{"id":2021344,"date":"2023-09-04T11:34:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T15:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lahaina-residents-say-police-barricades-prevented-people-from-fleeing-raging-fires\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T15:39:32","slug":"lahaina-residents-say-police-barricades-prevented-people-from-fleeing-raging-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lahaina-residents-say-police-barricades-prevented-people-from-fleeing-raging-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"Lahaina locals claim barricades hindered escape from wildfires."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flahaina-residents-say-police-barricades-prevented-people-from-fleeing-raging-fires%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2021344&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Surviving the \u2062Lahaina Wildfire: A Story of Courage and Chaos<\/h2>\n<p>Christy Albinson still \u200chas nightmares. The nightmares \u2063of children are the worst, she says, nearly a month after the tragic Lahaina\u2063 wildfire in West\u2062 Maui.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been traumatized. My dreams have \u2062been pretty \u200cwhacko. They&#8217;re horrible\u2014children buried\u2064 in the sand. I&#8217;m spooked,&#8221; Ms. Albinson, 47,\u200c said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And when the panic attacks \u2062strike without warning, it&#8217;s \u2064all she can do to remain calm.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, the question crosses her mind: Why did\u200d she\u2062 survive\u2062 when\u2063 so many others died?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not so \u200dmuch\u200d survivor&#8217;s guilt as it is a \u200dsimmering anger\u2014a feeling that the outcome \u200dcould have been different for \u200cso many if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/governors-in-northeast-states-battered-by-ida-take-emergency-action\/\" title=\"Governors in Northeast states battered by Ida take emergency action\">emergency management officials<\/a> had responded differently.<\/p>\n<p>All Ms. Albinson knows is that people who stayed in their vehicles in \u2064traffic perished \u200bin the \u2064smoke and flames.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Christy Albinson (L), with her daughter Shelby Thomson, barely escaped with \u2064her life during the tragic Lahaina wildfire on Aug. 8, 2023. (Courtesy\u200b Shelby Thomson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;They were driving to their deaths, basically. I acknowledged I was in control of my choices and\u2062 needed \u2064to not listen to the police,&#8221; Ms. Albinson told \u2064The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I recognized I would have to go around the barriers and do \u200bwhat it took because \u2064this was my life. I have grandchildren; I needed to get to my \u200cfamily.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Several\u2064 other Lahaina residents and workers \u2064told The Epoch Times that they survived only by\u200b driving around or through the police roadblocks, acknowledging the police \u2064were just &#8220;following orders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Common sense,&#8221;\u2063 said Grale, a West Maui resident who \u200dwas working at a gated community in Lahaina \u2064on the day of the fire.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Me? I&#8217;m in panic mode. I&#8217;m getting the heck out of here. Survival mode. Honestly, I couldn&#8217;t believe how many \u2063cars \u2062on Front Street just burned.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Lahaina fire burned 2,170 acres and more \u2062than 2,000 homes and buildings in this\u2064 historic coastal community with a population of \u206213,120.<\/p>\n<p>The scenic oceanside Front Street serves as \u200cthe town&#8217;s main street \u2064and connector to the Lahaina highway\u2064 bypass to and from the community.<\/p>\n<h3>Multiple Fires<\/h3>\n<p>Officials believe \u200bthe first fire began in the brush around Lahaina after midnight on Aug. 8, causing sporadic power outages and two other large fires inland.<\/p>\n<p>By\u2062 10 a.m., \u200cofficials had announced the Lahaina \u2064fire \u200dwas 100 percent contained despite limited capacity to pump\u200d water. The fire soon reignited in the\u2064 uplands overlooking the town in the early afternoon, driven by\u200b 80 mph winds \u2062that forced hot\u2062 embers into Lahaina&#8217;s more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/it-begins-israel-calls-up-thousands-of-troops-positions-heavy-machinery-for-ground-offensive\/\" title=\"IT BEGINS: Israel Calls Up Thousands Of Troops, Positions Heavy Machinery For Ground Offensive\">densely populated areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In response, local police set up roadblocks\u2063 along the northbound highway that residents say created massive choke points for \u200bpeople \u200btrying to escape.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Search and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lahaina-residents-say-police-barricades-prevented-people-from-fleeing-raging-fires\/\" title=\"Lahaina locals claim barricades hindered escape from wildfires.\">recovery team members check\u2063 burned buildings<\/a> and cars in the aftermath of the wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 18, 2023. (Yuki \u2064Iwamura\/AFP via \u200dGetty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Officials reported 100 people or more\u2062 ran into the ocean as\u2063 the air grew thick with black smoke and\u2064 swirling ash. Many stayed in\u200c the water for hours until help arrived.