Stories have previously catalogued the series of factors that made the Hawaii wildfires so devastating: dry conditions, high winds from a hurricane, low humidity, invasive species, etc. Now the New York Times adds another, a basic one summed up in the words of a firefighter in Lahaina: "There was just no water in the hydrants." The story recounts how time and time again, firefighters would tap into a hydrant only to find it dry or producing a stream of water so weak it was useless. As a result, they were often powerless to stop the fast-approaching flames and had to focus on evacuating people rather than firefighting.
Lahaina's water comes from underground wells and surface water from a creek, though drought conditions and a boom in population had been causing problems of late. Two real-time factors in play: As flames destroyed houses, they melted water pipes, resulting in depressurization of the entire water network. And power outages complicated things because water is moved by well pumps. All of the above will be assessed as the island of Maui and the entire state of Hawaii figure out improvements.
In the meantime, the death toll was at 93 on Monday morning, per Hawaii News Now. However, the process of searching for remains in burned-out houses is slow-going. Roughly 1,000 people remain unaccounted for, though it's possible many were able to escape and have not checked in with agencies. Either way, "it will certainly be the worst natural disaster Hawaii has ever faced," says Gov. Josh Green. The fire already is the deadliest in the US in more than a century. The worst in history occurred in 1871 in Wisconsin, when 1,152 people died, per the National Fire Protection Association. (More Hawaii wildfires stories.)
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