Quote:Beneath every government failure typically lies a laundry list of officials who never should have been in their jobs in the first place.

That proved true during and after Hurricane Katrina slammed into Mississippi and Louisiana in 2005, with the devastation in New Orleans becoming a national scandal. Now, the aftermath of the horrific fire in Maui, Hawaii, is following the same frustrating path.

CBS News is reporting that the emergency operations chief of the area, Herman Andaya, had no experience in emergency management.

It was ultimately Andaya's decision to not sound the emergency alert sirens, which had previously been touted as the most complete system of its kind in the world. Instead, they used cell phone alerts, ignoring that many people, including children, may have had no ability to receive them.

What was Andaya's background? He was a guy with a liberal arts degree who served as chief of staff for a small-time politician.

Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management.

Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa (D). But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years.

In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time.

The idea that Andaya, with his total lack of experience legitimately beat out those 40 applications seems incredibly unlikely. Instead, this sure seems like yet another case of political favoritism putting friends in positions of power instead of those with the ability to actually do a good job. As to the claim that he took "online FEMA trainings," that's fairly meaningless. I've taken online FEMA trainings. They don't exactly prepare you to manage a major natural disaster.

It's not just Andaya's history that is raising eyebrows, though. It turns out the police chief in Maui was also the police commander of the Las Vegas strip during the historically deadly mass shooting that took there in 2017.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier repeatedly urges “patience, prayers and perseverance” as teams painstakingly search the ashes in the seaside community of Lahaina for the remains of scores of victims from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years.

It’s the kind of message he has used before, in the aftermath of another American tragedy: the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that left 58 dead and hundreds injured.

I'm not suggesting that Pelletier is directly responsible for the shooting that occurred. Certainly, there were major mistakes made during and in the aftermath that were ultimately his responsibility, but achieving perfection from law enforcement is not an attainable goal. Still, it is striking that someone could go from presiding over such a failure to essentially being promoted to police chief in another city.

Other examples like this are likely to emerge in the coming weeks regarding the Maui fire just as happened with Hurricane Katrina. Too often, people are put in positions of power because of their connections and not their merits. That can lead to deadly results, either directly or indirectly.

Link

'Not Safe': Government-Provided Drinking Water Is Making Disaster-Stricken Maui Residents Sick


Maui emergency management defends not blasting sirens as wildfires tore through community

Quote:The official in charge of Maui Emergency Management Agency said on Wednesday that he does not regret leaving emergency sirens off as he believes they would not have helped to save people from the blaze.

Chief Herman Andaya defended his decision after questions came from a reporter that said several families thought their neighbors and relatives could have been saved had the sirens went off.

Andaya told the reporters that because people are used to tsunamis on the island, the siren would have caused them to flee to higher ground where the blaze was raging in the mountains.

“Had we sounded the siren that night, we’re afraid that people would have gotten mauka [toward the mountains] and if that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya said.

The reporter also pointed out that Andaya did not have any emergency crisis management experience prior to taking on the role in 2017.

Andaya responded to this accusation, saying, "The new story talks about how I didn’t have experience before taking a job and that’s not true." He listed his work history in the housing department and as a staffer in the mayor's cabinet where he "reported to the emergency operation centers.”

Justifying his placement further, he said, “Also, during a time we went through numerous trainings as well. And so, to say that I am not qualified, I think, is incorrect, “Also during a time we went through numerous trainings as well. And so to say that I am not qualified, I think, is incorrect."

At least 110 people have been reportedly killed in the blaze as of Wednesday, although the final death toll is still unclear as search and rescue teams go through the island.

The causes of the fire are still under investigation. Some in corporate media have blamed climate change as the cause of the fire. A video has also emerged about downed power lines that may have been the start of the fire.

Quote:"They're experiencing fevers, chills, and other ailments from drinking this potable water."

you get what you vote for.

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

I smell a couple of big class action lawsuits here.

[b]BREAKING: Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya RESIGNS after choosing to not sound sirens as wildfires raged
[/b]

Quote:Herman Andaya, the Administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, has immediately resigned, according to an announcement from Mayor Richard Bissen's office.

Andaya's resignation is based on health reasons, and Mayor Bissen has approved the resignation, as stated in the official county announcement.

On Wednesday, Andaya faced substantial criticism and garnered global media attention after he expressed no regrets for the decision to not activate warning sirens as the wildfire approached Lahaina, which later led to the destruction of the historic town.

During a press conference in Wailuku, Andaya responded to questions from reporters, explaining that he stands by the choice not to activate the sirens.

He justified this by pointing out that in Hawaii, sirens are mainly intended for tsunamis, not for wildfires. He also mentioned that the public is accustomed to seeking higher ground during siren alerts, and he worried that people would go "mountainside" if they heard the sirens.

Governor Green and Mayor Richard Bissen had both originally supported Andaya in response to allegations that he had failed at his job. Green acknowledged that his own response upon hearing the sirens would involve anticipating a tsunami.

"Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon," Bissen said.

110 have been killed in the wildfires, however the number of fatalities is expected to rise further in the upcoming weeks.

Growing worry revolves around the possibility that a significant portion of the deceased comprises children who were at home due to school closures while their parents were at work.

(08-18-2023 03:55 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(08-18-2023 06:18 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(08-18-2023 03:55 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

Agreed, seems to be a bit of over the top hyperbole.

Democrats are incompetent? Who knew

(08-18-2023 07:19 AM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  Democrats are incompetent? Who knew

They're evil and stupid.

So now Hawaiians WANT the Howlies that they despise so much to come and help after their local human infrastructure has proven to be grossly incompetent. In any other scenario, these same folks would have have treated us Howlies like foreign interlopers on their sacred land.

Part of me wants to tell all of them to just frick off. Karma is a *****, and can act quickly and devastatingly. However, I am sure there are a few folks that don't treat the Mainland tourists like crap and vote, without success, to eliminate the permanent Democrat hold over this state.

Elect incompetence that rewards supporters with jobs that they are not properly equipped, and this is the end result. Same story in LA, Flint, Detroit, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, et al., and those voting blocks that NEVER advance economically and still vote these idiots into office are both ignorant and very gullible. I have often said 70% of the voting public are mouth-breathing imbeciles. I may have given the remaining 30% too much credit.