Maui Fires: Many Questions Remain

"Unless You Were There You Will Never Know..."

Aug 24, 2023

"Unless You Were There You Will Never Know..." — Brad Ventura, Maui Fire Chief

But, but, Brad: YOU WEREN’T EVEN THERE! — Peggy Hall, The Healthy American

Things are getting even stranger as I investigate these Maui fires more deeply.

From Day One of this intentional attack upon the unsuspecting population, I’ve been covering the Maui fire and all its dreadful cast of characters. (See my Maui playlist here.)

My heart and prayers are with all those suffering this horrendous devastation, and I will continue to dig deep to uncover the nefarious actors and actions that are driving it.

Much of my focus has been on the Maui Fire Department's response to the fire emergency (or, should I say, possible lack of response?).

Many of us are attempting to piece together what happened in the days preceding up to the Lahaina fire on August 8th, the timeline of events on the day of the disaster, and the subsequent response.

Two weeks later more information has come to light that yet another high-ranking public official was conveniently (or maybe not-so-conveniently) absent from the island during the Lahaina fire. According to reports, Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura was in Colorado dropping off his daughter at college.

Now that this information is public, who was in charge in Ventura's absence? Where are the interviews with that person?

I do want to acknowledge that out of all the cast of characters involved in this event, Ventura seems to be the most local. That is to say, a few Maui natives have written to me to tell me that they grew up with the guy or knew him through mutual connections.

Therefore, I don’t know if he is just in over his head or if he was told to stand down and keep quiet. It’s possible he is intentionally misleading and deceiving, but it is also equally possible that he is another fall guy who got caught in the crossfire (literally).

I predicted this exact fate for Maui’s Emergency Management Chief, Herman Andaya, and he “resigned” several hours later. I do not wish to disparage anyone who was attempting to carry out their job duties with sincerity. I would like you to draw your conclusions from the information I present.

The bigger picture is that this Fire Chief is likely being coached on what to say and not to say. He has been somewhat elusive, and his replies are vague, leaving many questions unresolved. For instance, when asked where the firefighters were dispatched, he only stated that they had been sent to fight in one area of Lahaina before having to “reset.” So far, I've found the interviews to be quite lacking; I'm not sure if this is because he doesn't know the answers, doesn't understand the questions, or is simply trying to mislead.

Until the last few days, Ventura's press appearances had consisted of brief updates on their containment efforts during County press conferences. For nearly two weeks following the Lahaina fire, the public had very limited information about the Fire Department's operations.

Why did it take nearly 2 weeks for the Maui Fire Chief to give an official interview?

According to the official narrative, there are about 100 firefighters on the island of Maui and they were having to triage due to fires breaking out in various locations around Maui.

I have so, so many questions:

Who was in charge of the firefighters in Brad Ventura’s absence?
Why weren’t firefighters brought in from other islands?
Where was the military?
Where are the images or videos of the firefighters?
Where are the interviews with the firefighters now?
Why have no firefighters who were on the scene identified?

I have seen footage that showed the presence of a couple police vehicles during this time, but there has yet to be any VERIFIABLE images or videos showing firefighters in the area.

Since the start of these fires on Maui, I've asked those questions and more, like:

How many firefighters were dispatched to Lahaina?
At what time?
How many engine trucks were on the scene?
Where were they?
How many hoses were turned on and used?
How many structures did they put water on?
How long did the firefighters stay on the scene?
When were they told to stand down?
Why were they told to stand down?
Who was the incident commander?
Who filed the incident report?
Who in the fire department is conducting the investigation?
Why is the Police Chief Pelletier handing the scene instead of the fire department?
Why did the fire stop burning in the residential area when there was still fuel to burn?

These are straightforward questions, and the public, whom Ventura serves, has a right to know the answers.

Additionally, we submitted a public records request to try to get some answers which yielded an unsurprising response from the Maui Fire Department.

Twelve days into this calamity and a reporter from Maui Now was able to speak with Ventura and ask many of the same questions I've been asking on my channel ever since the disaster unfolded.

Without hesitation, Ventura went on to describe the unusual fire behavior in the interview, explaining, "What was happening was the fire was moving through the neighborhood as fast as it normally moves through grass so while they were engaged in fighting two house fires in front of them, two or three were catching on fire behind them, maybe a block away, so they would have to reset."

Friends, does that make sense to you? That the structures were burning like grass?

Ventura also gives this description of the timeline: “Tuesday, August 8th the 7am… there was a fire that was under control in Lahaina. The crews assigned to that fire were able to contain it and put a bulldozer line around it and walk the whole fire and extinguish the area within the fire. They sat on that fire until 1pm in the afternoon with no activity on that fire. During that time period, the winds were so strong and blowing all over the place. Multiple power lines were falling around them… later about 3pm after they left scene another fire started in Lahaina. *clears throat* We are still investigating whether that was the same or different fire and ALL of our crews responded back to that same area… The fire started in the grass area of Lahaina and rapidly moved down the hill and into the homes. It wasn’t a continuous fire area. It was spotting. As it entered the homes it was moving just as quickly. Best timeline I can provide is that the fire started about 2:55pm that is when we got dispatched to it and there were people reported to be going into the ocean that evening at 9pm.”

This timeline does not exactly match up with the initial report during the early County press conferences. Officials knew these fires were being compounded by these strong winds and they have stated they were able to communicate with each other so where were the calls for backup firefighters from other islands? Or for the military to assist?

He goes on to say that all aircraft were impeded from flying all day due to the winds, thus no bucket drops were possible, and that the firefighters on the scene used police vehicles to flee the fire area because the roads were too narrow for their trucks.

Some may believe there is no reason to doubt the official story that the devastating fire was caused by high winds from a hurricane that didn't bring any water (a hurricane that somehow missed the big island, but was only impacting Maui), and that these winds brought such destruction that the power lines went down, igniting the fire that burned faster and hotter than normal outdoor fires, consuming structures as quickly as grass, and that all the firefighting crews on the scene were able to safely escape in police vehicles.

Others may feel this scenario was orchestrated, inflicted, and intentional or even possibly coordinated with the strong winds playing a role in amplifying and accelerating the destruction.

The answer I never got is who was in command? Who was the battalion chief on duty if Ventura wasn’t there? What’s his name? Why don’t we have an interview with him or any of the firefighters?

Perhaps Ventura returned to this devastation and is absolutely shocked, and perhaps there is an unspoken agreement in their method of management that he will not divulge anything... The truth will emerge in due time, but until then, we must continue piecing together the evidence, reporting the news, and maintaining pressure on these public serpents.

The most important unanswered question in my mind is this:

HOW WAS THE FIRE PUT OUT?

If there was still fuel to burn (i.e, houses, grass and apparently automobiles) and the firefighters were reported to have fled the scene, and wind was still strong — HOW WAS - THE - FIRE - PUT -OUT???

I have many questions and will keep digging.

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The Healthy American, Peggy Hall

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