<\/p>\n<p>On Aug. 24, Maui County\u200c officials filed a lawsuit \u200caccusing the\u2064 power\u2064 company, Hawaiian Electric, of &#8220;gross \u2062negligence&#8221;\u2062 by failing to de-energize power \u2062lines that would have prevented\u2062 the \u200cwildfire, and $5.5 billion \u2063in physical damage and catastrophic loss of life.<\/p>\n<p>The power company \u2062claimed \u200din rebuttal that it \u2064cut the electricity to \u200bthe lines for approximately six \u2063hours when the second deadly fire erupted in Lahaina.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Eerie&#8217; Premonition<\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Albinson said she awoke the morning of Aug. 8 with a peculiar sense \u2064that something was wrong that day\u2014but what, exactly, she couldn&#8217;t say.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just had an eerie feeling that something\u200d was off before I went\u200d to work. I filled \u200cmy car with gas and got extra food. I just wasn&#8217;t sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms.\u200b Albinson had been working the same job\u200b for 10 years, cleaning condominiums and bed-and-breakfasts in\u2063 the old Lahaina surfing community of\u2063 Puamana.<\/p>\n<p>She called her\u200b boss at 7:30 a.m.,\u200b who told her the power was off and that driving to work would take longer than usual due to the smaller fire and \u2062traffic on Front Street, a main road\u200c through \u200cthe town.<\/p>\n<p>Ninety minutes later, Ms. Albinson arrived at work, having negotiated a &#8220;crazy line of \u200dtraffic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Burned cars sit in front of a home that was destroyed by\u2064 the Aug. 8 wildfire in \u200dLahaina,\u2064 Hawaii, on \u200bAug. 16, 2023. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She remembered\u200c how the wind seemed to\u200b cascade down the mountainside from the north as Hurricane Dora passed hundreds of miles off the\u200d southern coastline.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was almost like a swirling wind. It was just crazy\u2014like nothing I&#8217;d ever seen,&#8221; Ms. Albinson said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That wind was so nuts. You had to protect\u200c your head if you got out of your car. Things were flying in our\u2062 eyes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Around \u20623:30 p.m., the situation \u200bworsened. Ms. Albinson and a coworker left work together\u2062 and followed each other home in separate vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We \u200bhoped to \u200dget to the highway and jaunt to the next bypass. Instead,\u200b we were blocked off by\u2062 police and [traffic] cones.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Albinson recalled telling a friend on the\u2064 phone as she sat in heavy traffic on Front \u2064Street: &#8220;I think I&#8217;m in \u2062the apocalypse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She \u200cwondered why police were \u2064blocking the exits \u200dand stopping cars, turning them back, yet allowing other vehicles into the town as things were in &#8220;such chaos.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. \u200dAlbinson said she then pulled off the road at \u200bthe \u2063corner of Lahainaluna and Front Street and began waving at a police officer sitting in his cruiser to ask\u2063 for \u200dinstructions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He would not look\u2064 at \u200bme. He would not turn his head. He just kept facing his computer and would not\u2063 acknowledge me asking for\u2063 assistance,&#8221; Ms. Albinson said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t quite understand why \u2062the cops\u2063 would block everybody in unless it were \u2064for our safety.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>All around, the debris flew past her car\u2064 in \u200bthe gale-force winds. A large tree branch struck \u200cher windshield at one point, but\u2062 luckily, the glass didn&#8217;t \u200bbreak.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was no question in my mind people would be stuck [in traffic]. I didn&#8217;t\u2063 know what\u2062 it meant at the time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Albinson said\u200b she watched her friend turn left to head south as she veered \u200dright to find \u2062the exit blocked by police. Quickly, she made a\u200d &#8220;20-point turn&#8221; and headed back to Puamana.<\/p>\n<p>Along the \u2063way, she saw her boss sitting in her car near an old banyan tree.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going home,&#8221; her boss said.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Albinson said she began to plead with her employer not to \u2064go back to the\u200d house, sensing \u200dit wasn&#8217;t safe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She drove off anyway. \u2064I didn&#8217;t hear anything from her for \u206324 hours. She spent the night [seeking safety] \u2063in the ocean.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With powerful \u2064winds \u2064buffeting her vehicle, Ms. Albinson knew she had to get out \u200dof \u200bLahaina &#8220;at all costs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll break the [police] \u2062 barrier if I \u200dhave to,&#8221; said Ms. Albinson, who managed to find an unguarded exit to Route 30 away\u200c from Lahaina\u2014and home.