WAILUKU, Hawaii — Facing increasing criticism for his decision not to activate emergency sirens at the onset of the Maui fires, Maui Emergency Management Agency administrator Herman Andaya said Wednesday that he does not regret the decision.
“I do not,” he said, during a media briefing on Wednesday.
What You Need To Know
Andaya said it is not standard protocol for his department to activate sirens for brush fires and it instead used the modes of communication it felt were more effective in the situation
The MEMA administrator said the department used the WA wireless alert system and Emergency Alert System to send alerts via text, voicemail, television and radio
Andaya said people who reside in low-lying areas are trained to evacuate to higher ground and the decision not to activate the alarms considered the possibility that people might head mauka into the path of the expanding fires
Andaya also responded to questions about his qualifications for his position raised by a recent Honolulu Civil Beat article.
