Wildfires and other fire incidents

[wjfox]

Just devastating.

What a year for wildfires it's been, as shown by the many dozens of posts in this thread.

No doubt mocked by evil, intractably stupid climate deniers as all simply "arson", or a "natural cycle".

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

More before and after pics here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66465570

Over 1,000 people now missing.

[weatheriscool]

Biden declares Hawaii wildfires a major disaster
Source: Politico

President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Hawaii on Thursday, freeing up federal aid to support the island of Maui’s recovery from wildfires that have brought vast destruction and killed at least 36 people.

Federal funds can be used for various initiatives to help impacted communities, including grants for temporary housing and home repairs as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, according to the White House.

Biden said Thursday that he had an extensive phone call with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green Thursday morning, assuring him of his commitment to ensuring the state receives “everything it needs from the federal government.”

“Anyone who’s lost a loved one, whose home has been damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately,” Biden said while delivering remarks about the anniversary of the PACT Act in Utah. “We’re working as quickly as possible to fight these fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii. But not just our prayers: Every asset we have will be available to them.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/1 ... n-00110692

[weatheriscool]

The death toll rises to 80 in Maui wildfires as survivors begin returning to communities in ruins
Source: AP

By CLAIRE RUSH, TY O’NEIL and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Survivors witnessed a surreal landscape of flattened homes, blackened hulks of burned-out cars and ashy lots where buildings once stood as they took stock of their shattered lives in the aftermath of a fast-paced wildfire on the Hawaii island of Maui that authorities say killed at least 80 people.

Anthony Garcia assessed the devastation as he stood under Lahaina’s iconic banyan tree, now charred, and swept twisted branches into neat piles next to another heap filled with dead animals: cats, roosters and other birds killed by the smoke and flames. Somehow it made sense in a world turned upside-down.

“If I don’t do something, I’ll go nuts,” said Garcia, who lost everything he owned. “I’m losing my faith in God.”

Garcia and other residents were faced with catastrophic destruction resulting from the wildfires that tore through parts of Maui this week and were still not fully contained Friday night.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/maui-hawaii- ... 804fcdffe0

[caltrek]

Turns out it may be more than just global warming that explains the extreme and unprecedented nature of Maui‘s fires.

How Colonialism Contributed to the Maui Wildfires
by Henry Carnell
August 11, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Fires have been raging across Hawaii’s Maui Island since Tuesday night. It is already the second deadliest wildfire in United States history, with 270 structures and 2,000 acres burned, 55 people dead, and 11,000 people without power. More than 11,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday, says Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen. The population of Maui is 164,000.

The fires are especially horrifying because Hawaii is not a natural fire ecosystem and has not evolved to rebound after wildfires. Not surprisingly, preliminary reports suggest climate change is partly to blame, since the intense winds of Hurricane Dora traveled hundreds of miles to reach the island. Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, explains that “there’s an increasing trend in the intensity of hurricanes worldwide, in part because warm air holds more water.”

And there’s another culprit: The widespread, nonnative grasses that have taken over certain parts of the island.

These invasive species, like guinea grass, were introduced to Hawaii by 19th century settlers who forcibly shifted the land away from indigenous resource management practices and towards large-scale agriculture, such as cattle ranching and plantations like the Dole Pineapple Company. “The historic changes to the plants and the vegetation is really what’s making us vulnerable and susceptible to an event like this,” Clay Trauernicht, a specialist in wildland fire science and management at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The plantations were then abandoned, allowing the non-native grass to spread from their bounds. Trauernicht tweeted: “The fire problem is mostly attributable to the vast extents of nonnative grasslands left unmanaged by large landowners as we’ve entered a ‘post-plantation era’ starting around the 1990s.” The number of wildfires Hawaii experienced rose drastically in the same era.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/environmen ... ldfires/

[caltrek]

What to Know About Hawaii's Catastrophic Wildfires
by Ivana Saric and Shauneen Miranda
August 12, 2023

Extract:

(Axios) The big picture: Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said at a news conference Thursday that the wildfires were "likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii's state history." The fires are the deadliest in the U.S. since California's 2018 Camp Fire, where 85 people died.

• The death toll exceeded the 61 confirmed fatalities from a 1960 tsunami on the Big Island — long considered to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in state history.

Zoom in: The blaze displaced thousands of people and razed at least 1,700 structures in the historic town of Lahaina.

• Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told NBC News's "Today" on Friday that the death toll is currently made up of casualties found outside. "We have not yet searched in the interior of the buildings."

• Officials said at a news conference Thursday afternoon local time that they couldn't estimate how many people were still missing in Maui due to power, internet and communications outages caused by the fire.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/08/10/hawai ... -to- know

[weatheriscool]