Each time there’s a stubborn brush fire or a “red flag warning” from blustery winds — as has occurred repeatedly since the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires — it now triggers a sense of dread, anxiety and hypervigilance. As well it should. All that, and more, is what it’ll take, collectively as a state, to execute proactive protections against Hawaii’s growing wildfire threats.

Sadly, it took 100 deaths and $5.6 billion in damage in Lahaina to realize the depth of the dangers. Maui County had a forewarning back in 2018, when a West Maui wildfire destroyed 21 homes and caused $4.3 million in damage — but despite calls for action, things petered out amid bureaucratic inertia.

No more.

“Hawaii is facing a growing wildfire crisis,” the state House’s Wildfire Prevention Working Group (WPWG) says in its draft report. “Significant transitions in large-scale land use over the past several decades, combined with the mounting impacts of climate change, have dramatically increased the size and intensity of wildfires across the state. We are at a critical decision point.”

Just this week alone: Hawaii’s leeward areas came under a two-day, red flag warning. On Oahu, the Mililani Mauka wildfire finally ebbed, after two weeks that torched 1,700 acres, including native ecosystems; a Camp Waianae brush fire Tuesday caused residents to evacuate. On Maui, a wildfire closed Maui Veterans Highway for two hours Monday. On Hawaii island, a wildland blaze in the Army Pohakuloa Training Area has incinerated 500 acres, so far.

Now, a raft of recommendations on better wildfire management is being devised by the legislative WPWG. In a public hearing at 10 a.m. today in the state Capitol, various options to be aired include:

>> Adopting building standards to better protect structures against wildfires, for example, requiring the use of fire-resistant materials.

>> Having a statewide fire marshal, to better coordinate wildfire prevention; Hawaii is the only state without one.

>> Creating tax or insurance incentives for wildfire-safe structures.

>> Disincentivizing land banking through higher taxation of lands not being used for public purposes or managed with a conservation plan.

Also aligned toward better fire management: Hawaiian Electric’s Wildfire Safety Strategy, a three-phase effort announced Nov. 3 in response to the Aug. 8 wildfires and Hawaii’s current drought conditions that elevate wildfire risk. It is critical that the utility adhere to its first-phase actions now underway, such as:

>> During red flag warnings, deploying spotters to risk areas to watch for ignition.

>> If a fault is detected on a circuit, automatic shut-off of power lines in risk areas until crews confirm it’s safe to restore power.

More time-intensive, but just as imperative, will be HECO’s second phase to harden the grid against extreme weather events and hazards. That includes expanding inspections of poles and lines; installing cameras and sensors in critical areas; replacing wood poles with steel ones; and continuing vegetation management near power lines.

HECO’s third phase aims to address existing and new threats from climate change, such as via more precise wildfire-focused weather forecasting, and undergrounding power lines in at-risk areas.

None of this will come cheap. HECO must work mightily to fairly assess costs to ratepayers. Pre-Aug. 8, it had submitted a plan to state regulators to invest $190 million over five years for grid resiliency, estimating the monthly bill for a typical household to increase 33 cents on Oahu, 71 cents in Maui and 86 cents on Hawaii island. How those estimates might change — due to post-Aug. 8 lawsuits filed against HECO and a newly awarded $95 million federal energy grant — is still unknown.

What has grown abundantly clear is that today’s increasing wildfire dangers demand whole-of-community actions. Homeowners and landowners must do their parts in fire prevention and creating “defensible spaces” to slow fire spread. Utilities and the state must invest in energy infrastructure and smarter emergency protocols. Such actions, big and small, will keep us all safer.