Maui emergency chief resigns amid criticism over wildfire response

The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) resigned Thursday amid growing criticism over the Hawaiian island’s response to the devastating wildfires that killed more than 100 people.

Maui County said in a Facebook post that MEMA Administrator Herman Andaya had submitted his resignation, citing “health reasons.”

“Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement.

Andaya’s resignation comes just one day after he defended the decision not to use Maui’s alert system during the fires last week. 

The emergency chief explained at a press conference Wednesday that they decided not to sound the sirens, which were created to respond to tsunamis, over fears that people would run toward the flames.

“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” Andaya said.

“We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” he added, using a Hawaiian term meaning toward the mountains or inland. “If that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.”

Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced Thursday that a third party will conduct an “impartial, independent review” of the state’s response to the wildfires. 

The blazes, which were fueled by strong wind gusts from an offshore hurricane, decimated the historic town of Lahaina and killed at least 111 people, becoming the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.