Q. How many times is this scenario going to be allowed to repeat itself and how many more people have to die before reactive steps are taken to prevent these from recurring?
Similarities of the two incidents:
- Intense winds
- Powerline-sparked fires
- No mass notification alarm, e.g., didn't use the Amber alert system
- Inadequate, chaotic evacuation
- Mass casualties
- Extreme property losses
- Residents delayed and barred from returning to properties due to slow government procedures
There was electric utility company negligence in 2018, e.g., not turning off power when they (PG&E) knew there was a problem with 100-year-old bare wire powerlines held by worn-out fasteners. I'm curious what the investigation in Hawaii reveals why the power wasn't cut to all but critical infrastructure.
While I wasn't in Maui and can't imagine jumping in the ocean, I was in Paradise on November 2018. There was no alert. We knew it was serious because of the sounds propane tanks exploding as we were leaving.
1. Integrated firestorm preparedness action plans for fire departments, state fire protection, and municipalities, including mass communication through the Amber Alert system.
2. Require electric utilities to conduct wind hazard risk assessments on their grid, monitor the weather, and having staged windstorm plans and planned and unplanned shutoffs for public safety.
3. Municipalities ought to seriously cite properties for excess fuel, including trees and landscaping, near structures.
Insurance companies shouldn't be so quick to just hike premium rates or sit passively on the sidelines, but could be lobbying and actively pressuring federal through local entities in order to proactively reduce their exposure and avert future calamities. Because, as I see it, there is a great deal of normalized negligence, incompetence, and inadequate leadership in American government and the regulation of electric utilities and real property.
It's sad, but that's the state of the union for ya :/
A lot of this is due to purposeful "starving the beast" policies. They fought for decades to have small, ineffective governments and minimal regulations. Well, we got it.
Whether it's wildfires or hurricanes, the truth is that there are many communities we just don't care about, as a country, because they are not full of the super rich. They're just left to burn and drown, and I don't think we'll see any improvements without a complete overhaul of the federal and state governments... most politicians would rather play culture warriors than infrastructure proponents.
You think something like wildfires would be a bipartisan enemy, but it's just gonna be weaponized like school shootings. It's an act of God that mortals can't prevent, but communities should be free to spend their funds how they want, climate change isn't a factor, nothing we can do about it, firefighters are heroes and that's all.