The Maui Fire Department has released its After-Action Report on the Maui wildfires, focused on how firefighters managed the emergency in order to improve practices for future large-scale disasters.
The report was prepared by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, a third party representing objectivity and expertise in a disaster of this magnitude.
Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Giesea said they reviewed documents and interviewed more than 200 personnel from the fire department and many other agencies to produce the report.
“The document itself covers a timespan including the pertinent conditions on Aug. 7, along with the events and actions from Aug. 8 through Aug. 11," said Giesea at a press conference on Tuesday.
"This is when the bulk of our emergency response activity took place. It explicitly does not cover cause and origin of the fires, but rather preparation for response to and recovery from these devastating events,” he said.
The cause of the fires is still under investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with no estimated release date yet for that report.
“On Aug. 8, we experienced not just the worst fire in state history, we experienced the two worst fires in state history, occurring at the same time on the same island," Giesea said.
"And those were happening along with two other major fires, each of which on their own would have been newsworthy events. Accordingly, we asked the Western Fire Chiefs Association to produce an AAR covering all four of our major fires that began on Aug. 8.”
The Pulehu fire had the largest acreage loss at 3,268 acres, followed by the Lahaina fire at 2,170 acres, then the Olinda fire at 1,081 acres, and the Kula fire at 202 acres, according to the report. At least 101 lives were lost, and the fires’ collective property loss is estimated at $6 billion.
The AAR contains more than 100 points of recommendation. Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said 17 challenge areas have been identified and provided as recommendations to strengthen the department.
These include fully stocking relief vehicles, creating a statewide mutual aid program and developing a communication plan to evacuate people who speak different languages. Ventura said the department has already taken action on some of the recommendations, like pre-positioning personnel and vehicles during red flag warnings, increasing public emergency communication, and increasing the use of technology within the department.
Ventura said additional training or water access that day likely wouldn’t have changed the fire’s outcome with the extreme weather conditions and wind.
“When you have that extent of weather and fire going on ... It’s an evacuate all situation and kind of stop fighting the fire to save lives,” he said.
Ventura said staffing was also not an issue, as firefighters from across the state flew in to help, but the limited amount of vehicles and equipment available on Maui posed challenges.
“Regular staffing for upcountry Maui is eight to 10 personnel. On Aug. 8, we peaked at 39 personnel,” Ventura said. “Regular staffing for the West side of Maui is 14 to 17 personnel. In the morning hours of Aug. 8, we had 28 personnel already working in that area, and by the evening, we had 54 firefighters assigned to the West side of Maui in various apparatus and vehicles.”
Ventura said hundreds of people were rescued that day in an “all-hands-on-deck” effort by the department and community.
“There were firefighters fighting the fires in Lahaina as they well knew their homes were burning down at that very moment,” he said. “There were firefighters who rescued people and kept them within their apparatus for several hours as they continued to evacuate others, get them to safety and fight the fire at the same time...”
MFD's report was one of two announcements expected this week detailing information from the Aug. 8 fires. The second report has been released by the state Attorney General's office and includes a timeline of events.
Click here to read the full report from MFD.
