{"id":9600,"date":"2023-08-16T00:21:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T00:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/applying-lessons-from-wildfires-to-maui-and-other-crises\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T00:21:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T00:21:30","slug":"applying-lessons-from-wildfires-to-maui-and-other-crises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=9600","title":{"rendered":"Applying Lessons From Wildfires To Maui And Other Crises"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A crisis management best practice is to find ways to improve and strengthen responses to a disaster or emergency by learning from other crisis situations. It\u2019s essential, of course, to choose appropriate and relevant examples and carefully weigh their similarities\u2014and differences.<\/p>\n

The California Camp Fire in 2018 (also known as the Paradise fire) and the Lahaina wildfires on Maui last week are worth comparing for what they tell us about managing future crises.<\/p>\n

Similarities<\/h2>\n

Clifford Oliver is a retired former assistant administrator of FEMA and is now the principal at Nanticoke Global Strategies. He said via email that the similarities include:<\/p>\n

Location<\/h3>\n

They \u201cwere both in remote areas, bringing in additional firefighting resources took time\u2026firefighters were forced to abandon their firefighting efforts once structures in more densely populated areas started to burn.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Damage<\/h3>\n

\u201cA high percentage of the buildings in each town were consumed by the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuel<\/h3>\n

\u201cAs the fires approached the towns and started to burn structures, those structures became fuel and ember sources that fed the spread and speed of the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evacuation Issues<\/h3>\n

\u201cMany died in their cars when they were trapped by the flames while trying to escape the approaching fire. In both cases, there were limited evacuation routes that became clogged with traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Topography<\/h3>\n

Andrea Davis, an emergency management expert, said via email that \u201cFrom the initial onset of the fire, the speed of the winds and Maui\u2019s topography made it challenging for first responders to not only respond quickly but to access impacted areas posing significant challenges to get the fire under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speed And Intensity<\/h3>\n

Like the Camp Fire, the speed and intensity of the wildfires on Maui, \u201cdidn\u2019t allow for any notification to residents in the impacted area, leaving individuals with limited ability to evacuate safely,\u201d Davis observed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith no emergency notifications, impacted individuals were unaware of the dangers and the speed of the fire until it was too late to respond in a safe way. Most individuals had to quickly evacuate any way they could, leaving behind all belongings,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Differences<\/h2>\n

Oliver pointed out that there are major differences between the two headline-making fire disasters.<\/p>\n

Land Shape<\/h3>\n