WAILUKU >> After touring fire-ravaged Lahaina with a bipartisan congressional delegation Saturday, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed back on claims that climate change contributed to the Aug. 8 disaster that killed at least 115 and destroyed more than 2,200 structures, most of them homes.
Responding to questions during an afternoon news conference in Wailuku, McCarthy said it was more important to examine the circumstances that allowed the wildfire to rage out of control, such as unmanaged grasslands that fueled the flames, West Maui’s electrical infrastructure, building codes and methods that allowed some structures to survive and others to burn, and whether Maui has adequate firefighting resources, especially when called on to respond to multiple incidents, as was the case Aug. 8 when fires also broke out in the Upcountry and Kihei areas.
“We do not know the cause of this. There are some people who talk that it was a power line. Well, the power line isn’t about a temperature change. And a power line that had trees and brushes around it in a dry year is something different. Should you really look at maybe there shouldn’t be power lines above ground?”
When asked if he believes that climate change exists, McCarthy replied: “Climate change is there, but if you’re going to blame climate change on this, I think you ought to wait until the study comes because a lot of people lost their lives who probably wouldn’t have had to if we had a different mitigation.”
The visit by the California Republican and Democrats Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawaii and Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Republican Reps. David Joyce of Ohio and Russ Fulcher of Idaho followed an announcement last week that the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is launching an investigation of the federal, state and county response to the Lahaina wildfire that caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage.
Separately, three Republican members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric, the state Public Utilities Commission and the Hawaii State Energy Office asking questions about their actions to mitigate known fire risks in West Maui prior to Aug. 8.
During their Maui visit, the lawmakers viewed the ruins of Lahaina from the air and from the ground, and also met with fire victims, first responders and those working with relief and recovery agencies. The delegation also conferred with Gov. Josh Green and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, neither of whom attended the news conference.
All four visiting congressmen said they were deeply moved by what they had seen and vowed ongoing federal support to fire victims and the long rebuilding process.
“As as former director of emergency management for the state of Florida, I’ve seen a lot of devastation,” Moskowitz said. “But I gotta be honest, today was overwhelming — to see how this all happened and how fast it happened. And so for the families who lost loved ones, it’s going to be a very hard journey. You don’t move on, you move forward, and our hearts are with you. And for those who lost everything, rebuilding is going to take some time but you have the full faith of the federal government here.”
Joyce chairs of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security with oversight and funding responsibility for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. He pledged that federal resources would be targeted to meet the needs of those affected by the wildfire.
“You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel it as you walked around on the streets today,” Joyce said, describing his reaction to seeing the destruction firsthand.
Idaho is no stranger to wildfires, Fulcher noted, the difference being that most of the time they burn in remote areas amid large timber stands.
“So walking through, going over today the area of Lahaina, just first impression, I have not seen melted glass before … there were streams of molten metal on the ground and I didn’t know what that was until someone made the connection that’s actually the aluminum block of a motor, and the heat was so hot that it actually melted the aluminum block of a motor.
“And so when we talk about our human brothers and sisters, some of those unaccounted for yet, it kind of connected that realization that maybe there’s nothing left to identify.”
While addressing those suffering from personal losses, Fulcher said, “the other part of our mission is to try to understand exactly what happened and try to communicate methods, try to underscore and learn from that so that we can do our best to try and make sure something like this never happens again.”
McCarthy, who has visited Maui many times with his family, said he’s seen a number of major wildfires with some similarities but called the Lahaina blaze “sheer devastation.”
The House speaker also said he is confident FEMA will have ample funds to continue its robust response to the Lahaina wildfire, flooding in Vermont, last week’s hurricane in Florida and other natural disasters, noting that the federal fiscal year is coming to a close Sept. 30 and that Congress will be “replenishing” funding for the agency to meet its needs.
Tokuda, who has been a constant presence on Maui since the wildfire, thanked her colleagues for their bipartisan demonstration of the urgent national response to the disaster.
“What we need right now is help, constant help from across this country and a national response to make sure as we look ahead and look forward we can hold our head high, and we know that it’s just not about recovery, it’s about rebuilding a Lahaina, a Maui and a Hawaii that we love,” she said.
The congressional delegation was the latest of high-level federal leaders to visit Maui in the wake of the wildfire, including President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, who toured Lahaina Aug. 21. Four days later, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra arrived for a one-day visit, and due in this week is U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman, who is scheduled to be on Maui Tuesday through Thursday.
The heads of the top federal relief and recovery agencies were on the ground within a few days of the disaster.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case was scheduled to join the delegation Saturday but bowed out after contracting COVID-19, according to his office. He is isolating at home and will continue working on congressional business as he can, his office said in a news release.
