroots relief effort at ground zero. Kalepa, a ninth generation native of Lahaina, is clearly a man of vision and compassion.
Video of Tulsi’s interview:
https://www.onenewspage.com/video/20230818/16081917/On-the-ground-on-Maui-Archie-Kalepa-speaks.htm
Article in local alternative media:
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/voyager-archie-kalepa-steers-lahaina-donations-with-an-eye-on-weather/
Thank you!
Sounds like modern South Africa…. where competence in public officials is irrelevant… allegiance a certain political ideology is what matters.
30 years ago South Africa was held up as a beacon for all of Africa to emulate — multiracial, Apartheid gone, the future of the African continent. Today it’s an absolute mess, racial hatred all over the place, no electricity, incompetence everywhere, crime and murder skyrocketing. All that matters for South African elected officials is allegiance to political ideology… it’s perfectly fine if they’re terrible at what they do.
Is that where Hawai’ian government is now too — almost all Hawai’ian government leaders are through and through Leftists. DEI lovers, that stuff…. When disasters like Lahaina strike, their incompetence is in full view for all to see. But at least they push DEI ideology.
How long will we Americans allow ourselves to be governed by incompetent idiots?
I have been physically sick over all this. The children were sent home. Their parents didn’t know what was going on because there were no sirens.
It’s an atrocity.
Dear Gail, I can commiserate with you. Why were the children sent home when the school administrators must have known that many of the parents were away from home working at the shops in Lahaina and the hotels further up the coast in Ka’anapali? There are two many questions like that to answer about the Lahaina fire. I’ve lived in Hawai’i for 29 years, so allow me to make a few broad comments from my experience here.
1. Hawai’i’s state government is notorious for its incompetence. It is probably the most inept state government of the fifty. We are taxed to the gills, but we get too little in return. They take forever even to pave the state roads. Surely hair-brained mistakes were made in Lahaina, but most of that was due to a lack of responsiveness, not to the nefarious influence of the World Economic Forum.
2. The fire in Lahaina was an unstoppable blitzkrieg. There are some wild conspiracy theories flying around the cybersphere, most made by mainlanders who know little about our situation here. Many assign criminal intent to actions which were simply the fault of incompetence on the part of Hawai’i state and Maui county officials. The fire moved so quickly that even the most responsive of officials would have had to be on the ball to be effective, but when you consider the less-than-optimal qualifications of so many people in our government and the corruption that stems from nepotism and tribalism, you have a toxic mix. That is particularly true in a bureaucracy run by Democrats who have maintained their one-party rule for seventy years.
3. People native to Lahaina – what is left of them – are incensed. Once the headlines have moved away from this story of this atrocity, people on the mainland and around the world will redirect their short attention spans away from this story, but local people will not loose interest so easily. The tragedy was just too outrageous and it affected them so directly that they will not let go of it. Expect sustained suspicion in the months ahead.
4. Aid is starting to catch up with the need. However, the true test of equitable recovery for Lahaina will be in the long rebuild that lies ahead. Gov. Josh Green has been in office for less than a year. As an emergency-room physician surely he has a sense of compassion, and as a long-term state senator, he knows how to move things through the legislature. Green has said that he will prevent opportunistic land grabs of the distressed properties in Lahaina. On the other hand, Maui is a world-famous tourist destination and Lahaina is prime real estate, so the pressure on the government will be intense to allow investors and developers to snatch it up from former residence who are now at their wit’s end. Another problem will be the insurance companies. Will they do the right thing and honor their contracts with the devastated owners? Let’s follow those developments in the near future.
O, Most Holy Theotokos of Iveron have save us!
Gail, our parish warden just told me that contributions can be sent directly to our parish, Holy Theotokos of Iveron Orthodox Church. Earmark for “Maui Relief” on the memo line, whether on a paper check or in the online contribution.
Holy Theotokos of Iveron Orthodox Church
201 North Kainalu Drive
Kailua (Honolulu), Hawai`i 96734
USA
Parish website:
https://www.orthodoxhawaii.org/
Our parish plans to help Maui through Hawai’i Community Foundation and other groups. Our starosta says that the parish had a constructive experience working with them in the aftermath of Hurricane in Iniki, which leveled the island of Kauai in September 1992.
https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/
Oh, good. I truly appreciate the referral.
Something very strange going on here.
