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Maui Fire: FEMA Demanded Responders Stop Posting Images And Videos
FEMA sent out letters to first responders and relief workers in Maui demanding that they stop posting images and videos of the charred disaster area on social media citing “cultural sensitivity.”
“They are asking for a full stop in disaster imagery going forward,” the letter from Justin Angel Knighten of FEMA notes, referring to local officials.
“At this time, we have not been asked to take any photos or videos down. Our team on the ground is coordinating with the County for further guidance to ensure we remain fully aligned. Cultural sensitivity is of the utmost importance in all our response and recovery activities to this disaster,” the letter further states.
The revelation has raised yet more questions over both the local and federal government’s responses.
Sirens were not sounded and water to fight fires was not dispatched upon request:
Top emergency officials in charge of the wildfire response were not even on the island as the fires blazed and were not informed for five hours because they were attending a FEMA disaster preparedness meeting on the neighbouring island of Oahu.
As we noted yesterday, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that residents of Lahaina were prevented from escaping the horrific wildfire by barricades that were put up after electric poles were downed and crews attempted to repair them.
It is suspected that the lines themselves could have even caused the fire, with some video showing the poles being blown over and causing sparks to ignite:
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against Hawaiian Electric, including the County suing the company for not cutting current to the electrical cables.
AP reports:
The lawsuit said the utility had a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”
The utility knew that high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
Further reports suggest that Hawaiian Electric may have removed evidence from the scene.
Records obtained by the Washington Post show that the utility company hauled away fallen poles, power lines, transformers, conductors and other equipment from the area surrounding the Lahaina substation starting on Aug. 12 — days before Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrived on sight.
In doing so, the power company may have violated national guidelines on how utilities should handle and preserve evidence after a wildfire and compromised the probe into the cause of the inferno that killed at least 115 people.
“If a lot of equipment is already moved or gone by the time the investigators show up, that’s problematic because you want to observe where the equipment was relative to the ignition site,” Michael Wara, who directs the Climate and Energy Policy program at Stanford University, told the Post.
Meanwhile, FEMA agents are shacking up in 5-star luxury beachfront resorts in Maui amid the agency’s botched handling of the deadly wildfire disaster.
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