Hawaii emergency management records show no signs of warning sirens sounding before people were forced to flee for their lives from the massive wildfires on Maui.
Instead, the warnings are said to have been sent out to mobile phones, via television and radio stations – but the power outages are believed to have limited their reach, reports the news agency AP.
According to Hawaiian authorities, it has the world’s largest integrated outdoor public safety warning system, with about 400 sirens placed throughout the island chain to alert residents of natural disasters or other threats.
However, many survivors of the forest fire testify that they neither heard sirens nor were alerted in time to be able to quickly get away from the fires. Instead, many people only realized the danger when they saw flames, or heard explosions, nearby.
Claire Kent, a resident of the island, is one of those who also testify about the lack of information about the fire.
– There were no police officers with megaphones telling people to evacuate, she tells the New York Times.
The search for the dead continues
So far, 55 people have been found dead as a result of the wildfires that broke out earlier this week, and on Friday the search for remains continued with the help of search dogs, according to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr., AP reports.
The 55 dead are just people found outdoors, Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen told NBC on Friday. When you start searching properties, the death toll will likely rise.
11,000 managed to leave the island on Wednesday
During Wednesday, over 11,000 people managed to leave the island, which is slightly larger than Öland and has around 115,000 inhabitants.
On Thursday, several military helicopters arrived on the island to assist in the extinguishing work. The Coast Guard and Navy have also been ordered by US President Joe Biden to send “all available resources” to the island.
Deadliest natural disaster since 1960
The wildfires are the deadliest natural disaster in the area since 1960, when 61 people died in connection with a tsunami, according to the AP.
Fourteen years earlier, in 1946, 150 people died on the Big Island after being hit by a tidal wave—which helped lead to the development of the territory-wide emergency system that includes the sirens.