Hawaiians have faced a terrifying ordeal in recent weeks as Maui turned into a cremation ground and hundreds of lives were lost. It seems as if bad government has maximized their suffering.
Progressive politics reportedly fueled the burning of Maui and delayed the much-needed supply of water. Maui Emergency Management Agency Director Herman Andaya, now resigned, is skeptical about how the public will react if a proper warning is issued. did not choose Alarm bells sounded when the wildfires started ravaging Lahaina. While there were other officials warned Years before the historic town faced high wildfire risk, they held back on precautionary measures, resulting in part in a “lack of early evacuation and unimplemented evacuation plans.” according to to the New York Times.
It is now clear that many of those who survived the fires were residents who ignored orders from local and state authorities.
A misguided trust in these authorities reportedly made one mother’s bereavement almost certain.
Luz Vargas owns a cleaning service in Lahaina and was working the day her town was reduced to ashes and ruins. Her adopted son Keiiro Fuentes, who would have turned 15 on Sunday, was enjoying the last day of summer vacation at his home eight miles away.
CBS news report When Vargas and her husband Andrés learned of the fire threat, they jumped in their car and desperately tried to rush back to their son.
“They said, ‘Don’t go, don’t go,'” Vargas told CBS News. “But I replied, ‘Son.'”
Encountering traffic and in a race against time, they abandoned the car and proceeded on foot. However, they encountered another obstacle: police barricades.
NPR report Police said they had banned people from going towards the firestorm.
“I said my son was still at home. I said he was in this house on this street,” Vargas recalled, noting that the language barrier further derailed her efforts.
“At that point, I got down on my knees and threw my hands up in the air,” Vargas said. “And I did not comply.”
Vargas reportedly slipped past police officers in melted flip-flops before being escorted to the hot front by a man on a motorcycle.As she attempted to enter the fire zone, her first responders reportedly “Trust me,” he assured her that the area had been cleared, no one was left, and that her son had escaped.
Knowing that her son and others in the area had been ousted, Vargas and her husband waited for the boy to show up at Honokowai Beach, regularly contacting authorities and making phone calls.
Unable to find or call Fuentes, Vargas returned home two days later only to discover that the area had not yet been cleared and at least one person remained.
The mother found her son dead in his bedroom with his dog in his arms.
“He was reduced to ashes, unlike what I expected. God kept him like this, so we knew it was him,” said Fuentes. Vargas, who prayed over the body of
Andrés and Vargas’ son Josué reportedly wrapped the boy’s charred corpse in a tarpaulin and carried it 800 meters to the police station.
“He was too young. If he had time, he would have been very, very, very good,” the victim’s brother Josué told CBS News.
Associated Press shown Barricades erected by authorities not only slowed Vargas’ rescue efforts in the town, but also prevented some Maui residents from escaping the hellish fires, he said.
Residents of West Maui tried to escape the fire on the only paved road outside of town, but officials reportedly had barricaded access to Highway 30. It is As a result, a large number of cars were sent back in flames, a catastrophic event. Many died in cars.
Those who ignored the barricades managed to survive, including one family who drove around them. After ignoring authorities’ instructions, the family was safely evacuated to a nearby town 48 minutes later, The Associated Press reported.
Similarly, a man who did not have time to endure these restrictions drove a four-wheel drive vehicle to safety on a dirt road, while another man climbed a hill to safety. This is exactly where Herman Andaya feared people would go if the warning sirens sounded.
The fire department temporarily closed the Lahaina Bypass Road due to the fire, which reportedly blocked the only route south from Lahaina, but Maui Police Chief John Peltier later said police officers were unaware that people had been killed. He claimed that he never prevented him from leaving town, but rather tried to prevent him. Never drive over broken wires.
Love Blaze News? Bypass censorship, subscribe to our newsletter and receive articles like this straight to your inbox. Register here!
