Wildfire in Maui
It's hot August. Fires burn north and south of Oregon's Willamette Valley. The morning sun rises blood red. Smoke filters burnt orange light through triple-digit heat waves. But Zuchini still grows. Aromatic dill and basil scents waft through the garden bordered by corn stalks and sunflowers. High temperatures are not new in August. Despite what news headlines would lead us to believe, triple-digit heat in August is not news. It's normal. But high wind events that push wildfire into an unstoppable force of nature on a tropical island?
To see our beloved island of Maui (and its people) suffer such a tragic blow was heartbreaking. Even thousands of professional firefighters on the scene cannot stop a fire when high winds fan the flames. I remember working at the Yellowstone fires of 1988. The park service employed 26,000 fire personnel to fight those fires, but with high winds in drought conditions, only September’s heavy rains extinguished them after burning over a million acres.
On Monday, 8/7, the National Weather Service issued a high wind warning through Wednesday for parts of Maui County. It even measured wind gusts over 60 mph. On Tuesday 8/8, firefighters battled three different brush fires. On Wednesday, the power and phone service outage left residents unable to communicate or receive fire updates. The last defense that could've warned people to evacuate was the county's emergency sirens, but according to one source, the sirens did not sound. For many residents, the fire's rampage was utterly unexpected. Not normal. By Saturday 8/12, Maui's death toll rose to over 90 people.
During the big Oregon fires of September 2020 (fueled by high winds), I know of a couple who evacuated from their home in the small, forested town of Detroit. They returned to find their home burned to ashes and rubble. They sold their lot and moved to Maui to get away from devastating forest fires.
Wildfires burn anywhere given dry enough conditions. If a fire burns near me, I'll be listening (maybe on my battery powered emergency radio) for those 3 words that stir a sense of dread: High Wind Advisory!
Depending on wind speeds and direction, I’d pack a bag and hit the highway, which is what I hope we all would do.
If you want to help Maui residents whose homes were destroyed by the wildfire, here’s a suggestion:
Song that reminds me of Maui
