Thank you. I am fortunate to live on the north side of the island and my business is in the Central Valley so I and my family are all safe but this disaster has profoundly affected everybody on the island and the state as a whole. Everybody knows someone who was lost in the fire or who narrowly escaped. Houses can be rebuilt and infrastructure restored but the psychological scars will be with us forever. Hawaiian people like all Americans are resilient and this is mostly bringing out the best in
everybody.

It's all so tragic. We live out of synch with nature in general. I don't have answers to every question. I DO know that abortion can be banned, but banning abortion won't stop abortion. Abortion will always be available to those who can pay cash for it. That's the stick in the anti-choice argument. The life starts at conception argument is the pro-choice stick. Neither side can win, and both sides lose. And the casualties are... well, I can't say it without feeling like a monster.

Maybe abortion is best left between a woman and her doctor.

It’s difficult to countenance a segue into culture war issues in the light of the realities on the ground in Lahaina today where there is no power, cell phone reception, landlines, fuel, propane, water or a replacement shelter for the home you lost in the fire. Thousands of people are displaced and temporarily housed in gymnasiums at schools on the other side of the island. Some families have been flown out to other islands to stay with relatives, some residents have flown back to the US mainland after losing employment in westside hotels that have no fuel for back up generators, no potable water supply and little food left. Around 4000 tourists were bussed on Friday to the airport in the Central Valley and put on special flights to mainland destinations.
More than a thousand people are unaccounted for including many friends and clients in the Lahaina area. I had lunch at an oceanside restaurant two days before the fire that is now part of the boulevard of ashes that was once the bustling Front Street tourist area.The death toll is hovering around 100 and expected to climb higher, the hospital morgue is overwhelmed and refrigerated trucks have been repurposed to cope with the overflow, There is a shortage of body bags and extras are being flown in from Honolulu.

The island economy, once the most vibrant in the state will probably take a major hit over the next few months. The causes of the catastrophe are already being debated but in some sense it was just the perfect storm. A freak wind condition generated by a peripheral offshore Hurricane Dora coupled by dried out non native grasses combusting from unknown causes but probably electrical from downed power lines….who knows.

To the oblique suggestion in your post that seems to question man-made climate change I would suggest paying attention to acknowledged experts in the field of climate science by plurality. That is to say the majority. There are always outliers and contrarians who seek attention or profit by going against mainstream thought. Once in a while there is a differing opinion that turns out to be right but history suggests that to be rare.

Eden. 40 year resident of Maui.

It's all so tragic. We live out of synch with nature in general. I don't have answers to every question. I DO know that abortion can be banned, but banning abortion won't stop abortion. Abortion will always be available to those who can pay cash for it. That's the stick in the anti-choice argument. The life starts at conception argument is the pro-choice stick. Neither side can win, and both sides lose. And the casualties are... well, I can't say it without feeling like a monster.

Maybe abortion is best left between a woman and her doctor.

Kevy is in his own little world. Let him stay there. For us normals, there are some details that can be gleaned from the lies of the news reports. If you read past the Global Warming horse manure about a drying climate in Hawaii, which they give no proof of, you find the real trouble. Invasive grasses from Africa and probably elsewhere have taken over large parts of Hawaii.

When it get dry these grasses burn like matches. If someone wants to say human activity caused the Maui fire, well yea. However, it wasn't climate change, global warming, or carbon emissions. It was the failure to control non native grasses in Maui. That is called piss poor land management. Piss poor land management is also the reason for the California wildfires.

And where does piss poor land management come from ? Stupid people voting Democrat.

You are completely correct about the invassive grasses. When I started going to Maui 12 years to do turbine and generator inspections they had one fire that took out one whole mountain next to the power plant where I worked. During that time you could drive to Lahania and take the one lane road around the North end of the island, they had cliffs next to the road that was 200 to 300 feet down to the water. A really beautiful view. 10 years later the grass on the hillsides was so thick and tall that during the trip around the island north of Lahaina you could not see over the grass to view the water. This was a fire hazard from hell and that is what got them. This grass was everywhere. All the way up to the city of Lahaina.