But as we have seen in Maui, entrusting public goods to the government offers no assurance that they will be provided when needed. Hawaii, for instance, has a decades‐old system of sirens, including 80 on the island of Maui that are tested monthly. But public safety employees reportedly failed to activate the sirens during the Lahaina wildfire.
Other aspects of the government’s response to the wildfire have come in for criticism. Firefighters initially controlled the blaze but reportedly left the scene before confirming it had been fully extinguished. The government apparently provided insufficient water to fight the fire as it expanded. After the fire, police reportedly prevented residents from returning to their homes to look for relatives, pets, and needed possessions.
Maui resident Allisen Medina told the Daily Mail on Aug. 18, “People have been doing their own recovery. One hundred percent not enough is being done so people are doing it themselves. The government relief organizations – they’re not doing anything.”
“We have the right to know what’s going on,” she added. “FEMA came here to help with the recovery [process] but we don’t see them.”
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