Hawaii has a robust emergency siren warning system. It sat silent during the deadly wildfires

[Matt Zumbrunn]

The Gatlinburg firestorm in 2016 was also the result of mountain waves.

 

[James K]

The Gatlinburg firestorm in 2016 was also the result of mountain waves.

There's another then.
Maybe more attention needs to be paid to mountain waves & catastrophic wildfire potential.

 

[Mike Smith]

Maybe more attention needs to be paid to mountain waves & catastrophic wildfire potential.

Please see my link to Cliff Mass' blog post on this topic. He, too, makes that point.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Being on an island surrounded by water may push fire fears back in people’s minds.

 

[James K]

Please see my link to Cliff Mass' blog post on this topic. He, too, makes that point.

An interesting read.

The talk about the mountain-wave setup there, the very dry air & how that all promotes fire growth, it felt just like reading something from here when you get a mountain-wave along with warm dry conditions... ie: red-flag-warning weather.

And reading that they didn't have weather observation stations there. wtf? I was shocked by that.

 

[Mike Smith]

And reading that they didn't have weather observation stations there. wtf? I was shocked by that.

There used to be a full-time ob at West Maui Airport, ~10 mi N from Lahaina when it had airline service. However, I can't find it these days.

There is a perception, "there's no weather on Hawaii," and so it suffers from lack of support for wx services. A NDRB would do "findings of fact" and "recommendations for improvement" like the NTSB. If we had one investigating the Lahaina Fire, one of its products would be a list of vital locations for obs on Maui.

 

[Mike Smith]

I cannot independently validate that. However, it is worth passing along as a reminder that prayers and financial assistance are still desperately needed.

 

[Mike Smith]

On a different topic, here is more from Dr. Cliff Mass: The Essential Ingredients of the Most Destructive Wildfires: Wind and Grass

 

[Jeff Wright]

I’ve heard it said that the oils/sap of some scrub are up there with kerosene in btu’s

In general…at least some alarm can get people’s heads up…

 

[Matt Zumbrunn]

On a different topic, here is more from Dr. Cliff Mass: The Essential Ingredients of the Most Destructive Wildfires: Wind and Grass

In other news water is wet.

The plot thickens a little bit. They make some excellent points such as power being off when the 2nd fire erupted, the Maui fire department calling the morning fire extinguished (not just contained and controlled), etc.
Hawaiian Electric Blames Firefighters for Deadly Maui Blaze | Firehouse