The Maui Emergency Management Agency's chief administrator, Herman Andaya, has stepped down from his role amid controversy over his handling of a recent wildfire crisis.
His resignation was announced by Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, as reported by Hawaii News Now. Bissen cited "health reasons" as the cause for Andaya's departure.
Mayor Bissen acknowledged the urgency of the situation, stating, "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."
Andaya's resignation follows a contentious news conference on Wednesday. During the conference, he defended his decision not to activate warning sirens in Lahaina, arguing that such an action could have led people directly into the path of the fires. "The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the sirens are sounded," Andaya explained. "Had we sounded the sirens that night, we were afraid that people would have gone [mountainside], and if that was the case, they would have gone into the fire."
Andaya further justified his decision by referencing the use of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and the Emergency Alert System (EAS), systems that send alerts via text messages, television, and radio. However, as Kristina Wong of Breitbart News pointed out, widespread power and phone service outages meant that many residents could not receive these alerts. Hawaii's official government website also states that the "all-hazard siren system" can be used for a variety of events, including wildfires.
Wong also revealed that Andaya was not on the island when the fires began. Instead, he was in Oahu, attending a three-day Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster preparedness seminar. CBS News further reported that Andaya had no actual background in emergency disaster response.
"CBS News has learned Mauis emergency operations chief had no background in disaster response. Its his department that is responsible for setting off warning sirens, which rang silent during the fires," noted Norah ODonnell.
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