Like Lahaina, LA Was Warned in 2018

Little investment made in fire prevention since the Woolsey Fire of 2018.

On August 24, 2018, a wildfire broke out on the hillside above Lahaina, driven by high winds resulting from the low pressure of Hurricane Lane that passed south of the Hawaiian Islands. The fire destroyed 2,100 acres, 21 houses, and 27 cars, and caused $4.3 million in damage, but stopped just short of incinerating the town.

In response to this near miss, Maui County made little if any investment in preventing the same thing from happening again, which it did exactly five years later under eerily similar meteorological conditions. However, this second fire could not be stopped on the east end of town, but ended up burning all the way to the waterfront and destroying every building in the historic district.

The conditions that often result in fire have been well understood by mankind since ancient times—namely, combustible material, low humidity, and high wind. Anywhere these conditions prevail, civilization must make considerable investment to protect itself from fire.

A letter from Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan in the early 2nd century touched on this perennial issue:

While I was making a progress in a different part of the province, a most extensive fire broke out at Nicomedia [now Izmit, Turkey] which not only consumed several private houses, but also two public buildings; the town-house and the temple of Isis, though they stood on contrary sides of the street. The occasion of its spreading thus far was partly owing to the violence of the wind, and partly to the indolence of the people, who, manifestly, stood idle and motionless spectators of this terrible calamity. The truth is the city was not furnished with either engines, buckets, or any single instrument suitable for extinguishing fires; which I have now however given directions to have prepared.

You will consider, Sir, whether it may not be advisable to institute a company of fire-men, consisting only of one hundred and fifty members. I will take care none but those of that business shall be admitted into it, and that the privileges granted them shall not be applied to any other purpose. As this corporate body will be restricted to so small a number of members, it will be easy to keep them under proper regulation.

Just as Lahaina was warned in 2018, Los Angeles was warned by the Woolsey Fire—which ignited on November 8, 2018, burned 96,949 acres, and destroyed 1,643 structures—of the sort of catastrophes that are likely to occur when conditions are dry and windy. As was the case in Lahaina, it appears that what passes for leadership in Los Angeles made little to no investment to prevent the same kind of disaster from happening again.

To preserve civilization from natural disasters, it is necessary to make considerable investment in infrastructure and human resources, even if such investments do not yield a significant profit for any particular business interest.

It is also necessary to invest in good leadership. The Roman Emperor Trajan was an extremely capable soldier and administrator, and Pliny the Younger was a gifted lawyer, writer, and magistrate.

It’s not clear why Karen Bass was perceived to be a suitable Mayor of Los Angeles—one of the largest and most complex cities on earth. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Bass left town on Saturday as part of a presidential delegation to Ghana, just as the National Weather Service began ratcheting up its warnings about the coming windstorm. On Tuesday, she attended the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, leaving City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson as L.A.’s acting mayor when the Palisades fire broke out.

Mayor Bass in Ghana with a pretty woman in a charming yellow blouse.

Mayor Bass’s absence is reminiscent of Maui Mayor Richard Bissen’s strange lack of awareness before, during, and even after the Lahaina fire. He refused to tell the press where he was on the night of the fire, and he made several questionable statements in a live newscast on the day of the fire and in subsequent press conferences.

As was reported by KITV4 and the Honolulu Civil Beat:

Bissen appeared in a live interview on Aug. 8 at 6 p.m., he seemed unaware that Lahaina was on fire and that people were trying to escape into the ocean or on roads that were blocked by downed power lines, flames or other obstacles. Ten days later, when the television anchor asked him about an evacuation order on the day of the fire and he answered, “I don’t know what time that was.”

In a news conference on Aug. 29, Bissen said he did not place a single call to state emergency officials for help in supporting firefighters in Lahaina who were battling the blaze.

“I can’t speak to what or whose responsibility it was to communicate directly,” Bissen said in response to a question from a CBS News reporter. “I can’t say who was responsible for communicating with General Hara.”

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara heads the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

He also said he wasn’t sure of the chain of command or who was in charge of the Maui Emergency Management Agency on the day of fire.

That was Herman Andaya, who has since resigned, citing health reasons. Civil Beat reported about his lack of experience in emergency management.