Biden: "I appointed Bob Fenn, one of the nation’s leading emergency managers — who’s been on the ground in Hawaii since before the fires erupted as our chief federal response coordinator to lead our long-term recovery on Maui." Bob Fenn attended a FEMA disaster training conference on Oahu. FEMA put on a statewide disaster training conference in Oahu that started 2 days before the Maui fire. The head of Maui Emergency Management Agency — Herman Andaya — was Pacific Partnership Meeting in Waikiki, along with as many as six state emergency management leaders, including Director Kenneth Hara, administrator James Barros and executive officer Don Aweau. The Pacific Partnership Meeting 2023 took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, from August 8-10.
According to documents, Andaya was in Waikiki at the Alohilani Resort attending what was scheduled to be a three-day FEMA disaster preparedness seminar called the Pacific Partnership Meeting. A receipt from the hotel shows Andaya checked in last Monday, a day before the fire started. That same receipt lists a departure date of Aug. 9, the day after the Lahaina blaze. According to the Pacific Partnership Agenda, the FEMA conference began Tuesday at 7:30 AM —after fires in Kula and Lahaina sparked. Officials from other counties confirmed seminars went on as scheduled that day. According to Tuesday’s agenda, the day wrapped up with a networking reception at the hotel’s Longboard Club from 5 PM to 7 PM. That’s the same time that Lahaina was being engulfed in flames.
Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, HIEMA’s director, said in an interview with HNN that no one told him anyone had died until the morning after Lahaina town was reduced to ash. “It wasn’t until probably the next day I started hearing about fatalities.” The Pacific Partnership Meeting 2023 took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, from August 8th to 10th. The event wrapped up with engaging discussions on Mutual Aid and productive Plenary office hours. These sessions provided federal partners and territories with exclusive opportunities to delve into topics such as Logistics and Supply Chain Management, along with inquiries about related grants.
HIEMA is famous for issuing a warning of an incoming ballistic missile on The January 13, 2018. HIEMA erroneously activated a statewide Civil Danger Warning (CDW) announcing a ballistic missile alert. The message was relayed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) that automatically distributed the message through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) to cellular phones and through the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to radio and television stations. Thirty-eight minutes later, HIEMA sent a second message via WEA and EAS to say the first message was false. The time delay caused the public to be confused, panicked, and angered.
