Current Events > Hawaii state official refused to release water to fight fires

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.newsweek.com/who-kaleo-manuel-hawaii-official-delayed-water-release-maui-fire-1820405

West Maui Land Co. manages three of West Maui's water providers. As the fire was ravaging the island, the company said that firefighters had used what little water they had in their reservoirs and tanks, so they asked the CWRM to divert water from streams to enable them to "store as much water as possible for fire control."

But instead of approving the request, the commissionaccording to the letter sent by the company to Manuelhad asked them if the Maui Fire Department (MFD) had requested permission to dip into the reservoirs and told them to inquire with a local farmer first to check how a diversion of the water supply would affect him.
The company said "communications were spotty" and the commission's approval to divert water from the streams came too late, some five hours after their first request.

I get respecting the cultural traditions of the natives but it seems like Hawaii gave a guy a veto on the usage of water that thinks the water is sacred and has a knee jerk reaction of denying the use of water ever for things like fighting fires.

Atralis posted...

https://www.newsweek.com/who-kaleo-manuel-hawaii-official-delayed-water-release-maui-fire-1820405

West Maui Land Co. manages three of West Maui's water providers. As the fire was ravaging the island, the company said that firefighters had used what little water they had in their reservoirs and tanks, so they asked the CWRM to divert water from streams to enable them to "store as much water as possible for fire control."

But instead of approving the request, the commissionaccording to the letter sent by the company to Manuelhad asked them if the Maui Fire Department (MFD) had requested permission to dip into the reservoirs and told them to inquire with a local farmer first to check how a diversion of the water supply would affect him.
The company said "communications were spotty" and the commission's approval to divert water from the streams came too late, some five hours after their first request.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPkL7pib6Y0

I get respecting the cultural traditions of the natives but it seems like Hawaii gave a guy a veto on the usage of water that thinks the water is sacred and has a knee jerk reaction of denying the use of water ever for things like fighting fires.

Like all water or inland water?

Atralis posted...

The company said "communications were spotty" and the commission's approval to divert water from the streams came too late, some five hours after their first request.

Honestly sounds more along the lines of couldn't reach the guy because he was fucking running away from some local disaster affecting a good number of people.

Oh yeah, the fire.

Arrest that guy

Requiem posted...

Honestly sounds more along the lines of couldn't reach the guy because he was fucking running away from some local disaster affecting a good number of people.

Oh yeah, the fire.

He doesn't live on that island. He is a state official that is based out of Oahu.

This guy is asking for a compensated seizing.

The local farmer that they had to get permission from?

Lock him up!

This is what eminent domain is for.

Requiem posted...

The local farmer that they had to get permission from?

Maybe. Anyone who denied water

Honestly I feel like a new law should make it so that firefighters can take whatever water they need in situations like this, with no permission needed. And maybe criminal charges on anyone who tries to stop them

From further along in the newsweek article the Governor of Hawaii says-

"One thing that people need to understand, especially those from far away, is that there's been a great deal of water conflict on Maui for many years," Green said during a press conference on Monday. "It's important that we're honest about this. People have been fighting against the release of water to fight fires. I'll leave that to you to explore."

He added: "We have a difficult time on Maui and other rural areas getting enough water for houses, for our people, for any response. But it's important we start being honest. There are currently people still fighting in our state giving us water access to fight and prepare for fires even as more storms arise."

That is a pretty stinging indictment.

wooo, bureaucracy.

Is salt water ineffective at putting out fire, or was there bullshit bureaucrats in the way of that too?

Zikten posted...

Maybe. Anyone who denied water

Honestly I feel like a new law should make it so that firefighters can take whatever water they need in situations like this, with no permission needed. And maybe criminal charges on anyone who tries to stop them

I think its also clear that the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources should be, at least temporarily, removed from the chain of determining when local utilities are allowed to release water. This was a massive failure partly caused by someone in Oahu's permission being required to use water for firefighting on Maui.

Theres nothing that tiny bit of water that that man had wouldve done anything to stop those fires.

that was a fire storm. Ive literally lived through three of them and had to evacuate from fires five different times; a water hose from a fire truck in a fire that big is like pissing in the wind.

Questionmarktarius posted...

wooo, bureaucracy.

Is salt water ineffective at putting out fire, or was there bullshit bureaucrats in the way of that too?

Salt water would cause some pretty heinous long term damage. Small amounts of salt are enough to kill plants and there's a lot of it in the ocean.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Salt water would cause some pretty heinous long term damage.

...as opposed to fire?

Questionmarktarius posted...

...as opposed to fire?

Oh yes. Fire is good for the soil.

This Youtube channel is a far right clickbait channel that seems to be focused on culture war issue such as grooming and cheering on insane people at school board meetings. The comments are all calling for death and arrest or promoting conspiracy theories.

We may not be getting an accurate story here and people may be desperately searching for a villain or using this as a weapon against people they were already in conflict with.

legendary_zell posted...

This Youtube channel is a far right clickbait channel that seems to be focused on culture war issue such as grooming and cheering on insane people at school board meetings. The comments are all calling for death and arrest or promoting conspiracy theories.

We may not be getting an accurate story here and people may be desperately searching for a villain or using this as a weapon against people they were already in conflict with.

Didn't realize that about the youtube channel, removed it from the opening post.

The Newsweek article though is valid and the actual contents of the video were just the guy speaking about his views on his position within the Hawaii state government without commentary.