Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen (right) speaks with Gov. Josh Green during a visit to Front Street on Aug. 12 after a fire destroyed much of the town on Aug. 8. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Two days after saying “I’m not sure who was in charge” of the Maui Emergency Management Agency on the day of the Aug. 8 wildfires, Mayor Richard Bissen publicly detailed a timeline of the county’s response to the blazes that broke out Upcountry and in Lahaina.
In a speech aired live on Thursday evening, Bissen said that he wanted to “clear up misinformation and misunderstandings about what occurred in the early days of this disaster.”
“There’s been a heightened interest in what my team and I were involved in,” he said.
Maui County officials have faced questions and criticism over their response to the fire, primarily the decision to not sound the outdoor warning sirens as phone signal and internet failed and a fire tore through Lahaina town, as well as questions over where top officials were on the night of the fires.
Herman Andaya, the former head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, stepped down Aug. 17.
Darryl Oliveira, a former Hawaii County fire chief and civil defense administrator, is serving as the interim head of MEMA.
When asked during a news conference Tuesday who was calling the shots for MEMA on the day of the fires, Bissen said, “I’m not sure who was in charge. I think Herman Andaya was still in charge. He just wasn’t present. He was in contact with his team. I guess by phone? I don’t know exactly how. But he was still the emergency management for us then. I was sitting there in the room.”
In a video released shortly before his speech on Thursday evening, Bissen said that he “should have offered more” details but that “my nearly four decades in law has taught me to not guess at answers to questions.”
“I spoke plainly and truthfully when asked at a press conference about recollecting what happened on August 8th,” he said. “As this seems to be of interest, I should have offered more in my comments about what occurred on the day of the disaster. And I want to be clear and repeat that I have been present in our Emergency Operating Center since August 7th.”
Bissen said in his taped and live speeches that county officials met in the Emergency Operations Center on Aug. 7 due to the weather forecast of high winds and a risk of fire as Hurricane Dora passed south of the islands. MEMA decided to partially activate the center at 9 p.m. Aug. 7. Two MEMA staff stayed at the center until the next day.
The wildfire Upcountry was reported shortly after midnight on Aug. 8, and Bissen said after he was alerted in the early morning hours, he reported to the operations center at about 6:30 a.m. The mayor said he was aware that Andaya was attending a scheduled emergency management conference with Hawaii Emergency Management Agency officials on Oahu.
“I was also aware that the agency administrator was in touch with his staff of seven who were in the county’s Emergency Operating Center, and that a plans and operations officer within an incident command structure was present from MEMA personnel,” Bissen said in his taped remarks. “Members of my administration were also present in the EOC.”
As first responders battled the fire, Bissen said updates from police and firefighters came by radios carried to the operations center by personnel from the police and fire departments. The mayor said he and key members of his staff, the managing director, chief of staff and chief of communications and public affairs, remained at the center, some until the next morning.
“The severe gravity of the impact was not clear in the initial hours as our firefighters and police on the ground placed all of their efforts and actions toward helping people in the affected areas,” Bissen said during his live speech. “As the evening of the first day came, the horrific effects of the wildfire in Lahaina became apparent.”
At around 8 p.m. on Aug. 8, Bissen signed an emergency proclamation. He said he first became aware of fatalities on the morning of Aug. 9 and told the team of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who was serving as acting governor with Gov. Josh Green out of state.
Bissen said teams from the county were immediately dispatched to set up emergency shelters and oversee food and supply distribution centers that supplemented the many community hubs that popped up at parks, neighborhoods and businesses.
“Our primary focus has been and will continue to be providing support and relief to those affected,” Bissen said. “What will come at a later time will be a thorough review of the disaster that the county will certainly cooperate with and be participating in.”
The state Department of the Attorney General announced Aug. 11 that it would conduct a review of the fire response on Maui and Hawaii Island. Attorney General Anne Lopez said Thursday that she has selected UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute, a nonprofit that researches fire safety risks, to assess the performance of state and county agencies.
“I am committed to an independent, unbiased, and transparent investigation into government actions during the fires,” Lopez said in a news release. “I hear the frustration and understand that many have had their belief in government shaken by this unprecedented tragedy. It is crucial to preserve faith in government action by using science and sound investigative techniques to determine the facts.”
The organization will investigate government agency actions up to and during the first 24 to 72 hours of the fire and its aftermath, Lopez said. The final report is anticipated in about 12 months, in late 2024, and findings will address three phases:
• Fact-finding about how the fire incident unfolded.
• Analysis of the data, determining how various fire protection systems functioned.
• Best practices that incorporate additional data and recommendations for prevention.
Lopez said she would share information with the public at the end of each phase.
On Thursday, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Republican leaders announced that they had opened an investigation into Hawaiian Electric following the deadly fires and sent a letter to the company seeking information on its preparation for and response to the fires.
Hawaiian Electric is facing multiple lawsuits, including from Maui County, blaming the company’s equipment for starting the fires. The company has said a downed line started the first fire in Lahaina but that power had been off by the time the second fire flared up.
*Managing Editor Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.
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- Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen (right) speaks with Gov. Josh Green during a visit to Front Street on Aug. 12 after a fire destroyed much of the town on Aug. 8. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
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