By Peter Boylan
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HONOLULU — The lone vendor selected to perform an after-action report of the Maui Emergency Management Agency’s response to the fatal Aug. 8 fires that killed 102 people and destroyed the heart of historic Lahaina town is non-compliant with state policies and unable to perform the work.
“All potential vendors were evaluated for the contract on May 18. At the conclusion of that evaluation, a vendor was selected, however, it was identified that they were non-compliant under the State of Hawaii’s Hawaii Compliance Express system, which is required for all vendors that do business with the state or count, ” the county said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The county provided a “notice of non-compliance to the selected vendor on May 28, ” and the unidentified vendor provided proof of compliance with Hawaii Compliance Express on June 17.
The vendor received notice of selection on June 26, according to the county.
“After a recent planning meeting with the potential vendor, the vendor provided a new proposal to the County on July 10, 2024, increasing their contract over triple the original quote, and extended their timeline for completion from 90 days to 16 weeks, ” the county said in a statement. “Unfortunately, due to these unforeseen changes, MEMA ( Maui Emergency Management Agency ) will have to revisit the other potential applicants for a new selection of vendor.”
“We are incredibly disappointed by the setback of having to select another vendor to complete MEMA’s AAR (after-action report ), but anticipate seeking the next best-qualified vendor as soon as possible, ” said MEMA Administrator Lono-Kailua-Hewett.
MEMA came under heavy scrutiny in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires, with its former administrator Herman Andaya resigning on Aug. 17 under heavy criticism and international media attention after saying he did not regret the decision to not activate warning sirens during the catastrophe.
Meantime, the investigation of how and where the Aug. 8 Lahaina fires started moves methodically as federal and county fire officials review reams of evidence from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century.
The lengthy probe has frustrated some community members and slowed the thousands of legal actions aimed at determining liability and recouping damages. Agents with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives were on Maui last month to share their portion of the findings.
In August, at the request of the Maui Fire Department, the ATF’s response team that came to Lahaina to help investigate the cause and origin of the fire included one electrical engineer from the ATF Fire Research Laboratory, two certified fire investigators and a CFI candidate from the Honolulu field office, and one arson and explosives group supervisor from the Seattle Field Division.
The team employs state-of-the-art equipment and specializes in fire origin and cause determination. That group is compiling evidence gathered at the scenes in Lahaina.
The work of putting all that material together will take weeks, if not a few months, according to the ATF.
ATF agents were on the ground almost immediately after the fires.
Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety officials, who are working with their county and federal partners, maintain that the work must be done with great attention to detail to get the evidence needed to ensure fire doesn’t again destroy another community.
In response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser question about the delayed release of findings, Maui officials said in a statement they are awaiting ATF’s release of the final report and are unable to provide a timeline.
“County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety (MFD ) met with ATF the last week of June to review details of the ATF report on cause and origin, which is more than 400 pages, ” said Chief Bradford Ventura, in a statement. “ATF is still in the process of completing its report. Once ATF formats its report, the finalized report will be sent to MFD and we will add it as an appendix to the MFD cause and origin report.”
Maui Fire utilizes “ATF to assist with more complex, scientific fire analysis,” Ventura said.
“We recognize the importance of sharing this information with the public, and plan to release our cause and origin report as soon as we receive and integrate ATF’s findings, ” he said.
ATF Spokesman Jason R. Chudy said, “After a weeklong review with the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety, there was additional formatting required by ATF to complete our report. ATF is diligently working to finalize our report, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we finish this comprehensive, significant and impartial investigation.”
In addition to Maui County investigations, the state is paying at least $1.5 million to the Fire Safety Research Institute to conduct its review of the tragedy. Findings released April 17 detailing the events that day are the first phase of the probe by the state attorney general in the investigation of how the Maui wildfires were handled.
In that continuing probe, the state has issued subpoenas to the current MEMA administrator Lonokailua-Hewett; Darryl Takeda, MEMA’s community emergency response team manager; and Mahina Martin, Mayor Richard Bissen’s communications director, seeking information about lessons learned from an August 2018 wildfire fueled by 70 mph gusts from Hurricane Lane, which burned 2, 000 acres in Lahaina and destroyed 21 structures, most of them homes.
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