stock here: I watched this video a few times, before it hit me. The fire that this couple noticed was in green bushes in the middle of a neighborhood where there was no fire anywhere near. There was diffuse smoke, and they were traveling out at a good rate of speed. They were not stuck in the middle of a “fire zone”.
I also put it on Bitchute. YouTube is getting even worse. They have a new format where all you get is the video in the middle of the screen and no comments are possible. Way to censor!!! And my Youtube views got completely blurred and jumbled, allowing no view at all…..until I restarted.
So watch it on Bitchute to keep youTube from getting hits and thus advertising feees.
I tried to capture “the fire” from this video in this screen cap, but you have to watch the video to understand that this is one of DEW set fires. Check it out. Edited…a got a better screen capture after a reader commented that it looked like a “root fire”. Indeed the roots are going to be holding much more water than the leaves….the DEW Xray / Microwave are going to heat the water to 1000F resulting in what appears to be spontaneous combustion of the green bushes.
He was able to easily put it out with a garden hose because the plants were so green.
The Police chief John Pelletier of Maui, presiding over the greatest loss of life due to fire, is the same guy who presided over the greatest loss of life due to gunfire in Las Vegas.
In order to to be Chief of Maui, County laws had to be changed to allow a non-resident to become chief. Months after he became chief, his secretary (32 year veteran of the police force) died supposedly in a car accident in which the story is that she was pursuing someone who snatched her purse (at 6:30 AM) and was putting other lives at risk in a high speed chase, for a purse. Hmmmm if those are not all #FaF then I dont know what to say
Actually, the China group was being extorted for just too much from the local officials trying to get a piece of their 1.5B planned investment. Odd timing with the Lahaina fires of which part of the story is a land grab, and 3 weeks prior a State level proclamation that during any emergency they can throw out all the laws, including those related to historical properties (much of the properties in Lahaina, the former capital of Hawaii, are historic)
When thing happen temporally, it is lazy or stupid to not consider a link or both being caused by some separate third factor.
Funny, I don’t know anyone that would spend this much effort to respond to my fairly benign one liner….so I suspect it must be a paid propagandist, trying to throw as much shit against the wall as possible, while ignoring everything else.
My comment: There are many purposes to these “wild fires”, and a land grab is one of them.
Their response, with no line breaks noted. Notice he creates the phrase jewish space lasers, and lays down anti-semitism.
I’ll send back the link to my picture of the burnt car 2 miles out of Lahaina, with patchy, let me call it scrub grass.
—————————————————
These wildfires are a terrible tragedy. A wildfire disaster that was most likely ignited by downed power lines, drought conditions, low humidity, hurricane -force winds between 80-100 mph compounded by invasive grasses. Of all of the invasive plants now thriving on the islands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture points to 18 specifically that contribute to Hawaii’s wildfire risk, including buffel grass, molasses grass, and especially guinea grass. These invasive grasses and brush dry out early in the season and don’t easily decompose, leave behind fuel to feed a fire and these grasses cover 25% of the island. Many factors contributed to wildfire, poor brush fire prevention management (controlled burns and other preventative techniques) used to prevent widespread fast moving brush fires. And the collapse of the 100 yr old water system, the hydrants were dry because they were fed by creek and well both water sources negative impacted by a drought since May. The town and Fire Department had broken new ground for a new well 2 months prior to the fire but all the work piping all the hydrants to the new water sources takes time and unfortunately this wildfire happened before they could finish the work. And then there were problems with the emergency notification because cell towers went down due to the fire, this probably added to the lack of coordination for evacuations. I am not sure if radio communication antenna were impacted but I’m sure that will be reviewed in the after action report. During 9/11 in NYC radio antenna were on top of the towers which negatively impacted emergency communications and resulted in the deaths of many first responders. All these factors caused this wildfire to spread and impacted the emergency response, helicopters and planes couldn’t fly cuz the wind, so this wildfire burned extremely hot and rapidly spread throughout Lahaina. And because the age of many of the buildings (historical buildings) were built from wood and built with materials that would be considered subpar today because of a poor fire rating. Newer construction materials used in modern buildings have a higher fire rating and can withstand higher temperatures without igniting as easily as older wood structures. All these things created a perfect storm for this fire to spread but one thing is certain it was not an intentional act, and had nothing to do with Laser Weapons. It is a terrible tragedy, a horrific wildfire disaster not some conspiracy. Misinformation creates distrust and paranoia, it may discourage people from applying for disaster assistance, assistance they need to survive, keep their land and rebuild. These nonsense conspiracies happened after the California wildfires too, Jewish Space Lasers, which is a dog whistle for anti-Semitism. It only gets in the way and can cause paranoia, hatred and distrust none of which helps with the trauma and PTSD the survivors have experienced and it doesn’t help with the disaster recovery operations that need to happen in order to rebuild. Sending much love and prayers to the people of Maui.
