Destruction of Lahaina

As bad as the wipeout of Paradise in CA in the last bout of fires there.

Lahaina was an old and beautiful place with parts of the harbor area dating to the early 1800s.

My wife and I spent part of our honeymoon there in '88.

Sorry. Missed that Daniel already posted about this.

36 deaths now; Front Street definitely burned to the ground.

Wow.

Thanks for the update, PD.

Yes, I know it's Fox, but this says 1,000 people missing.

https://youtu.be/_piyLBPnVPo

In most disasters, the bulk of the missing show up. But the confirmed fatalities here have already exceeded those of the Camp Paradise fire in California a few years back. Not a record you want to see broken.

I read an article about how to survive a wildfire. Probably not a big issue for me, but LS lives in Vermont, which has trees.

They said you shouldn't try to ride out a fire in a swimming pool. The lack of oxygen will cause you to pass out and drown. Also not great is any body of water in which you would need to tread water for hours.

They said if you really can't escape, next best thing is a huge parking lot. Some people survived the campfire fire by huddling in the middle of a Big Box Store parking lot.

I wonder if trying to ride a bike out would be better than car. It seems a lot of people get trapped in cars stuck in traffic.

i received wildland firefighter training for a mag assignment years ago. we were taught that if you can't escape a fire rushing towards you, to light a "back burn" and then go into it after it extinguishes and deploy your fireproof tent so you don't breathe the smoke. You have to get down on the ground and breathe the air next to the ground. I suspect this would not work well in a parking lot, but hell, if that's all you've got, I'm sure it's better than nothing.

the fireproof tents are a light foil, kind of like a space blanket. i've heard that firefighters have been found dead inside them so they aren't a perfect solution either.
once you are in a non-flammable area (called defensible space in firefighter lingo) the most important thing is to not inhale the smoke .

quote:

wonder if trying to ride a bike out would be better than car. It seems a lot of people get trapped in cars stuck in traffic.

no. exertion will pull smoke into your lungs.

Taught to hate tourists

Residents may kneecap themselves.

More than 1,300 missing.

https://youtu.be/acNRX80azMo

This must be a very tough time for you, Daniel.

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

quote:

wonder if trying to ride a bike out would be better than car. It seems a lot of people get trapped in cars stuck in traffic.

no. exertion will pull smoke into your lungs.

I dunno. Trying to outrun a wildfire will also pull smoke into your lungs.

Maybe part of a response plan needs to be that people have to be conditioned to carpool with neighbors. And strangers.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
This must be a very tough time for you, Daniel.

Thanks, wtg. It's kind of unreal.

People were vaporized in this fire.

It wiped out the town from the north end (where down, live power lines were the ignition source) to the ocean in seventeen minutes.

The burned out cars on Front Street were full of people. The cars exploded like bombs.

I saw there are already vultures trying to buy up burned properties en masse. Beyond shameful.