Maui Fires: Investigating the Origins of the Blaze

Maui Fires: Officials are dubious of the cause of the Maui fires that have killed six people, prompted hundreds of evacuations, destroyed structures, left thousands without power, and prompted some residents to flee into the ocean. However, some experts believe that human development on the island is at least partially responsible for the devastation.

In recent decades, the number of wildfires in Hawaii has quadrupled, and many scientists blame unmanaged, non-native grasslands planted by plantations, ranchers, and others unfamiliar with the island’s native ecosystems. The vegetation is dry and flammable.

Peter Vitousek, a professor of earth sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, stated, “There is no doubt that fire-prone grasses have invaded drier Hawaiian ecosystems, leading to larger, more intense fires.”

What prompted the fires on Maui?

At a briefing on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, stated that high winds and low humidity likely contributed to the flames, but that little else is known.

“We don’t know what ignited the fires, but the National Weather Service had warned us in advance that we were in a red flag situation,” he told CBS News. “This means that conditions had been dry for a long time, so the fuel, the trees, and everything else was dry.”

Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean, fueled the strong winds in Maui overnight, with gusts of 60 miles per hour causing damage to homes and knocking out electricity.

Lahaina, a residential and tourist area with a commercial district in West Maui; Kula, a residential area in the inland, mountainous Upcounty region; and Kihei, a mix of homes, condos, short-term vacation rentals, and visitor facilities in South Maui, are the areas most affected by the activation of the Hawaii National Guard.

Fires were rare before humans arrived in Hawaii

David Beilman, a professor of geography and environment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, stated that, with the exception of areas with active volcanoes, wildfires were uncommon in the Hawaiian islands before the advent of humans. This more recent period in Earth’s history, during which human activity has had an effect on climate and ecosystems, is unofficially known as the Anthropocene Epoch.

“On the other islands with less volcanic activity, fires did occur, but only very, very rarely,” Beilman explained. “This situation in Maui is an Anthropocene phenomenon.”

Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network and an Indigenous leader from Hawaii, stated that the wildfires provide additional evidence of an imminent climate emergency.

“We need legislation that is as bold and urgent as the scale of the wildfires choking Hawaii and Canada, the heatwaves suffocating Texas, and the extreme flooding drowning Europe,” said Ing, a former Hawaii state legislator. “How many more lives lost or families displaced in communities like mine is President Biden willing to tolerate before he declares a climate emergency and activates politicians to take further climate action?”

Is tourism at fault?

The flames occur in the midst of an ongoing debate over whether or not tourism harms Hawaii’s ecosystems.

This year, Fodor’s Travel included Maui on its “No List” of 10 destinations that tourists should reconsider visiting in 2023 due to the threat of environmental harm caused by overtourism and climate change.

It would be misleading, according to Clay Trauernicht, a professor of natural resources and environmental management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, to merely attribute the fires to weather and climate.

Instead, Trauernicht, who noted in 2018 that the annual area burnt by wildfires in Hawaii has quadrupled over the past four decades, pointed to unmanaged, non-native grasslands that have flourished in Hawaii after decades of declining agriculture.

“These savannas now cover approximately one million acres across the main Hawaiian islands,” he wrote in a series of tweets on X, formerly Twitter.

The TSA queue at Kahului Airport on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, in Kahului. The queue extended from security checkpoint to baggage reception. Overnight, a large fire destroyed the popular community of Lahaina.

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How can we reduce the number of disasters in Hawaii?

Trauernicht stated that the transformation to savannas makes the land much more susceptible to the hot, dry, and windy conditions that generate such wildfires, with a much greater accumulation of fire fuels during rainy periods. As roads become unmaintained, irrigation and water storage decrease, and those familiar with the land migrate away, agricultural declines also make firefighting more challenging.

He wrote, “The burden Hawaii’s current fire problem places on emergency responders, the effects on farms and ecosystems, and the losses our community is experiencing right now are primarily the result of benign neglect.”

Trauernicht stated that while the circumstance is frustrating, there is a glimmer of hope.

He wrote, “Hawaii’s fire problem could be vastly more manageable with adequate support, planning, and resources for fuel reduction projects, agricultural land use, and restoration and reforestation around communities and at the base of our forests.”

The Hawaii Wildfire Management Organisation, a non-profit organisation headquartered in Waimea on the island of Hawaii, stated that the increasing flames pose a threat to humans, infrastructure, water quality, agricultural production, and natural resources.

“Hawaii has a wildfire problem,” the organization’s website states. Approximately 0.5% of Hawaii’s total land area fires annually, a proportion equal to or greater than any other US state. Over 98% of wildfires are caused by humans. The problem of wildfires has been significantly exacerbated by human ignitions, an increase in fire-prone non-native grasses and shrubs, and a warming, drier climate.