Excerpt from article:
“100 percent not enough is being done so people are doing it themselves. The Government, relief organizations – they’re not doing anything,” she said. “We have the right to know what’s going on. FEMA came here to help with the recovery [process] but we don’t see them. The Red Cross arrived four days late and they’re not doing anything. They’re supposed to help and not just stand around.”
“We’re only 100 miles from Oahu which has several military bases. Why is the response so lacking? Why are they doing so little? Why is nothing else being done?” she added.
Southwest flight attendant Sarah Trost corroborated Medina’s claims, saying she spoke with a morgue worker in the Maui area who told her that at least 480 people were found dead and that authorities had only searched 13% of the area, not 78% as they recently claimed.
“He found so many children, children and moms holding each other. Infants, toddlers, the unimaginable. Husbands and wives, whole entire [families] in a room just huddling together, burning to death,” Trost said in a TikTok post.
This comes amid widespread criticism of not only the government’s tepid response to the wildfires but also its management policies that exacerbated the disaster.
For example, a woke Maui water resource management official refused to release water to West Maui to help prevent the wildfire from spreading.
Maui police also formed a blockade preventing many cars from evacuating the Lahaina area as the deadly blaze was closing in.
See: https://www.infowars.com/posts/charred-remains-of-entire-families-found-huddled-together-in-maui-homes-morgues-out-of-body-bags-locals-claim/
What is going on in Lahaina bears some similarity to the means
whereby Marcus Licinius Crassus amassed his ill-gotten gains:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Licinius_Crassus
‘ The first ever Roman fire brigade was created by Crassus. Fires were almost a daily occurrence in Rome, and Crassus took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department, by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the firefighters did nothing while Crassus offered to buy the burning building from the distressed property owner, at a miserable price. If the owner agreed to sell the property, his men would put out the fire; if the owner refused, then they would simply let the structure burn to the ground. After buying many properties this way, he rebuilt them, and often leased the properties to their original owners or new tenants. ‘
On a happier note, please rejoice with us that, as of today, our parish has five newly-illumined believers. They’re all members of the armed forces, and so they will be moving on when they’re posted elsewhere in the world. Just the same, freshly-baptized babies and youth are the bright hope for the Orthodox Church’s future no matter where they turn up. As a matter of fact, most of our recent new members are young adults and their children. Thanks be to God!
Glory to God.
Praise the Lord!
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/what-saved-the-miracle-house-in-lahaina/
Interesting. River stones??? I don’t see any river stones around that house.
Shocking to learn how much of Hawaii is owned by big tech leaders. 98% of one of the islands is owned by one tech billionaire. While most land is owned by the Hawaiian government, big tech billionaires own huge swaths of it. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marc-benioff-mark-zuckerberg-peter-193649879.html
Christine, Hawai’i is not as small as you might think. It’s bigger than Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island and almost as big as New Jersey. Of course, if you’re from California, Texas or Alaska, there’s no comparison to the land area of those states. Because it’s so mountainous, and because as you rightly say, the government owns so much of Hawai’i, only a relatively small proportion of the islands has been developed.
Regarding language, it’s better to say the “Hawai’i government” than the “Hawaiian government”. The adjective “Hawaiian” is defined narrowly here as it refers to those people and things which are aboriginal to the islands. The people are generally friendly, but there is a subtle discriminatory mentality that excludes those who came to Hawaii from outside. If you didn’t graduate from high school in Hawai’i, you’re a permanent outsider. And, even local people with a mixture of Asian and Pacific Islander blood who don’t have the native Hawaiian blood quantum are not considered to be Hawaiian. Haolè (Whites) might as well forget it.
Larry Ellison of Oracle fame owns nearly all of little Lanai, but that was a private island for a long time, even before he bought it. Other large land owners like Bishop Estate and Alexander & Baldwin were big players on the scene long before the recent big tech billionaires bought property here.
The $64,000 question for now is this: Can the owners of the burnt-out properties of Lahaina retain ownership of their relatively small plots, rebuild their houses and move back home. Or will there be some scurrilous hanky-panky on the real estate scene that results in the further alienation of the local people? Only time will tell.
I mean it when I say Monomakhos is lucky to have its own “reporter on the ground” as it were in Hawaii! Thanks so much for all your edifying comments on local happenings.
Miranda Devine has the scoop on today’s flight restrictions for Hawai’i’ air space. The restrictions will be in place for Pres. Biden’s plane, which will visit Maui this afternoon. Notice that he has dedicated a mere two hours to review the devastation on the island before he flies back to Lake Tahoe for yet some more rest and relaxation. (HST means Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.)
