And of course most people would rather pay $10K for a backup gas generator than a multiple of that amount for battery backup that won’t even last through a multi-day outage (and only lasts a few years if you have frequent charge/discharge cycles, or if you keep it fully charged in preparation for random power outages, let alone trying to go off-grid completely).
Our neighbors bought solar with a Powerwall before the pandemic. They still ended up adding a gas generator last year for those reasons.
Yet congress has cut spending again and again. Rate hikes are denied because the consumer doesn’t want to pay for the expenditures needed to upgrade the grid.
The power company will do what the regulators wants. That costs money. Which is passed onto the customer. The customers don’t want to pay more. So regulators don’t vote rate hikes to fix the equipment.
The power company is happy to trim trees. People fight and complain. Do that trimming but not on my yard. I like my trees. But again it costs money, which the power company has to pass onto its customers. That’s how it works.
It’s the same thing with our roads and bridges. No one likes to fix anything, pay anymore. Until it breaks and becomes an emergency. Then it’s outcries, why didn’t we fix that!
Saying all that, I am very very sorry and devastated by the loss of life and property in Hawaii.
More and more info that is slowly coming out includes info that the hydrants are connected to main water system. When the pipes in buildings melted due to intense fires, water leaked out so no water pressure for hydrants so they didn’t have much water to contribute to battling intense blaze.
These days nearly all pipes are PVC, with relatively low melting temp.
Sounds like additionally, the hydrants DID need electricity, which of course failed as poles and power lines were knocked down by high winds. I don’t know how the power company could turn off power if the hydrants needed water—maybe have hydrants have dedicated protected line or independent power source? Lots of issues to unpack!
Thanks for the updates. Are you on Oahu? Is it the same system for all of the islands? So, problems on Maui need to be addressed on the other islands as well?
Yes, I live on Oahu and have no idea how our hydrants work. We’ve never had the type of fire that Maui did. We do get summer brush fires, mainly away from where people live. Hopefully the investigation will be thorough and come up with recommendations that will be promptly implemented.
Was just reading that a developer was putting up overhead power lines in a new subdivision on Oahu… where the initial promise was to have the lines underground.
We have overhead power lines all over Southern California. After the Thomas fire power outages have been the only remedy. We were told shutting off the power was a temporary solution until lines could be upgraded, but that’s never happened.
“Officials believe that emergency sirens on Maui were “essentially immobilized” by the extreme heat of the wildfires that ripped through the island, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Monday.
“Now, typically we use sirens here for hurricanes and or tsunamis, but we are assessing that,” Green told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
The governor said it is going to take time to figure out what happened and that he asked those investigating to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NASA in their assessment.
“So, we will get a lot of data. Data not just for the people of Hawaii but for the world,” he said.
Blitzer asked about power lines that were reportedly not shut off when the fire broke out, warning sirens that were not sounded and fire hydrants that ran dry. ”
Unbelievable. Maui was allowed to burn down so the rest of the world can get data? Excuse my Esperanto but this is
I’m hoping that the homeowners will not be desperate enough to sell their land because they can’t afford to rebuild. The insurers wont be giving these people anywhere near what they will need to rebuild. I don’t want to see developers buy up the land and build hotels and wipe out the spirit of the people of Lahaina.
I received a text yesterday from a woman I met on Big island in November. My husband and I spoke with them for hours at a Luau. The men commiserated over our sports teams. I spoke with the woman and her daughter (my daughter’s age).
They told me that they had family in Kula (on the road up to Haleakala volcano) that they were going to visit Maui after leaving Big Island. I told her that we had family in Kihei and were also on our way back to Maui. I said that my sister worked with the SBA. She told me that her family had a small restaurant business.
She texted me (yesterday from L.A.) because her family, in Kula, was not getting any information about any resources. Some parts of the island just got wireless services yesterday.
I gave her my sister’s number to call or text (better to text) for her family in Kula (upcountry).
My sister informed me that the family did contact her, and she is helping them, as well as some of their neighbors with local information on gas/ food stores/resources that are open and how to begin recovery for their business. Also they are trying to send up local Kiheiguys with 4 x 4’s to use back roads to bring up supplies, if the community lets them in-the communities are cautious. Everyone is super busy helping their neighbors.
So someone we met at a Luau, in November, from L.A., had to contact me, in San Diego, to indirectly connect her family, in Kula, to my sister, in Kihei. I’m glad we were able to do that, but I can’t imagine what loops everyone else is going through to get services. It’s a very, very, very slow process for any services.
Hawaii (as I understand it) has very strict zoning laws. So turning a residential area into a commercial area with hotels would likely not be permitted without variances and that would need governmental approval.
Sad to say but they would likely get that approval thanks to the almighty dollar.
This entire situation on my beloved Maui is all consuming for me. I haven’t been able to stop reading, reaching out to our friends - finally heard from our friend, a one-man-one-boat guy who does circumnavigation of Lana’i excursions. His boat and truck are both gone. This was his only source of income for his young family. He also owns a motorcycle, and immediately has begun helping get provisions to places inaccessible. Another friend who owns the sweet shop on Front St (that sold Dole whip!) lost their shop, their home and their car. I haven’t heard more than that from them, I do hope they’re ok. It’s amazing to me how individuals who’ve lost everything but the shirts on their backs are ready, willing and able to help others.
The SD Humane Society is sending an Emergency Response Team at the request of the Maui Humane Society. They’re specifically trained in wildfires and the aftermath.
x