{"id":3187,"date":"2024-05-13T14:57:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T13:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/?p=3187"},"modified":"2024-05-13T15:08:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:08:09","slug":"the-maui-fires-an-unnatural-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/2024\/05\/13\/the-maui-fires-an-unnatural-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"The Maui fires: An unnatural disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was written by Lily Maiden, an undergraduate student at the Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), as part of the module ‘Introduction to Disaster Management’ (HCRI11032). It was selected for publication due to the quality of writing and analysis.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1: The Destruction of Lahaina (Source: Phillip Cheung, 2023)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Maui wildfires of 2023 were the deadliest in recent US history<\/span> (<\/span>Fowers, 2023<\/a>). The flames that claimed over 100 lives (<\/span>Fowers, 2023<\/a>) decimated the town of Lahaina. In the face of such devastation, many of us worry about the increasing frequency of \u2018natural disasters\u2019 we are witnessing worldwide. However, the term \u2018natural\u2019 is contestable. The word suggests inevitability and that we can escape from any human responsibility. The reason this wildfire became a disaster certainly does not lie with nature. Avoiding responsibility is not an option when we consider the colonial legacies that have impacted Hawai\u2019i\u2019s adaptive capacity for decades. We must place some responsibility on the human induced factors that made Lahaina susceptible to the flames, and the fires so damaging.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 2 – The Natural Fire Cycle (Source: Open Space Authority, 2024)<\/p><\/div>\n

So why do we think of wildfires as a \u2018natural\u2019 disaster? Well, they are a natural element of a healthy ecosystem. Wildfires ignited by heat from the sun, or a lightning strike, have been burning in many different climates for hundreds of millions of years (<\/span>National Geographic Society, 2023<\/a>). In fact, wildfires are essential to some plant species for survival and propagation (<\/span>CAL FIRE, 2023<\/a>). They are also very effective at managing the spread of disease and allow for habitat regeneration by clearing forest floors of debris<\/span> (National Geographic Society, 2023<\/a>). In their natural occurrence, if a wildfire avoids human settlement in its path it is not considered a disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Environmental Factors<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Disasters require exposure. Without exposure to the buildings in Lahaina, the wildfire could have been non-disastrous. Additionally, the fires were likely ignited by a fallen power line and high winds from Hurricane Dora which passed along its coast (<\/span>Anguiano, 2023<\/a>). The ignition of the fires as a result of failed human infrastructure and its exposure to the town of Lahaina are elements of the disaster to which we cannot give nature the blame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another way to dispel this \u2018natural\u2019 myth is to make the connection with climate change. The number of hectares burnt by wildfires globally increased by 3 million between 2001 and 2023 (MacCarthy, J. et al., 2023<\/a>). This is as a result of global warming (<\/span>C2ES, no date<\/a>). Climate change is not natural. It is a product of increased global carbon emissions and has meant that wildfires in Hawai\u2019i have become much more common (<\/span>Yousif, 2023<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Table 1 – Climate Change and Wildfires (Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, 2022)<\/p><\/div>\n

Aside from considering the wider cause and exposure that created the disaster, we must understand why Lahaina was so vulnerable and burnt so devastatingly quickly. Many other communities have developed resilience to their wildfire risk such as Cape Town (<\/span>C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, 2021<\/a>) and indigenous communities like Sebyan-Kyuyol in Russia (<\/span>Villaverde Canosa et al., 2024<\/a>). These communities work with the natural necessity of fires to mitigate their risks (<\/span>Villaverde Canosa et al., 2024<\/a>). What then has limited Hawai\u2019i\u2019s adaptive capacity to creating resilience?<\/span><\/p>\n

Colonialism<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Hawai\u2019i was annexed by the USA in 1898. Annexation is arguably synonymous with colonialism as it constitutes the forcible control by a foreign power (<\/span>Cambridge Dictionary, 2023<\/a>). Since 1898 there have been many colonialist endeavours on the Hawai\u2019ian islands, principally the reform of their agricultural systems (<\/span>Goldberg-Hiller and Silva, 2015<\/a>). Prior to colonisation, Hawai\u2019i had higher biodiversity and many wetland areas (<\/span>Bonilla, 2023<\/a>). Colonial settlers created pineapple and sugar monocrop plantations and introduced non-native species (<\/span>Miller, 2023<\/a>). There is now little wetland (<\/span>Van Rees and Michael Reed, 2014<\/a>) as their waters were diverted to support these plantations (<\/span>Miller, 2023<\/a>). This is evident in Lahaina, which was overpopulated with non-native, flammable, dry grasses that fuelled the flames (<\/span>Anderson, 2023<\/a>). If the 2023 wildfires had occurred in Hawai\u2019i pre-colonisation, it would not have been the same disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Socio-Economic Factors<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Economic vulnerabilities should also be taken into account. Hawai\u2019i has the highest average housing prices of any state in the USA (<\/span>UHERO, 2023<\/a>) and ranks 13th<\/sup> in US state population density (World Population Review, 2024<\/a>). Colonialist legacies again echo here, as post annexation saw mass migration of non-natives to the islands (<\/span>Gessler, 1942<\/a>). This is imperative to consider as research has shown that the proximity of buildings played a big role in the spread of the fire (<\/span>Juliano et al., 2024<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Table 2 \u2013 Median Home Value Across States (Source: UHERO, 2023)<\/p><\/div>\n