Effective Date(s):
From August 22, 2023 at 0145 UTC (August 21, 2023 at 1545
HST)
To August 22, 2023 at 0345 UTC (August 21, 2023 at 1745 HST)
I’ll call it “two after two” – in other words, after procrastinating for two weeks, Biden has finally decided to appear to be presidential and witness the charred remains of the worst natural disaster in a century, and yet our illustrious president has allocated no more than two hours for the photo op.. Expect it to be featured on your evening news. Stunning!
Oh, but you’re being too harsh! (Kidding)
He reviewed all the damage on-line. Jill did, too. As the Church lady would say, “Now isn’t that special?”
Maui Wildfires: Barricade Blocked Only Paved Road out of Lahaina
https://www.breitbart.com/weather/2023/08/23/maui-wildfires-barricade-blocked-only-paved-road-out-of-lahaina/
Here is the bleak economy situation on Maui on the last day of the month that Lahaina was burnt to the ground. If the wildfires were the initial seismic shock, the catastrophic loss of business is the ongoing aftershocks to an island that owes 70% of its income to tourism. If you’ve been cogitating a vacation to Hawai’i, now’s the time to start hunting for cheap room rates and activities. You can have some R&R in paradise and help the people of Maui at the same time. A win-win combo.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/economic-shocks-from-wildfires-reverberate-across-maui/
NB: There is a Greek Orthodox liturgy on Maui served once a month by a kind priest whom I know well.
I understand the Governor is discouraging tourism,
despite all the hotels being open and staffed
and the economy needing the business.
If there was a plan to bankrupt the people
and grab most of their assets for a song,
I expect that is how it would work.
Right after the fires, Gov. Green asked people to stay away from Maui – especially West Maui – so that they wouldn’t get in the way of the immediate search and rescue effort. Now, however, he is encouraging everyone to come ahead and enjoy their visit to Maui and support the local economy, which needs so much support.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willmcgough/2023/08/23/hawaii-travel-update-governor-asks-tourists-to-come-back-to-maui/?sh=53da5aae551f
OK. You know better than me.
But what is all the opaque fencing for?
Good question. Ostensibly it’s for dust containment. They say that the debris left over from the fire in Lahaina is contaminated with toxic chemicals, so the State Dept. of Trans. is spending an estimated $2.4 million on about five miles of the fence to protect people. That’s the official story, anyway.
My suspicion is that they are keen to prevent rubber-necking that can bring traffic flow on the sole highway to a standstill while callous tourists take their selfies with a charred town in the background. Also, since there has been wild speculation as to the cause of the fire and the ulterior motive of the government’s plans, they want to prevent so-called citizen journalists from posting content on their various internet channels. Gov. Green is no fan of social media.
The following is some news being disseminated in Maui about next steps in terms of who is doing what and when. They talk about clearing out household hazards like paint, batteries and propane tanks but are preparing for something more serious which requires the fence to keep people out and may explain why they had to turn off the water. The asphalt was melted and vehicles with melty tires were abandoned on the streets. This explains why they’d have to shut the roads down. Eventually, they’re talking about sealing the ash on the ground with Soiltac (glue) so the dust doesn’t blow into the ocean.
All of the debris they collect is going to be sent to the mainland for disposal. The tourists, BTW, are having to vacate the Island. The hotel rooms are being given to the displaced homeowners.
I. Hazardous material removal will set groundwork for Lahaina re-entry: We have a team on island now of about 150 people, 30 percent of which are local hires who we’ve trained in hazmat tech certifications.” The work of removing household hazardous material from Lahaina will be done by EPA teams working in zones. At this time, the disaster area is restricted to authorized personnel only and there is no list allowing residents to return to the disaster area. Debris removal from properties will begin after the EPA has removed household hazardous materials from the affected area. “We’re calling the phase after the hazardous material removal phase, the “Return to Lahaina” phase. https://www.mauicounty.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=12787
II. Hazardous Materials Technician (HMT) is a five-day course that prepares Operations-level responders for Technician-level Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) certification. This 40-hour course, based on NFPA® 1072: Standard for Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Emergency Response Personnel Professional Qualifications and NFPA® 472 standards, provides participants with HAZMAT-specific response knowledge and skills, enabling them to respond safely and effectively to a suspected incident at the hazardous materials technician level. https://cdp.dhs.gov/training/course/PER-272
III. EPA: The EPA sets environmental standards and provides technical expertise to protect human health and the environment from the use of radioactive materials. EPA standards set protective limits on the radioactivity in soil, water and air that comes from human activities. The Agency supports other federal, state and local agencies by developing federal guidance and technical reports on radiation protection, and assists in response to radiological emergencies. https://www.epa.gov/radiation
IV. Nuclear preparedness Posted on Apr 13, 2018 in Issues and Advisories, Past Issues & Advisories: Although a nuclear attack is extremely unlikely, recent news has brought this issue to the public’s attention. As with all threats, preparation is important. A nuclear attack can occur if an enemy state or terrorists deliberately fire a missile armed with a nuclear weapon at a city, military base, etc., or transport a nuclear weapon into such an area in order to cause mass casualties. While recent developments in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have made more people aware of such threats, nuclear preparedness has long been a component of all-hazards preparedness and emergency officials in Hawaii have included it as part of their planning for many years.