stock here: I am getting Maui burnout, we pretty much know as much as we need to know. I am amazed that the removal of these criminals and idiots, or just plain evil assholes, has not occurred. This is considered “acceptable”? If anyone has more lies of the Chief or anyone else, post them in comments, along with source whenever possible.
Oh wait there were barricades, but only to keep people away from downed powerlines (the powerlines were deenergized, they posed little risk, whilst the fires posed a massive risk)
I’ve said before, ‘Man vs. nature, nature always wins,’” said Chief Pelletier.
FACTS THAT WE DO KNOW (these come straight from the local survivors):
1. The police barricaded every exit from the city.
2. No sirens went off.
3. The water was cut off by the city water manager to the fire fighters.
4. The body count was froze at 115.
5. The morgue is 100% full.
6. Local morticians ran out of body bags during the first week.
7. The city REFUSES to give even an estimate on how many children may be missing or killed; same with adults and families.
8. The locals estimate that the schools have 3000 kids registered, but only 3 or 400 showed up. Which leaves 2600 children unaccounted for.
9. There are 15 school buses missing and unaccounted for. There’s no debris or burnt out wrecks. They’re just magically GONE. Like the children the city seems so unconcerned about.
10. It took 6 days for FEMA to show up, and when they did the first thing they did was confiscate food and water that was being given out to survivors because “it was not FEMA approved.” Since then, locals report getting sick from drinking the water FEMA is giving them. You can’t make this stuff up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11. There are some video testimony of locals (they appear to be medical personnel) who helped in searching for survivors. They say they’re finding entire families burnt alive in cars trapped trying to escape. They also say they’re finding bodies of children alone in homes. YET … we hear NONE of this from the city officials.
12. The police chief is ALSO the medical examiner. Conflict of interest? You bet it is.
The million dollar question the media has NOT asked the mayor or police chief is this: HOW many peopled DIED as a direct result of all the city exit streets being blocked?
At this point, the ONLY WAY people are going to get justice is to SUE the city and the city officials.
SUE BIG and use the money to help the locals rebuild what has been lost.
stock here, saw this on Linkedin, and it is great. It shows exactly the opposite of the Hawaii, Maui, and Military response. I’ll send this to the Mayor and the police chief.
We live in one of the most free societies on the planet and we are fortunate to have highly evolved emergency services and social programs to support people during natural disasters. It is no coincidence that even with the hundreds of lost structures, there has been no loss of civilian life over the course of this historic wildfire season.
Misinformation is a highly destructive force that is sometimes harder to combat than natural disasters. As the director of Canada Task Force 1, let me be clear, our mission in West Kelowna and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District was to conduct Rapid Damage Assessments. The goal was simple—provide clarity to displaced residents, generate the information needed to restore services, make communities safe, and get people back into their homes.
During deployments, CAN-TF1 is always self-sufficient. We do not strain scarce community resources post-disaster. In only a few days, CAN-TF1 completed the following while on this deployment:
· verified the status of 5,875 civic addresses that were potentially impacted by wildfire. · completed 1541 Rapid Damage Assessments (RDAs). · Utilized K9 search teams to search structures where the property was damaged and the status of the owner/occupants was unknown. · Moved pallets of food and a refrigeration unit into an evacuation area to assist an isolated community.
