New Maui wildfires report raises questions about mayor's response 

He should be jailed. Govt sued for gross negligence

Lets not play the RACE CARD. Its called DENIAL...stonewalling....lies. The EVIDENCE is overwhelming and DOCUMENTED.

I remember when he first started to report this most journalist where being bullied by the police force.

The fires killed way more than 101 people. 1,000s.

Mahalo for keeping up with Lahaina. Most think it was a microwave fire. That explains the lack of response they are ALL responsible

The Mayor never planned to declare anything till it burned. This area was very desirable to developers. The mayor wanted the developers to come in and get the people got. The fires were set.

Why are they not letting their people move back in…

Everyone knows everyone around there. That's probably why they don't want to assign blame. "Small island syndrome" is the same as "small town syndrome."

Thanks Jonathan. Awesome reporting

Jonathan: there are many details missing here. Fire Cheif Ventura was off Isle and it is verified that on 8/8/23 at around 4:00 pm. House Representative Elle Cochrane called Ventura to tell him about the fire and he told her he didn't know about it! So, guess noone at the Emergency operations Center had called him. Ventura had never been alerted! Then, we have acting Gov. Luke who called some type of emergency at 3:15 pm 8/8/23 but apparently major General Hara never got the alert message, because he never prepped National Guard for immediate action. Didn't happen! 11:52pm at night is when the National Guard Finally landed on Isle, by that time all was dead, there had never been any Guard troops on the ground to help rescue vulnerable Elderly and immobile, not until the town was fully leveled! Wow! what incompetence! Herman Andaya, Maui Emergency manager, and mayor Bissen failed to sound the Sirens to alert People of the fast approaching fire storm and crazy as it sounds, never tryed Sounding it for the next ensuing 10 hours from 2:55pm noon until I:00 AM next day as Fire ravaged and leveled the town and seriously endangered thousands of peoples Lives! All abnormal behavior responses. Andaya and Maui County were fully aware that the Lahaina Community had wanted, had expected and had demanded sirens to be sounded upon a fire (see 2018 Community meeting after 2018 Lane Fire) So, they already knew the public had made it clean they wanted Siren Alerts! Upon a Siren alert, noone was ever going to run into or towards those big billows of smoke and fire! 69 People in one concentrated area of Central Lahaina in Kahua Camp and Kahua Street suffered and died due to no siren, no bullhorn alert, absolutely no police or fire evacuation. They were never forewarned earlier in the day ( From 6:43 AM . until 2:55 pm fire flare up) 8 hours and no heads up to be prepared to evacuate and Kahua Camp was the most vulnerable area there. Fire Dept. was fully aware of Kahua St. having access and exit issues, yet never pre-warned them. Then, The big question, why weren't the Dept. heads working with HECO (Electric Company) to ensure that there would be an open and flowing major evacuation route out, which was Hwy 30! These officials had from 5:52am until 2:55 pm, 9 long hours to work with HECO, to throw Power Poles and Lines off to the side of The road and maintain Lanes Free, open, Flowing, instead HECO Work crews were bringing in new poles and were trying to restore service in a mass evacuation! Hwy 30 was closed For 10 Hours, and when the fire Flare up occured Lahaina Luna Road was contra flowed west and People were directed to Front Street where gridlock began. 15-30 people died on Kahua Street partially due to not being able to exit onto Lahaina Luna Road due to gridlock because Hwy 30 was mysteriously closed, Road Blocked and People were barricaded in because officials didn't want anyone to get electrocated!! But the electric was off Verified OFF by HECO since early morning! County called HECO 18 Times that day to verify it!! I researched this for 8 months. and The american public are not being told the full truth about this fire.

Lies

Many of us on these islands know this was an orchestrated burn. It you do your own due diligence in piecing together the facts, you too will say, this was an orchestrated burn. Now the state wants the land. We need good journalists to prove what we islanders know.

Jonathan forgot to mentionthat Governor green had already signed an emergency proclamation in July 2023, when there had never even been an emergency! No government official I've ever done this before. Also, that Maui Police Chief Pelletier was also not present in the Emergency Operations Center working with the other department heads that day! so yes, there was a lot of communication problems, yet play to your proclaims they communicated just fine.. if the police chief is not in the Emergency Operations Center, he cannot work on a proper emergency response and he did not!

A liberal mayor dropping the ball? 😂😂😂😂 Who knew?

What you can do...is support maui and support local . We need to rebuild lahaina and get it back to normal. Lahaina needs lumber and building permits and more resources.

Bissen is a killer by profound incompetence.

Follow the money

Prayers....government officials failed its people...

I feel bad for Hawaiian people your entire government lay you down vote differently this time. I bet you get a better result out of the orange man.

We pay taxes, electricity, why we can't come back home, it's a violation of private property because if you want live at home even if they continue not to fix the sewerage, you have the right to do so: so why after 11 months they still don't let us return home?

Mayor was definitely paid under the table! He should be held responsible!!

It wasn't negligence stop lying to the people. I realized that they are the ignorant masses but come on we're not all ignorant. They weren't being negligent they were following orders and I'm talking from the mayor on down across the board all following orders from far far above their heads

The Mayor of Maui is native kanaka maoli Hawaiian...perfect 'fall guy'.

Big time cover up.

Hawaii Brit flag is so beautiful.

Wow way to fall down on the job Biden. Kennedy thank you for showing up and offering free legal advice.