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Nearly six months after the Lahaina wildfire devastated the picturesque Hawaiian community, the Maui Police Department has finally released a comprehensive after-action report detailing their response to the catastrophe.
The report, spanning 98 pages, outlines 32 recommendations aimed at enhancing the department’s capabilities in handling similar emergencies in the future.
The deadly wildfire, which occurred on August 8, 2023, claimed the lives of at least 100 people, leaving a wake of destruction in the one-time capital of the former Hawaiian Kingdom.
In the wake of the tragedy, the Maui Police Department initiated a thorough evaluation of their response efforts, seeking to identify areas of improvement and lessons learned.
Among the key recommendations highlighted in the report are enhancements to equipment and technology, such as providing officers with earpieces for improved communication during hazardous conditions like high winds and equipping patrol cars with breaching kits to clear obstructed roadways.
The report also underscores the importance of establishing better communication channels between emergency personnel and officers on the ground, including stationing high-ranking officers in the island’s communications center during emergencies.
“Seconds matter. One of the things we talked about was having a real-time crime center or real-time operations center,” Maui Chief Pelletier iterated. “The item is one of the dozens of recommendations outlined in the report.”
Chief Pelletier said the report is useful not only as a guide for the department’s future actions but also as a resource for law enforcement agencies nationwide.
“We don’t know what the next critical incident is going to be or where it’s going to happen,” Chief Pelletier stated during a press conference, “but if we can identify these action items, maybe another agency can incorporate them too, making the entire policing profession and first responder community better prepared.”
Reflecting on the painstaking search efforts following the wildfire, Chief Pelletier commended the hard work and dedication of officers, personnel and community members.
“The bravery and resilience demonstrated by our officers, personnel, fellow first responders, and members of the community who continued to assist while suffering losses themselves have been nothing short of extraordinary,” he remarked.
As of now, three individuals remain unaccounted for.
“The investigations remain open and any new leads or information that is brought to us, we will pursue,” Maui Officer Brad Taylor informed the public. “Since the investigation, we have reached out to the family members, searched for eyewitness accounts of where they might have been, and then we looked at a map and with what we knew about their mobility, we created strategies of where they might have escaped to, and then we sent anthropological teams to go to those estimated escape routes.”
The after-action report also delves into the ongoing investigation into the cause of the wildfire, which is being conducted by outside experts at the behest of the Hawaii attorney general’s office.
Speculation from various reports, such as AP News, cited high winds as a contributing factor, marking an overgrown gully beneath an electric power line as the potential ground zero of the blaze.
While the investigation is expected to take several more months to complete, authorities remain committed to pursuing leads and providing closure to affected families.
“The search is not over,” Taylor confirmed.
Looking ahead, the Maui Police Department is focused on implementing the recommendations outlined in the report, with Chief Pelletier looking to enhance emergency response capabilities.
“Imagine if you could detect smoke from a fire in real-time that’s faster than 9-1-1,” he added.
The chief concluded the press conference with reassurances about the search efforts and investigations.
“This community deserves the very best, and this agency is the very finest,” Chief Pelletier affirmed. “We put service above self. We put honor above all. These were our worst hours, but these were also our finest moments. We are Maui Strong.”
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