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Just how well the beleaguered Maui Emergency Management Agency performed during the August wildfires that leveled most of Lahaina and killed 101 people will be studied by external experts hired by the county.

Mayor Richard Bissen revealed that plan to the public last week, although the county had solicited bids for the study in mid-April and they are due Friday.

Bissen said in a press release that an after-action report was needed given the magnitude and complexity of the wildfires and that a “comprehensive evaluation of MEMA’s performance during the incident would be helpful in preparing future responses.”

“Our next step is to take an in-depth look at MEMA’s response, so we can improve our foundation for future emergency responses,” he said in the press release. On Friday, he declined to be interviewed about the plan.

The Maui Police Department already conducted an internal after-action report, and the Maui Fire Department released a report conducted by the Western Fire Chiefs Association.

In addition, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez is conducting a comprehensive review of what happened Aug. 8 when four separate wildfires in Lahaina, Kula, Olinda and Kihei ravaged Maui. Lopez hired the Fire Safety Research Institute to prepare the report, the first installment of which was released April 17. The second report is expected in late summer and the third should come by year’s end.

The first report chronicled massive communications failures between firefighters and first responders in Lahaina and the Emergency Operations Center in Wailuku.

The communication breakdown was so severe Bissen has said he didn’t know anyone had died in Lahaina until the morning of Aug. 9.

The Doctor’s Appointment That Wasn’t, Then Was

Ever since the fire, questions have swirled around where Bissen was throughout the disaster, what role he played as the county’s chief executive and why he didn’t order then-head of MEMA Herman Andaya to return to Maui from a conference he was attending on Oahu during the inferno.

In a scripted televised address Aug. 31, Bissen said he stayed at the emergency operations center until sometime in the early hours of Aug. 9 while other members of his staff, including the managing director, chief of staff and chief of communications and public affairs, remained overnight and into the next day as the disaster unfolded.  

At a Wailuku press conference on Oct. 10, Bissen was asked when he left the EOC on the night of the fire. He said he left sometime around 3 a.m. on Aug. 9.

Text messages between Bissen and Andaya have raised scrutiny about where Bissen was mid-afternoon on Aug. 8 as fire was bearing down on Lahaina.

According to the timeline provided in the attorney general’s report, Bissen texted Andaya at 3:32 p.m. on Aug. 8 saying, “Let’s stay on top of this. I’m coming back up after my Dr. appointment.”

That detail — that he had left the EOC to attend to a personal matter as Lahaina and parts of Upcountry burned — apparently proved jarring to the mayor. Bissen’s office on April 19 issued a to “clarify” points raised by the attorney general’s report, including his doctor’s appointment.

“Mayor Bissen did have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for that afternoon, but his secretary canceled his appointment as well as other meetings that day,” the release stated. “The Mayor was in the County building for the remainder of the day, with meetings, media interviews and briefings happening in the EOC, the 9th floor and other County offices throughout the day and into the next morning.”

But in Wednesday’s , Bissen’s account of his doctor’s appointment changed again.

“While all other medical appointments were cancelled, after further checking, Mayor Bissen did attend an appointment with his cardiologist in Wailuku on the afternoon of Aug. 8 at 3:20 p.m. While at his appointment, Mayor received a text message informing him of a new fire in Lahaina. He then returned to the EOC, where he remained until 2:30 a.m. the next morning,” the release said.

Why the change in narrative?

Bissen’s communications director, Laksmi Abraham, said the mayor had triple bypass surgery in 2013 and it’s important for him to have regular visits with his cardiologist whose office is close to the county office building.

When questions surfaced about whether he went to the appointment on Aug. 8 or not, Bissen checked with the cardiologist’s office and determined that he had, in fact, attended the heart checkup, she said.

“He thought things (with the fire) were under control at that point,” Abraham said by text message. “He had his senior staff and MEMA’s 2nd in command at the EOC, so he felt it was okay to go. Once he got notification regarding the new fire in Lahaina, he came right back and was in the EOC through the night.”

Another point of “clarification” Bissen has made about the attorney general’s report centers on who from MEMA was present at the EOC during the disaster. The report stated “there is no data showing which MEMA personnel responded on August 8, 2023. The only missing EOC sign-in sheet is the one for MEMA personnel for August 8, 2023.”

“Maui County has not produced this document after multiple requests,” the report stated.

In the April 19 news release from Bissen’s office, the administration said the implication that MEMA did not produce relevant information is unfounded and illustrates some of the “deficiencies” of the attorney general’s report.

‘Not Fodder For Litigation’

The after-action report that Bissen is now seeking might clear up some of the outstanding questions about who was in the EOC, what they were doing and why there were so many serious communications failures.

Elizabeth Pickett, co-director of the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, said after-action reports are not about assigning blame but rather are a learning tool so that future disasters can be handled better.

“It’s forward-looking,” Pickett said. “It’s not fodder for litigation.”

At a press conference Friday, Gov. Josh Green said if there’s more information Maui County would like to glean from MEMA, “that’s their perogitive to take up.”

“Each county can always ask for after-action reports whenever there’s been a disaster, and so we encourage extra learning constantly,” Green said.

Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee said she was mildly surprised to see Bissen’s request for an after-action report given that the AG’s investigation and others are underway. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the cause of the fires. Law firms representing fire victims are conducting their own investigations as well.

Lee said it might be challenging to review MEMA’s role given that Andaya and other high-level officials at the agency have resigned since the fire.

MEMA has lost four senior staff members, Abraham said.

MEMA, which has nine employees at full capacity, is currently operating with two full-time and three temporary staffers while it is “continuing recruiting efforts,” she said.

Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, a retired Maui fire battalion chief, took over as director Jan. 1.

He’s been “onboarding and stabilizing the organization since his start date, while continuing to work on recovery efforts,” Abraham said.

The staffing changes caused a delay in the for the after-action report, Abraham said.

Lee said she’s not opposed to the plan if it can help the county deal with wildfires and other disasters going forward.

“We need to have communications that are ironclad, up-to-date, minute-by-minute. Those things have to be put in place,” Lee said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.