Current:Home > StocksHawaii Gov. Josh Green calls ex-emergency manager's response "utterly unsatisfactory to the world" -文件: temp/data/webname/news/nam2.txt
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green calls ex-emergency manager's response "utterly unsatisfactory to the world"
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:34:54
Washington — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Sunday he wished sirens would have alerted residents on Maui to evacuate as a wildfire quickly spread through Lahaina, calling the response by the island's now former emergency chief "utterly unsatisfactory to the world."
"Of course, as a person, as a father, as a doctor, I wish all the sirens went off," Green told "Face the Nation." "The challenge that you've heard — and it's not to excuse or explain anything — the challenge has been that historically, those sirens are used for tsunamis."
"Do I wish those sirens went off? Of course I do," he said. "I think that the answer that the emergency administrator from Maui, who's resigned, was of course utterly unsatisfactory to the world. But it is the case that that we've historically not used those kinds of warnings for fires."
- Transcript: Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on "Face the Nation"
Herman Andaya, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, resigned Thursday following significant criticism for the agency's response to the Lahaina wildfire and the failure to sound the island's warning sirens to alert residents to evacuate.
When asked Wednesday if he regretted not activating the sirens, Andaya said, "I do not." He said there was concern that if the sirens were activated that people would have evacuated toward the fire because they are typically used to warn of tsunamis. Instead, warnings were set via text, television and radio, he said. But residents reported receiving none of those alerts because power had been knocked out in the area.
Hawaii's official government website also lists a number of disasters, including wildfires, that the sirens can be used for.
Green said there are still more than 1,000 people unaccounted for and it could take several weeks to identify the remains, and in some cases some remains may be impossible to identify. He also said it's possible "many children" are among the dead.
The cause of the wildfires is under investigation, and Green said he did not know whether power lines that were in need of an upgrade were to blame. But he said the consequences of human error are amplified by climate change.
"We have to ask the question on every level of how any one city, county, state could have done better and the private sector," he said. "This is the world that we live in now."
"There's no excuses to ever be made," he said. "But there are finite resources sometimes in the moment."
- In:
- Hawaii Wildfires
- Maui
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hausofcait
TwitterveryGood! (44216)
Related
- How effective is the Hyundai, Kia anti-theft software? New study offers insights.
- ‘Megalopolis’ flops, ‘Wild Robot’ soars at box office
- 6 Things Kathryn Hahn Can't Live Without
- Anna Delvey Reveals Why She’ll Take “Nothing” Away From Her Experience on Dancing With the Stars
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Climate Impacts Put Insurance Commissioner Races in the Spotlight
- SNL Introduces Its 2024 Presidential Election Cast Playing Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and More
- Stuck NASA astronauts welcome SpaceX capsule that’ll bring them home next year
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, After Midnight
Ranking
- FBI: California woman brought sword, whip and other weapons into Capitol during Jan. 6 riot
- Awareness of ‘Latinx’ increases among US Latinos, and ‘Latine’ emerges as an alternative
- College Football Misery Index: Ole Miss falls flat despite spending big
- Biden says he hopes to visit Helene-impacted areas this week if it doesn’t impact emergency response
- Your Wedding Guests Will Thank You if You Get Married at These All-Inclusive Resorts
- Residents told to evacuate or take shelter after Georgia chemical fire
- Kailyn Lowry Shares Why She Just Developed a Strategy for Dealing With Internet Trolls
- Guardsman wanted to work for RentAHitman.com. He's now awaiting a prison sentence
Recommendation
US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
Shohei Ohtani's 50-50 game-worn pants will be included in Topps trading cards
South Carolina power outage map: Nearly a million without power after Helene
Knicks trade for Karl-Anthony Towns in blockbuster deal
From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
A handcuffed Long Island man steals a patrol car after drunk driving arrest, police say
A brush fire prompts evacuations in the Gila River Indian Community southwest of Phoenix
Jordan Love injury update: Packers will start veteran quarterback in Week 4 vs. Vikings