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Maui’s emergency management chief resigns, citing health reasons, a day after he defended sirens’ silence during deadly wildfires

By Nouran Salahieh, Raja Razek and Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 12:31 AM EDT, Fri August 18, 2023

CNN — 

The administrator of Maui’s emergency management agency has resigned, citing health reasons, Maui County said Thursday – an announcement that comes a day after he defended the silence of the island’s siren system last week during the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years.

The resignation of Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya is effective immediately, the county said.

The wildfires that started August 8 have killed at least 111 people – including children, largely in the area of the town of Lahaina on Maui’s west coast. And most of the burn zone still needs searching, officials have said.

“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,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said.

Details about the health reasons that Andaya cited were not immediately available. CNN has sought comment from Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

A spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said last week that no one attempted to activate Maui’s 80-alarm all-hazard outdoor siren system – part of a larger statewide network – as the deadly fires spread August 8.

At a Wednesday news conference, Andaya was asked whether he regretted not sounding the alarms. Andaya said, “I do not,” telling reporters he worried that if they had sounded, many residents would’ve gone inland and “would have gone into the fire.”

US Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii criticized that response later that day, calling Andaya’s assessment of the situation and comment about not regretting his decision “premature.”

Before Andaya’s resignation was announced, state Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents the devastated town of Lahaina and lost his own home in the fires, blasted Andaya’s response as “insulting.”

“I’ve heard the line that ‘people would have panicked and ran up to the mountains because it’s a tsunami siren.’ … It’s insulting to think that people would be that clueless, that they wouldn’t know that sirens blasting was because of the fire,” McKelvey told CNN on Thursday. “These are not tsunami sirens. They’re disaster sirens.”

It remains unclear why exactly the sirens system weren’t used, as narratives about the silence have shifted. In interviews with CNN, Green has said some sirens were broken. The governor has asked the state attorney general to review the fire and officials’ response, including the alarms’ silence.

The number of residents unaccounted for is “probably still over 1,000,” Green told CNN on Wednesday.

Search crews are expected to keep scouring the charred debris of more than 2,000 burnt homes and businesses for days, the police chief said. Some are working despite immense personal grief.

“Realize that the responders that are going out there are recovering their loved ones and members of their families,” he said.

Power company also faces scrutiny

While the cause of the fires hasn’t been determined, Hawaiian Electric – the major power company on Maui – also is facing scrutiny for not shutting down power lines when high winds created dangerous fire conditions. A company that runs a sensor network on Maui says it detected major utility grid faults hours before fires started.

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     Maui wildfires: Emergency management chief resigns, citing health reasons, amid questions about sirens' silence during deadly wildfires | CNN