During our deployment, we did not limit anyone’s freedom, restrict anyone’s movement or violate anyone’s property rights. We were deployed domestically, by our provincial government to support the people of BC and we were welcomed with open arms. These are facts. Our helmets are blue and yes, it’s 100% confirmed, we are called “Canada Task Force 1.”
Wildfires can be an incredibly destructive natural force. Similarly, blanket distrust of institutions and public servants is an equally destructive force. In times of emergency, we need to band together and work collectively to support the people most affected. It’s time to work hard to rebuild a better and more resilient society. To the makers of this video, what have you done to this end?
FACTS THAT WE DO KNOW (these come straight from the local survivors):
1. The police barricaded every exit from the city.
2. No sirens went off.
3. The water was cut off by the city water manager to the fire fighters.
4. The body count was froze at 115.
5. The morgue is 100% full.
6. Local morticians ran out of body bags during the first week.
7. The city REFUSES to give even an estimate on how many children may be missing or killed; same with adults and families.
8. The locals estimate that the schools have 3000 kids registered, but only 3 or 400 showed up. Which leaves 2600 children unaccounted for.
9. There are 15 school buses missing and unaccounted for. There’s no debris or burnt out wrecks. They’re just magically GONE. Like the children the city seems so unconcerned about.
10. It took 6 days for FEMA to show up, and when they did the first thing they did was confiscate food and water that was being given out to survivors because “it was not FEMA approved.” Since then, locals report getting sick from drinking the water FEMA is giving them. You can’t make this stuff up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11. There are some video testimony of locals (they appear to be medical personnel) who helped in searching for survivors. They say they’re finding entire families burnt alive in cars trapped trying to escape. They also say they’re finding bodies of children alone in homes. YET … we hear NONE of this from the city officials.
12. The police chief is ALSO the medical examiner. Conflict of interest? You bet it is.
The million dollar question the media has NOT asked the mayor or police chief is this: HOW many peopled DIED as a direct result of all the city exit streets being blocked?
At this point, the ONLY WAY people are going to get justice is to SUE the city and the city officials.
SUE BIG and use the money to help the locals rebuild what has been lost.
stock here, nothing to see here……Police Chief Pelletier, the same guy was in Vegas, in charge when the 58 dead happened in the Las Vegas Shooting, now his Secretary dies weeks after the Fishy Lahaina Fires.
That guys straight up lying. Those cars parked in the grass with no other forms of fuel besides the grass which grass will not stay hot enough long enough to melt aluminum it’s only grass and it burns up really fast.
Those cars were there for years and had no gas in the tanks also. So there really was no accelerate to help get the aluminum to melt. I’ll tell u how the wind does the opposite effect the fire chief said it’s real simple common sense and very logical 2+2=4 it’s that easy to understand.
For metal to melt there has to be a consistent source were the fire is directly on the metal and for long enough to get it red hot then to melt. Fire does not just touch metal then instantly melts it. Now with the wind here’s how he’s dead wrong. The wind would make the grass fire burn up it’s fuel the grass for the fire really fast.
There’s not enough longevity there for the fire to keep burning to melt the Aluminum. On top of that the wind will obviously blow the flames of the fire all around also, so now u also have a consistency problem with the fire flame directly and consistently not being able to heat up the Aluminum to get it to melt.
The wind blowing between the fire and the Aluminum would actually help cool the Aluminum just like the wind well air that goes thru the radiator on vehicles to cool the water in the engines cooling system. Since Aluminum is really good at dissipating heat with air blowing over it.
Then for the melted Aluminum to stay melted long enough to run down away from the car for like 10 feet would require beyond melting point heat cuz now that it’s melted to stay melted it takes more heat to stay melted and puddle up and run that far down the car.
