‘This Is a Crime Scene’: Maui Local Tells CNN That Criticism of the Federal Response to Wildfires Is Unfair

The death toll from the wildfires in Maui climbed to an official count of 96 over the weeked and as the Hawaiian community begins to recover and rebuild, there is a close eye on the federal government’s response. So far, much of the hardest work has been taken on by grassroots and local efforts. But one Maui local told CNN that criticizing the federal government isn’t fair because the site of the wildfires is “a crime scene.”

While it looks bad when federal agencies don’t immediately swoop in and take over — FEMA, for example, is the subject of a lot of criticism — Archie Kalepa, a fixture in the Maui community said it’s not neglect on their part. It’s more complicated than that. As he told CNN’s Bill Weir, the federal government needs to do its “due diligence” before arriving on the scene:

Weir: Let me ask you about the immediate response right now. There’s a perception, as we’ve been outside of the perimeter, that there’s no federal or real official state response, and most of the work on the front lines is being done by people like you, grassroots, just improvised first responders. Is that fair? What’s really happening? What do you need?

Kalepa: I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s fair because this is a crime scene. This right here is a crime scene. And so what people don’t understand is the government has to do due diligence before they start moving in. So, they’re at 30,000 feet. They’re looking, evaluating about how they need to come in to begin to facilitate this operation. At the same time, they have to figure out how to take care of this operation. And so, you know, that is not easy.

Weir: So it’s a humanitarian response in the middle of a working crime scene.

Kalepa: Exactly. The truth of the matter is, when you look at the overall, there is devastation. We are not going to be ready to allow people to see what we’re living through in six months.

In addition to the due diligence described by Kalepa, Eileen Sullivan’s New York Times article that puts the spotlight on FEMA points out that a response to any natural disaster on Hawaii’s remote islands presents not just bureaucratic challenges but logistical ones:

… Peter Gaynor, a former FEMA administrator who served during the Trump administration, said the agency’s response at this point is where it should be, particularly because Hawaii is so far away from the continental United States. FEMA’s role, Mr. Gaynor said, is to support state and local responders, not to be the first on the scene.

“I can understand why people don’t see FEMA right away,” Mr. Gaynor said, “but that doesn’t mean that they’re not there.”

Responding to disasters in Hawaii and other United States territories in the Pacific has always been a challenge for the agency. A nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii takes about five hours. And sending supplies and equipment by ship takes days.

“Getting anything, even on a good day, to one of these places is a challenge,” Mr. Gaynor said.

Watch the video above via CNN.