Friday, August 11, 2023

Maui had a firebug on the loose and a fancy warning system that didn't work: Hawaii governor blames global warming


Maui had a firebug on the loose and a fancy warning system that didn't work: Hawaii governor blames global warming



Hawaii had the world's fanciest natural disaster warning system on the planet. It also had an ongoing firebug problem, and recent academic study warning that the place was very vulnerable to fire catastrophes. 

Somehow, none of that figured in the government's fire plan. The firebug is still out there. The conditions created for big fires, such as the proliferation of non-native grasses, remain on Maui. And the fancy emergency warning system somehow didn't work.

Never mind any of that: Its governor says the problem is global warming.

“We've never experienced a wildfire that affected a city like this before,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) told reporters Thursday, noting that global warming is exacerbating extreme weather around the world and will have to be considered as communities rebuild. “Climate change is here."

Which seems a little distant from his immediate duties as governor.

Here's the opening scenario for the catastrophe on Maui that took out Hawaii's lovely heritage town of Lahaina, destroyed 1,000 buildings, and killed scores of people, from the Associated Press:

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