Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images fileMaui’s embattled emergency management director had a pattern of downplaying the importance of the island’s outdoor emergency siren system in the years before this month’s devastating fire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina and killed more than 100 people, public safety meeting records show.
In a 2019 meeting, Andaya called sirens “kind of a last resort kind of thing,” adding that “for the most part, people don’t get their information from sirens.” “As we all know, you lose electricity and the phones go out anytime there’s a major emergency,” Tancayo said, adding that “we should put good effort in continuing to update and keep our siren systems running good and not depend totally on phones and other means.”
“From what we understand, the siren is kind of a last resort, you know,” he said at the meeting in February 2021. “It’s for people who are outside, outdoors, who don’t have their phones on them, who are not close to a TV or radio or, you know, things like that. So those — that’s what the siren is really meant for.”
When defending his decision Wednesday, Andaya said the siren “system has not been used either in Maui or in other jurisdictions around the state” for wildfires. For those, Andaya said, his agency’s protocol has been to broadcast and text mass-notification alerts and warnings to the public. He said the siren system is primarily used to warn the public of tsunamis.