Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are text messages sent by state, local, or national agencies to mobile phones with warnings about severe weather, threats to safety, and Amber alerts.
There were ten WEA alerts sent by the Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) on August 8, 2023.1 Only two of these went to Lahaina neighborhoods, however. 2
MEMA only targeted the areas highlighted in orange to receive WEA Evacuation Alerts on August 8 at 4:16 p.m. (upper left) and 8:46 p.m. (upper right) (PBS – WARN, n.d.)
Although the entire area of Lahaina was affected by the fires, smoke and evacuations on August 8, only the two areas highlighted above were designated to receive alerts via the WEA system.
(Fire Safety Research Institute et al., 2024, pp. 244–246) ↩︎
When we see an evacuation notice on our phones or are told by emergency responders to evacuate, we seek confirmation from other credible sources like friends, family, and social media before we act.
“Had we sounded the siren that night, we were afraid that people would have gone mauka, and if that is the case, then they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya said. However, research shows that t
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