My opinion on why he says what he does is cuz that’s just what he’s used to seeing for the way the major fires have been for years now, that and well it sounds like the typical way they would answer those questions with a female asking. Also note that there’s no explanation of how it works to support his answers it’s just yes it can yes it does that’s normal the wind was the accelerate which it can be for the correct time and place that it is.
I would tend to figure a fire chief would have more mechanical knowledge of how things work especially with fire and metal melting. But u got to remember lots of them even tho most people would not think that the fire dept is in on the program but they are.
All the orders of what to comes from the same up the ladder people it just splits off when it goes to the fire Marshal the head of the chief of police the sheriff and even to the hospital if the hospital is a subsidized hospital and the water dept, the electrical dept along with and as funny as this one sounds it’s really true the trash service company who do u think takes care of all the evidence for them?
Just like the arborist said wheres all the melted trash cans at? Each house should have at least 1 some have 3 cans, trash, recycling and yard waste. Most people keep all there’s in the same spot so there should be big melted plastic mounds everywhere.
There’s not and that makes that fact a problem. Aluminum doesn’t melt that easy it melting point is 1200 degrees, now the black top roads those have a melting point of 350 or 400 degrees. Are the black top roadways over there all burned up? If no then obviously the cars shouldn’t be either. The black top roads have tar in the made from petroleum. It should leave the road ways looking like there gravel mountain rounds basically.
But the biggest thing that sticks out like a sore thumb and just screams technology was used is the boats in the middle of the ocean that burned up. They think everyone is stupid or something. I believe everytime they use it as a test to see how dumb the general public is and then they determine what to do to try and change that ie load up the food and drinks with more chemicals more sugars more frequency applied more power to the cell phone antennas more new medicine that’s made out of petroleum more new viruses more out breaks to keep people barley healthy enough to get thru the day in which as their applying the Lazer or photon beam that’s setting things on fire how is that affecting human health can’t be good getting zapped with radiation.
That’s what it boils down to radiation cooks things. The earth has natural static electricity radiation between the earth and the sun when the sun’s out that’s what creates the heat for the day. The sun doesn’t produce out heat it is the light of the day and the moon is the light of the night, the moon does not reflect the suns light the moon produces its own light which is different then the sun’s so it can’t be reflecting the sun’s light. Also doesn’t make sense for a full moon either if it’s reflecting light then going to 1/4 moon. The sun’s not on both sides of the moon for the moon to reflect the suns light. All the dew drones during the day all fly really high or they fly Infront of the sun so it makes it nearly impossible to see them. Also hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunami’s and other storms can all be created by applying electrical currents in different forms either to the earth or to the sky. Everything on this world is electric. Everything. We are electrical that’s why we are stuck to the ground. Gravity is a magnetic force. Magnets are positive and negative the same as electricity just different forms of it. That’s why people go grounding or earthing and it neutralizes the electrical current in a person. Our hearts create it own electricity to pump that’s why the paddles are electrical jump starters. Electric universe. Check it out. They are pretty good with their theory. They can at least explain things better then NASA can
stock here: I have donated my time and knowledge. On Reddit, this guy is mercilessly attacked, lambasted, slandered. I put truth on Reddit today, let’s see when my account is banned.
Several residents heard numerous loud explosions throughout the night. I wonder if that is an effective of the DEW strikes on cars? Possibly 5 gallon propane canisters going off? Tires popping make a really loud sound, but I think most tires burned because of the steel belts in them.
Wildfire has engulfed businesses on Front Street in downtown Lahaina in West Maui, home to 12,000 people.
The Coast Guard is responding to people who were forced to go into the ocean due to the flames.
