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On Aug. 8, 2023, Pacific hurricane winds intensified fire behavior in a series of wildfires that occurred on the island of Maui in Hawaii. The wind-driven wildfires destroyed more than 2,200 structures and caused about $5.5 billion in damage. The most significantly impacted area was the historic district of Lahaina, where more than 100 lives were lost. The August 2023 Maui wildfires now rank as the fifth deadliest in U.S. history and the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history.
On Monday, the Maui Police Department (MPD) released a preliminary after action report focused on the police response to the Maui wildfires, primarily in Lahaina. The MPD shared the report’s findings at a Feb. 5 news conference.
Several investigations into the Maui wildfires are still ongoing, and this preliminary report is the first analysis to be released by any of the island's emergency response agencies. The MPD’s examination deals exclusively with the Maui police response. It does not address the cause and origin of the fires or the response by fire crews.
During the wildfire, the MPD played a supporting role to the fire response, assisting with evacuations, communications and rescue efforts.
The preliminary report makes 32 recommendations to improve Maui’s police response to future natural disaster response efforts. Some recommendations call for better equipment and updates to technology. For example, two recommendations were to provide officers with better earpieces to use when high winds make it hard to hear police radios and to equip all patrol cars with breaching kits to remove downed trees or utility poles from roadways.
Other recommendations focus on improving communications between emergency personnel and officers themselves, such as stationing a high-ranking officer — a lieutenant or higher — in the communications center to help relay information to police commanders. The report also suggested giving officers in the field more briefings during recovery efforts.
The final MPD report will be released within the next 6 to 12 months. In the meanwhile, the preliminary report will be shared with other law enforcement agencies across the nation for their input and so they can also benefit from the recommendations.
A separate, ongoing investigation is looking into how Maui County and state agencies coordinated emergency alerts, evacuations, firefighting, communications and other details of the response to the fires. Hawaii’s State Attorney General contracted with Underwriters Laboratories’ Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) to conduct this independent investigation. According to a recent statement by Hawaii’s Attorney General, phase 1 of FSRI’s investigation is expected to be completed in March 2024. It will include facts of the county and state response and a timeline of the wildfire from Aug. 8-11, 2023.
The investigation into the cause and origin of the wildfires on the island of Maui on Aug. 8 will be completed by Maui County fire officials and other local partners, with assistance from federal investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). No timetable for completion of this investigation has been set.
(Sources: MPD, Hawaii News Now, FSRI, ATF, Associated Press, FireRescue1, ABC News)
The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) national system for local alerting that lets state, local and Tribal Nation authorities send authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public through mobile phones using Wireless Emergency Alerts, to radio and television via the Emergency Alert System, and on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Radio.
To support its emergency alerting partners, FEMA’s IPAWS Technical Support Services Facility (TSSF) conducts exercises on a quarterly basis. These exercises allow Alert Originators to practice, review and exercise their alert, warning, and notification capabilities.
FEMA’s IPAWS Office is offering three tabletop exercise events in February which will allow Alert Originators to practice alert, warning and notification capabilities for winter weather emergencies. This will be a scenario-based exercise with facilitated group discussions to promote peer-to-peer learning. There will be two virtual events and one in-person event, all offering the same training:
- Virtual Tabletop Exercise: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. EST. Register for this event on Zoom.
- Virtual Tabletop Exercise: Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1 p.m.–3 p.m. EST. Register for this event on Zoom.
- In-Person Tabletop Exercise: Thursday, Feb. 29, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. EST. This event will be held at the National Harbor in Maryland. Seating is limited. To register, please email the IPAWS TSSF training and exercise staff at fema-ipaws-training-exercises@fema.dhs.gov, stating your request to participate, a primary point of contact for your organization, agency name and the number of expected participants.
Watch this short video from FEMA to learn more about IPAWS Tabletop Exercises. Read FEMA’s IPAWS Guidance Fact Sheet to learn how FEMA encourages and supports the incorporation of IPAWS and Alerting Authorities into in emergency management drills, workshops, and exercises.
For general IPAWS questions, please email fema-ipaws-lab@fema.dhs.gov.
(Source: FEMA)
Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, just announced the release of the new Prerequisites for Live Fire Training Participants online course. Based on section 4.3.2 of the standard NFPA 1403, this course focuses on the foundational knowledge firefighters need before donning their gear and taking action on the training ground.
After taking this course, firefighters will be able to apply foundational knowledge of fire dynamics, fire behavior and development, firefighting tactics, and firefighter health and safety. This understanding will help them get the most out of their training and make safe and effective decisions on the fireground.
FSRI announced at the end of last month that it launched a major update to its Fire Safety Academy (FSA), the online learning platform that provides firefighters with free access to science-based training. “FSA 2.0” now features seamless integration with other learning platforms, integration of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, custom learning pathways, blended learning options, shorter and more modular lessons, robust training officer tools, and more.
As the first course launched in the updated Fire Safety Academy, “Prerequisites for Live Fire Training Participants” takes advantage of the new cutting-edge features tailored to training officers. The course is broken down into bite-size lessons that instructors can deliver individually to reinforce a key concept or teach as part of a customized learning pathway. In addition, all lesson videos are downloadable. Instructors can easily integrate the videos into their existing curriculum, facilitating in-person training sessions for groups of students.
To learn more about the course, see FSRI’s press release and short video overview of the course. Access the course at the Fire Safety Academy.
(Source: FSRI)
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