The prospect of a nuclear attack hit home for many in Hawaii on the morning of Saturday, January 13, 2018, when people across the state received an emergency alert stating that a missile headed for the islands had been detected and they should seek immediate shelter. The emergency alert turned out to have been a mistake, but a lot of people were emotionally shaken. Many did not know what to do in the event of an actual attack, while others realized that they did not have adequate emergency supplies.
Public health preparedness focuses both on preventing disasters and preparing for them. For nuclear preparedness, there are two important components that the public should be aware of: what to do in case of an attack, and how to prepare for this or any other man-made or natural disaster. These significantly raise your chance for survival and they are both addressed below.
V. Impact in Hawaii:Hawaii is one of the closest parts of the United States to North Korea, possibly making its population centers more vulnerable to the threat of nuclear attack. A nuclear detonation anywhere in Hawaii would be devastating. Long before the recent threats made by North Korea, the State of Hawaii began to implement a plan to educate the population on what they can do to raise their chance of survival in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack.
These preparations included setting up a new emergency siren, specifically for a missile attack, which was first heard on December 1, 2017. This will be accompanied by education for residents of Hawaii to “get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned.” https://health.hawaii.gov/prepare/nuclear-preparedness/
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If they were attacked by North Korea, I doubt it would be publically acknowledged as long as Biden is in office. He may have postponed his trip out of fear of radiation. He has been taunting North Korea non-stop. Their closest target is Maui.
Some people think it was a DEW but they don’t incinerate people. They disorient people. The symptoms included a feeling of pressure on the face, loud noises, severe headaches, nausea and confusion. Painful but non-lethal. https://theconversation.com/directed-energy-weapons-shoot-painful-but-non-lethal-beams-are-similar-weapons-behind-the-havana-syndrome-167318#:~:text=The%20symptoms%20included%20a%20feeling,severe%20headaches%2C%20nausea%20and%20confusion.
ICBM, on the other hand: (1) can set multiple (HOT) fires, (2) cause high winds, (3) contaminate the ground and the water with radiation (4) melt metal, tires and asphalt, and (5) incinerate people. Some of the TikTok videos are showing massive light shows in the sky with people screaming.
I hear that Rocket Man Kim is perturbed at our military buildup on the Korean peninsula, especially the mooring of our nuclear ships there. He is in a good position to hit Japan with one of his incendiary toys, to say nothing of South Korea. However, Maui is 4,700 statute miles from Pyonyang, so it would be a Hail Mary pass to loft an ICBM over the wide Pacific and score a hit on Maui. On the other hand, O’ahu is a hundred miles closer than Maui to Korea and the vast majority of the military bases are on this island. CinC Pac. Fleet headquarters in Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, the Fort Shafter Army nerve center, Wheeler Air Field, the vast Schofield Army Barracks, Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base are all here, along with Tripler Hospital and Bellows, the defunct Air Force Base. Did I mention the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu. If I were Kim, jr., I would take a shot at O’ahu.
At any rate, the recent brush fires on Maui were decidedly not the product of a nuclear explosion, whether an ICBM or a dirty bomb. And, I highly doubt whether a DEW was the cause, either. Gail, you give too much credit to our governments – especially the Hawai’i State government – for their technological prowess and nefarious intent. I must reiterate that the environmental and meteorological conditions were ripe for another brush fire, which are annual occurrences during our dry season. The trouble during this latest cockup was the perennial trouble that is characteristic of Hawai’i, i.e., lack of preventive measures and delay in response times.