During the immediate response phase of the disaster, there were many shortfalls that increased Lahaina\u2019s vulnerability to the flames. The Western Maui Community Wildfire Protection Plan (<\/span>Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, 2014<\/a>) had not been updated since 2014, despite the occurrence of other major hazards, such as Hurricane Lane in 2018, that warranted increased preparation for wildfires (<\/span>Honore, 2023<\/a>). The only evacuation map available on the Maui County website was for tsunamis, which instructed evacuees to head for the foothills (<\/span>Lin et al., 2023<\/a>). This introduced a major potential risk, as that was the direction in which the fires were quickly spreading (<\/span>Juliano et al., 2024<\/a>). Hawai\u2019i has a huge siren system, which was originally installed for tsunamis. The decision not to use the system on the night of August 8th<\/sup>, also stemmed from fear that people would head for the foothills (<\/span>Gegan, 2023<\/a>). This was a critical flaw in Hawai\u2019i\u2019s preparedness, and a contributing factor to the worsening of the disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 3 – Tsunami Evacuation Map Lahaina (Source: Pacific Disaster Centre, no date)<\/p><\/div>\n

The commodification of Hawai\u2019i after its annexation created an economy heavily reliant on tourism (<\/span>Zhou et al., 1997<\/a>). This had huge implications in the recovery phase. With businesses burnt to the ground, and the immediate decrease in tourism, Maui\u2019s resilience has been heavily challenged. Reports show that the number of people that applied for unemployment jumped from 130 to 4444 the week after the fire (<\/span>Dobbyn, 2023<\/a>). A public health study by UHERO showed that 74% of participants had a decrease in their household income following the fire, and that 24% do not have access to steady medical care (<\/span>UHERO, 2024<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

So next time you see a disaster unfolding, pause. Rather than alleviating responsibility from ourselves by calling it \u2018natural\u2019, we must question how it has become a disaster. If a fire had broken out in Hawai\u2019i away from a densely populated coastal town, if climate change and colonialism had not shaped a dry, monoculture environment, and if the community of Lahaina had been able to diversify from tourism and to mitigate their potential wildfire risk, would there have been a disaster at all?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

References <\/strong><\/p>\n

Anderson, C. (2023). \u2018Colonialism fueled the flame: Causes of the Maui Wildfires\u2019, The Guilfordian, <\/em>25th<\/sup> September [Online]. Available at: https:\/\/www.guilfordian.com\/worldnation\/2023\/09\/25\/colonialism-fueled-the-flame-causes-of-the-maui-wildfire\/<\/a> (Accessed: 07\/01\/2024).<\/p>\n

Anguiano, D. (2023). Hawaii wildfires: how did the deadly Maui fire start and what caused it?, The Guardian, <\/em>11 August [Online]. Available at: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/aug\/09\/hawaii-wildfires-maui-explainer<\/a> (Accessed 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Bonilla, Y. (2023). \u2018A Legacy of Colonialism Set the Stage for the Maui Wildfires\u2019, The New York Times, <\/em>27th<\/sup> August [Online]. Available at: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/27\/opinion\/maui-wildfire-colonialism.html<\/a> (Accessed: 07\/01\/2024).<\/p>\n

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, C40 Knowledge Hub (2021). How to protect urban lives, health and property from wildfire. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.c40knowledgehub.org\/s\/article\/How-to-protect-urban-lives-health-and-property-from-wildfire?language=en_US<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) (2023). Benefits of Fire. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.fire.ca.gov\/what-we-do\/-\/media\/calfire-website\/about\/communications\/benifitsoffire.pdf<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Cambridge Dictionary (2023). Annexation. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/annexation<\/a> (Accessed: 06\/01\/2024).<\/p>\n

Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) (no date). Wildfires and Climate Change<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/www.c2es.org\/content\/wildfires-and-climate-change\/<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Cheung, P. (2023). Image of the Destruction in Lahaina <\/em>[Figure 1]. Available at: https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/11\/us\/lahaina-fire.html<\/a> (Accessed: 21\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Dobbyn, P. (2023). Economic Shocks From Wildfires Reverberate Across Maui<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2023\/08\/economic-shocks-from-wildfires-reverberate-across-maui\/<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Fowers, A. (2023). How the Maui fires compare with some of the deadliest U.S. wildfires. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2023\/08\/11\/maui-fire-death-toll-compared-us-wildfires\/<\/a> (Accessed: 06\/01\/2024).<\/p>\n