Governor Josh Green, talk about the animals still in the burn zone and how you said there weren’t any alive. Animal rescuers have rescued about 190 since the 26th and there’s still so many more. The person with the cat that had an airtag and the airtag was moving when they stopped allowing animal rescuers in. Just the other day they found her baby dead.
stock here: 17 years back a buddy of mine was diving on Molokini island off Maui. He got video of himself playing around swimming with each other, him and the 13 foot tiger shark. He was kind of crazy and said “that was the coolest shark ever”.
stock here: well this is not at all suspicious. But I got more, a $1.5B investment in Hawaii by China, was quashed when China refused to continue to pay escalating bribes to the corrupt Hawaii powers that be, mostly on Oahu. They bought the land to build their massive project in Oahu. When that project was failing, stymied by the politicians that needed larger payoffs…..China came up with a new plan in coordination with Josh Green and the super corrupt Mayor of Maui. Lahaina was a historic town and would be ideal for a massive housing and resort development….and the cretins in Maui government agreed to the China plan to burn Lahaina. They didn’t realize that this fire would get that out of control, nor did they realize the power of China’s FMDELX. Frequency Modified Doppler Effect Laser Xray. Yes, using frequencies to turn steel and porcelain into dust while releasing a boat load of energy (fire). They didn’t realize that thousands would die, so this was a major shock. Followed by a massive coverup.
LOL the Mayor really said that he had no idea anyone has died until the next day. And then the big guy gave “grocery money” to the citizens and a $95M handout to Hawaiian Electric, so they would shut up, and accept most of the blame.
There is still much left to learn about what caused the wildfire that destroyed Lahaina earlier this month — and about how Maui might begin to rebuild the historic town. But Joe Kent of the Grassroot Institute said it’s most important right now to observe the various stages of grief.
“Anger lasts the longest, and I think we’re approaching that phase. And so there’s going to be a lot of blame in the next few years,” said Kent, speaking on Thursday, Aug. 17, with radio host Rick Hamada on NewsRadio 830 KHVH.
Kent, Grassroot Institute’s executive vice president, Kent said one issue people have focused on is what Kent described as the “water wars” on Maui, involving the distribution of water.
Kent said the initial blaze seemed to be under control around 9 a.m. on Aug. 8, but when it flared up around 1 p.m., the county and private water companies had already run out of water, and “all of the companies in the county couldn’t get any more water because of the state permission.”
They begged the state to release more water, he said. But the state “stalled and stalled until 6 p.m. when … most of the town — the main town, Front Street — was burned by then.”
Kent said denial and shock also remain, so “it’s still too early” for many affected by the fire to decide how to proceed.
“A lot of people are still picking up the pieces,” he said. “Some people haven’t even assessed the damage of their home yet because they’re not allowed in there.”
Kent said that “if the government wants to rebuild the infrastructure that’s needed, they’re going to need tax dollars, and the county budget is based on tourism. … This might take a billion-dollar bite out of the state budget. It could take hundreds of millions of dollars from the county budget. … And so, tourists actually, shouldn’t feel bad about visiting. In fact, it may help the situation — as long as they’re respectful, though.”
To hear the entire conversation, click on the image below. A complete transcript follows.
Rick Hamada: And thanks so very much. Aloha Friday underway. The HART (Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation] hour will be postponed till next week, Friday. Lori [Kahikina and Rick [Keane] will join us at that time. But we’ll have programming for you to rely upon.
And we do right now with Joe Kent, of course with Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Our regular weekly conversation.
And Joe, good morning to you.
Joe Kent: Good morning to you, Rick.
Hamada: Welcome. Good to see you.
Kent: Yeah, great. And, you know, I was just on Maui yesterday — earlier this week — and visiting my old hometown where I worked and have many friends, and I wanted to check on them, to make sure they were OK.
And it was heartbreaking to see, you know, first just the visual of the town that isn’t there anymore. But second, hearing their stories and listening to a lot of the survivors relay, in sort of slow motion, what steps they took to escape the flames. And so it was a really interesting experience.
Hamada: We’re gonna have a chat about some of your experiences and some of the issues that are rising to top of mind.
Before we do, please remind us [of] the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii mission and how we can connect.
Kent: Sure. The Grassroot Institute is a think tank that educates about individual liberty, economic freedom and accountable government. We don’t take any money from the government or unions or political parties, and that allows us to be independent.
And so we try to bring smart thinking, and there’s a lot of smart thinking that’s needed at this time.
