Herman Andaya, chief of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, is coming under increasing scrutiny for his response to the Maui wildfires.
“Local news site Maui Now reported in 2017 that he was hired over 40 other qualified applicants,” according to the network.
He argued that the sirens are generally used to warn the public of tsunamis or approaching storms and would “not have saved those people.” “So that is the reason why; it is our protocol to use WEA [Wireless Emergency Alerts] and EAS [the Emergency Alert System],” he said, referring to text alerts sent to cell phones and alerts sent via television and radio.County of Maui / Facebook
He also revealed during the press conference that he was not even on the island on the day the fires began. He was in Oahu, attending a three-day Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster preparedness seminar, Hawaii News Now reported.
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