Upcountry council member praises organization in command and evacuation plan for Crater Road fire

Maui Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura, who represents the Upcountry area says the anxiety for residents near the Haleakalā Crater Road fire is heightened due to their prior experience with the destructive wildfires in 2023 that impacted both Lahaina and Kula, Maui.

“I’ve been saying that my residents who were fire impacted are going through PTSD,” said Sugimura. “The 2023 fire was right in our community and it came through with 80 mph winds and affected a lot of the residents. So residents are reacting to their experience from the 2023 fire.”

When comparing response between 2023 and the current Crater Road fire, Sugimura said she feels positive about the experience that Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Amos Lonokailua-Hewett brings to the table.

As part of the response since Wednesday, emergency managers created a grid with nine zones containing a total of 5,500 structures that were being monitored for potential evacuations both above and below Kula Highway. Zone one, Lonokailua-Hewett said, contained 556 structures. He said the evacuation cadence was dependent on the expected impact rate, wind speeds and direction, and incident type.

“One of the critical pieces that we were monitoring all night was fire into the gulch,” said Lonokailua-Hewett during a press conference on Monday morning. “Those fires would travel directly down into the residential areas… That would have changed the cadence as well.”

He said it was critical for emergency managers to be in constant command and communication to confirm direction and potential impacts for the area.

Sugimura commented on the structure and organization in determining potential evacuations, saying, “They are doing a lot more than we ever knew a year ago.”

She said she looks forward to MEMA moving into their own building at the old Hawaiian Telecom structure in Wailuku.

“I look forward to them having their own space,” she said, noting that the current operations are based out of the basement of the County Building, which she called “cramped.”

Because of the 2023 fires, the council allocated new positions to MEMA to allow administrators the opportunity to build the department.

“There’s a lot of movement for improvement that is happening, and I think the council is ready and willing to help them in any way that the mayor or the chief needs help,” said Sugimura.