Hamada: Well, let’s focus. Over the course of a week-plus now, we’ve been treated to statements and comments, et cetera, from our state leaders and city county leaders as well.
There are a couple things that have emerged. One, the governor [Josh Green] had intimated that he is going to do what he can to prevent predatory real estate speculators and acquirers, if you will, and prevent those home sales in Lahaina.
First of all, is that accurate? Second of all, your retort?
Kent: Yes, that’s right. I mean, we’re hearing that there are predators who are calling the citizens of Lahaina — landowners there — and maybe getting them to sign things that they didn’t mean to sign, and sign away their property rights.
And absolutely, the governor and the government should do everything it can to warn people about that and make sure that the lands of Lahaina go to the wishes of Lahaina’s people, and not scammed away. And so that’s a really important aspect.
But at the same time, he’s — the solution that he has dreamed up is to ban the sale of property in Lahaina that has been damaged to outsiders. And so, we don’t know what that means. You know, these are just off-the-cuff statements that we’re hearing in press conferences and when they stick a camera in his face.
But today or tomorrow he’s expected to issue an emergency proclamation that actually details what that means. And so, I don’t want to be too hasty to criticize a policy that I don’t know exactly the details of.
But if the policy prevents people in Lahaina from selling their property forever to outsiders — or anyone — that could really hurt them. Because, you know, this is the last asset that they have: the piece of land, perhaps.
Let’s say they escaped from the flames; they lost their car; they may have lost loved ones; they lost their home; and now the only thing they have left is this piece of land; and now if the government tinkers with what you can do on that land, it could lower the value — sometimes to zero, they say, if you can’t sell it.
And so, and then if the government deems itself as the last buyer of all of these properties — which, I know the governor and other officials have made statements that, “Oh, the state should own all these lands” — that’s not necessarily a good thing.
And so, I’d want the prop — I think this should all be up to the property owners. Whoever the new — the property owners are, their wishes for their own land are the best use of that land.
And we should absolutely warn them about any scams — insurance scams too. I mean, don’t sign anything, you know. If you are in that area, call your lawyer. Make sure that you don’t pick up the phone and sign away any kind of property rights; even if someone’s offering you money or something.
So be careful. But also, the government needs to be careful not to trample on individual rights.
Hamada: So would there be an inevitable legal challenge if a particular homeowner, property owner, et. cetera — both commercial and residential — was then thwarted from being able to move forward with a decision on their property?
Kent: Absolutely, but it depends. If the ban on property is, goes overboard and violates the U.S. Commerce Clause of the Constitution where, you know, we’re supposed to be able to trade between the states, then it could absolutely face a legal challenge.
So, you know, the attorney general and the governor’s team need to be careful about what they do. I know that it’s an emotional time right now, but we need smart thinking at this time, and not to trample on individual rights.
Hamada: What is your take on the fact that insurance claims are going to be obviously plentiful but essential? Your thoughts?
Kent: I think that — and I’ve talked to many around Lahaina, asking if homes there were insured; you know, “did they — do people here generally have fire insurance?” And the thought — most people tell me, “Yeah, most people did have fire insurance, because the threat of fire was so high there.”
So the insurance payouts for this are going to be huge. And I was talking to Joe Pluta, who is the head of the West Maui Taxpayers Association, and he — for years — has advocated for a fire station in West Maui to, which would bring down insurance premiums, you know?
It would — if you live within five miles of a fire station, your insurance premium sometimes can go down by half.
And so he was gathering, you know, the future profits or savings of that, and building the fire stations there privately, and then he would donate it to the government.
And so he — there are two fire stations there; he was wanting a third, but he couldn’t get the capital. And in the meantime, I think that insurance companies should have paid for it, you know, ahead of time; they would have saved a lot of money.
But now they’re going to be paying a lot of money, and the people who are due claims, you know, there may be a way to get an advance payment on your claim if you were just recently, you know, part of the disaster.
But again, call your lawyer; make sure that you’re talking to the right person; because you don’t want to sign away any rights.