Gegan, C. (2023). Maui Official Defends Not Activating Sirens During Fires. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.theinertia.com\/news\/maui-official-defends-not-activating-sirens-during-fires\/<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Gessler, C. (1942). \u2018Hawaii in a Shaken World\u2019, Essentials of Victory in the Far East, <\/em>2(3), pp.264-267. Available at: https:\/\/heinonline.org\/HOL\/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals\/freewrld2&id=270&men_tab=srchresults<\/a> (Accessed: 06\/01\/2024).<\/p>\n

Goldberg-Hiller, J. and Silva, N.K. (2015). \u2018The Botany of Emergence: Kanaka Ontology and Biocolonialism in Hawai\u2019i\u2019, Native American and Indigenous Studies, <\/em>2(2), pp.1-26. DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5749\/natiindistudj.2.2.0001<\/a><\/p>\n

Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (2014). Western Maui Community Wildfire Protection Plan<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/dlnr.hawaii.gov\/forestry\/files\/2024\/01\/Western-Maui-CWPP.pdf<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Honore, M. (2023). Maui\u2019s Top Emergency Officials Were Off Island As Wildfires Hit Lahaina<\/em>. Available at: https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2023\/08\/mauis-top-emergency-officials-were-off-island-as-wildfires-hit-lahaina\/<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Juliano, T. et al., (2024). \u2018Brief communication: The Lahaina Fire disaster \u2013 how models can be used to understand and predict wildfires\u2019, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, <\/em>24(1), pp.47-52. DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5194\/nhess-24-47-2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Lin, S. et al., (2023). \u2018Heaven on Earth\u2019 turned deadly: Fire exposes Maui\u2019s shocking lack of preparation, Los Angeles Times, <\/em>18 August [Online] Available at: https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2023-08-18\/maui-fire-exposes-islands-shocking-lack-of-preparation<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

MacCarthy, J. et al., (2023). The Latest Data Confirms: Forest Fires Are Getting Worse. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.wri.org\/insights\/global-trends-forest-fires<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Miller, N.B. (2023). \u2018Plantation Colonialism in Late Nineteenth-Century Hawai\u2019i: The Case of Chinese Sugar Planters\u2019, Global Plantations in the Modern World, <\/em>pp.177-213. DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-08537-6_8<\/a><\/p>\n

National Geographic Society (2023). Wildfires.<\/em> Available at: https:\/\/education.nationalgeographic.org\/resource\/wildfires\/<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Open Space Authority (2024). Natural Fire Cycle <\/em>[Figure 2]. Available at: https:\/\/www.openspaceauthority.org\/our-work\/land-stewardship\/wildfire-prevention.html<\/a> (Accessed: 21\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Pacific Disaster Centre (no date). Tsunami Evacuation Maui Map 5: Launiupoko Beach Park to Lahaina to Wahikuli Beach Park <\/em>[Figure 3]. Available at: https:\/\/static.pdc.org\/tsunami\/index.html<\/a> (Accessed: 21\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

UHERO (2023). Median Home Value Across States <\/em>[Table 2]. Available at: https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/TheHawaiiHousingFactbook.pdf<\/a> (Accessed: 21\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

UHERO (2023). The Hawai\u2018i Housing Factbook. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/TheHawaiiHousingFactbook.pdf<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

UHERO (2024). Initial Findings from the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study. <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/InitialFindingsFromTheMauiWildfireExposureStudy.pdf<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Union of Concerned Scientists (2022). Climate change is a major driver behind the growth of western forest fires <\/em>[Table 1]. Available at: https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/resources\/infographic-wildfires-and-climate-change<\/a> (Accessed: 21\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Van Rees, C. and Michael Reed, J. (2014). \u2018Wetland Loss in Hawai\u2019i Since Human Settlement\u2019, Wetlands, <\/em>34(2). DOI: 10.1007\/s13157-013-0501-2<\/p>\n

Villaverde Canosa, I. et al., (2024). \u2018Community Risk and Resilience to Wildfires: Rethinking the Complex Human\u2013Climate\u2013Fire Relationship in High-Latitude Regions\u2019, Sustainability, <\/em>16(3). DOI: http:\/\/dx.doi.org.manchester.idm.oclc.org\/10.3390\/su16030957<\/a><\/p>\n

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Yousif, N. (2023). What caused the Hawaii wildfires? <\/em>Available at: https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-66470118<\/a> (Accessed: 20\/03\/2024).<\/p>\n

Zhou, D. et al., (1997). \u2018Estimating economic impacts from tourism\u2019, Annals of Tourism Research, <\/em>24(1), pp.76-89. DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/S0160-7383(96)00035-7<\/a><\/p>\n

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END<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was written by Lily Maiden, an undergraduate student at the Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), as part of the module ‘Introduction to Disaster Management’ (HCRI11032). It was selected for publication due to the quality of writing and analysis.   The Maui wildfires of 2023 were the deadliest in recent US history (Fowers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6208,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[228,27,210,92,229,230],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-blogs","tag-disaster","tag-hcri","tag-humanitarian","tag-manchester","tag-maui","tag-wildfire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3208,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/hcri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}