Hamada: Another component of real estate is the exiting, if you will, from Maui. And first of all, has there been any indicator that the sentiment is now to leave the Valley Isle — perhaps to the mainland? Perhaps to Oahu? But will there be an exodus, do you believe?
Kent: I think so. I mean, if you look at Lahaina there’s so much toxic debris in that area. You can’t build — even if you wanted to — you can’t. There’s no way to build. Because even the infrastructure — the pipes are burst; it’s going to take years to rebuild all that.
And in the meantime, what are people who have lost their home and lost their job going to do? They’re not going to live [in] a tent while they wait for permission to build that might come years later. And so, this is a real question I’ve been asking folks on the ground — what they want to do.
I think for a lot of people, it’s still too early to decide that. A lot of people are still picking up the pieces. Some people haven’t even assessed the damage of their home yet because they’re not allowed in there.
But the general sense that I get, at least now, is that Lahaina is still alive in the hearts and minds of the people that live there. Lahaina is the people; not the buildings. And the people there live there for the community, and they want to remain as a part of that community — at least the folks that I’m talking to.
And so I think they’re going to try to do everything they can to stay. But you just can’t deny that the housing shortage was worse before, and now it’s really bad.
Hamada: We’re talking with Joe Kent [from the] Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. It’s 8:48; the Rick Hamada program.
There seems to be, perhaps, a perception of confusion: Tourists, please stay away because we need to take care. [Or] tourists, please come to Maui because we need your business.
Kent: That’s right. I flew into Maui and saw — it was kind of like [during] COVID. You see parked rental cars — there’s so many rental cars that they have to park out on, outside next to the runway, you know. And no one is renting cars there; no one is renting hotel rooms; the beaches are clear.
And so on the one hand, you had that sort of euphoric feeling of like: Wow, it’s so nice to see what Hawaii looked like before tourism, you know, in the old days when it was still virgin lands.
But at the same time: Look at all of the people on the rest of Maui. Not just west Maui, but the whole county is now struggling with a tourism depression. Tourists have canceled their trips, and what we’re hearing from residents is: “Please, come back. Because yes, you guys, we all want to help West Maui as much as we can, but stopping tourism would actually hurt the rest of the county.”
If the government wants to rebuild the infrastructure that’s needed, they’re going to need tax dollars, and the county budget is based on tourism. I mean, it gets a lot of money from the transient accommodation taxes, and the state gets general excise taxes.
And, you know, this might take a billion-dollar bite out of the state budget. It could take hundreds of millions of dollars from the county budget. They may have to cut back at a time when they need the money more than ever to help.
And so, tourists actually, shouldn’t feel bad about visiting. In fact, it may help the situation — as long as they’re respectful, though. I mean, think twice about that selfie that you take in front of the Lahaina sign and so on.
Hamada: OK, listen. I understand that. See, this is COVID again: You can come — we want you to come, spend your money, pay the highest rates, do all of this, most expensive vacation you’re probably going to plan — but don’t do this, don’t go here, don’t say this, don’t do …
That is frustrating for tourists to try — remember it was: Don’t come to Hawaii … and didn’t; 7,000 on average daily visitors to Maui, down to approximately 1,200 and below. That gap is nuts.
Kent: Yeah.
Hamada: I understand being conditional. I understand counseling. But if we’re going to say the one thing, you’ve got to expect, you cannot put constraints. And the perception of that, as being articulated by some of our leaders, I know that tourists will take that to heart.
Kent: Well, and on West Maui, it’s really complicated. Because Kaanapali Hotel is still there. It was not touched by the fire at all. These are multi-million-dollar hotel rooms that are gleaming next to the ocean, the beaches — no one’s on the beach, like I said. And I’m sure the hotel is desperately wanting, you know, more activity there.
But it’s right next to Lahaina, which is a major cleanup and disaster area. So that’s a complicated thing for people.
But, you know, all I — my recommendation — all I can do is make a recommendation of be respectful. It’s OK to visit, and I think it actually helps the community, but let’s be respectful.
Hamada: It is 8:52 in the morning already on News Radio 830 KHVH.
Now, some of the other things is not only the governor making statements about purchasing of properties.
By the way, I just want to side-step for a second. There’s always a conversation about: Oh it’s outside buyers, outside, you’re driving everything, driving it all up. When, in fact, I had a conversation with [the state] director of [the Department of] Budget [and] Fiscal services, and that it’s at 87% of local ownership on Oahu; 13% affordable.
Kent: Oh yes, yeah.
Hamada: So we gotta — we have to kind of dissuade this [idea that] there’s going to be a mad rush. Residents, citizens, own the majority, vast majority.
The other part has been about water. And Gov. [Josh] Green was very quick to point out: Why wasn’t there this, that and the other?
Well, because we’ve had water rights issues for generations. The fact that we’ve had those issues unresolved for generations is one point; but what’s your take on those statements by governor?
Kent: Well, we have had water fights on Maui — the water wars. And the state, last — a couple years ago — passed a law, or an administrative rule, that prohibited taking too much water out of the rivers for use in the town.
And so the local water companies — turns out there’s all these private water companies on the west side of Maui, which is an odd feature of Hawaii; on Oahu, we’re used to the county, you know, running the water system. But on Maui, it’s all these private companies and the county, and so the state also has jurisdiction over how much water they can take from the river.
Well, during the fire, the water ran out; the county ran out of water. The only water left, I’m told, was at the West Maui Water Company’s hydrant. And all the water trucks were coming up, filling up, and booking it to the fire to try to put it out. Well, at 9 a.m. they finally put the fire out and, but then it flared up again at 1 p.m.
And at that time, the water company used all its allotted water. So basically all of the companies in the county couldn’t get any more water because of the state permission. So they begged the state: “Please let us divert the water so we can put these fires out.”
And the state stalled and stalled until 6 p.m. when they finally gave permission. Well, I mean, as you know, by 6 p.m., most of the town — the main town, Front Street — was burned by then.
And so, now I’m told that the person in charge of that decision at the state water commission [Commission on Water Resource Management] has been placed on leave. And so this is gonna be another major investigation along with the Hawaiian Electric [Company] investigation.
Hamada: Oh my. We’re going to come back in a moment, but final thoughts on how we need to run some business, with Joe Kent, who is with Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Fortuitously so, with us this morning, we’ll return.
Joe Kent, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Joe, I’ll turn it over to you to wrap things up for us, but if you could just briefly address the sirens not sounding. Your thoughts?
Kent: The government officials said that they didn’t want to sound the sirens because it could confuse people. You know, people have been trained to run towards the mountain and so on. But I mean, on the government’s website, it says that they use the sirens occasionally for wildfires.
And so this is the government trying to, you know, paint a picture that alleviates the culpability on its own part, and I understand that need.
Listen, I understand it’s really — it was a chaotic, crazy situation, but that’s why we plan ahead for things like this. And people have been warning about — the wildfires wasn’t a random, you know, unprepared-for occurrence; we could have prepared ahead for this. And so that’s part of the responsibility.
So I was talking to some people on the ground about who escaped and their harrowing stories. You know, people jumping out windows; other people, you know, helping elderly who couldn’t walk, escape the flames; and some people who have close friends that have died and passed away.
And now we’re seeing the numbers go up and up. I’m afraid to imagine how high those numbers will go.
Hamada: We’re entering into a very difficult time, and I’m prayerful that we’ll all be prepared.
Speaking of preparation, in just a few seconds, the economic impact that we’ve discussed briefly is going to be further enhanced with time going by.
What are your thoughts about — what should we be aware of in the rebuilding process when it comes to timeline and revenue?
Kent: Well, the main thing I’m talking about when it comes to timelines is the stages of grief. You know, there’s shock; denial; right now there’s anger — and anger lasts the longest. And I think we’re approaching that phase, and so there’s going to be a lot of blame in the next few years.
Hamada: I believe so. We’ll pick up our conversation the next time we visit. Joe Kent, thank you so very much.