<\/p>\n<p>That \u200dnight she told her daughter, Shelby Thomson, 27, &#8220;There&#8217;s \u2064going to\u2064 be thousands of dead people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mom, don&#8217;t say that,&#8221; her daughter said.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Search and recovery team members check burned buildings and cars\u200c in the aftermath of the wildfire\u2063 in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. \u200d18, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Ms. Albinson \u200dsaid \u2064she \u200cknew there were too many people still trapped\u2064 in the town for it to be otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Maui County officials announced at the\u2062 end of August that 100 percent of the town had been\u200d searched for \u2062human remains. \u2064They put the\u2063 death toll at 115, with hundreds\u200b still missing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Call it divine intervention. \u200dWe&#8217;ve been unpacking\u200c it,&#8221; said \u2063Ms. Thomson, realizing\u200d how close her mom \u2064had come to &#8220;not \u2064getting out&#8221; alive.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Another half hour and she would&#8217;ve \u2064been blocked in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Lot of Confusion&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re\u2062 just grateful to be alive,&#8221; said Michelle, whose husband,\u200d Ed, lost all his \u2062tools for his contracting business in the Lahaina fire.<\/p>\n<p>Although the couple&#8217;s home burned in the fire, they were able to save their dogs\u2063 and\u2064 30 chickens.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>(Left)\u200d The Waiola Church \u2062is engulfed in flames \u2064in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8, 2023. \u200c(Right) A volunteer makes damage \u200cassessment\u200b of burned \u200cbuildings in the aftermath of the wildfire\u2062 on Aug. 12, 2023. \u200b(Matthew Thayer\/The Maui News via A,\u2064 Yuki Iwamura\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Michelle attributes the deadly fire to bad\u200d decisions \u2064by local officials and &#8220;a lot of miscommunication. A lot of confusion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her husband recalled how bad the\u2062 situation was on Front Street as \u200dpanic-stricken motorists jammed the roadway.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All of a sudden, flames and\u2063 big embers\u200c were coming over the buildings right next to us,&#8221;\u200c Ed told The Epoch \u2062Times. &#8220;It was raining\u2014snowing embers. It was\u200c pretty thick. It was \u2064landing on the grass, starting tiny fires, \u200dand going out. That freaked everybody \u2064out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ed said he was astonished at how\u2064 one lane of northbound traffic on Front Street \u200cquickly swelled into six lanes of mayhem, all moving in\u2064 the same direction.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They were on\u2062 the \u2064sidewalks\u2014they were everywhere. You couldn&#8217;t even\u2062 get out of your vehicle. They were beside you, so close to you.\u200d You couldn&#8217;t even open your doors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/09\/03\/id5485590-Artboard-2-copy-5.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My wife kept saying [over the phone], &#8216;You&#8217;ve got to get out\u200c of there, even if you have to run away from \u2062the vehicle. Just \u2064go.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ed then noticed two \u200bfriends \u200bwere in vehicles behind him who would later \u2062jump into the ocean to save their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Ed&#8217;s chance to escape came when a vehicle opened \u2063a space to\u200b his right on \u200bFront Street.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just hit the gas and filled his spot,&#8221; Ed said, throwing caution aside as he drove onto the sidewalk and grass in front of homes,\u200c edging his way further to the right\u200d to get out \u200dof traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Ed said he just kept moving forward until he\u200d finally \u2064reached a blocked side street and drove\u200c around the police barricade.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t go that \u2063way!&#8221; an officer shouted, but Ed\u200c simply responded, &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m going anyway.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said getting onto \u2063the highway was &#8220;completely \u2064doable,&#8221; and \u2063feels, in retrospect, that defying the authorities probably saved his life.<\/p>\n<p>Maui\u2063 County Police Chief John Pelletier and Mayor Richard Bissen have yet to return a phone call\u200d and email\u200c from The Epoch \u200dTimes seeking comment for this \u2064article.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times could not \u200cimmediately reach\u2063 interim Maui County Emergency Management (MEMA) Administrator Darryl \u200cOliveira \u200dfor comment.<\/p>\n<p>On\u200b Aug.\u200c 28, Mr. Oliveira replaced former MEMA administrator Herman Andaya,\u2063 who resigned earlier\u200c this \u200bmonth, citing &#8220;health reasons.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. \u2062Andaya became \u2064embroiled in controversy over his decision not \u200bto sound Maui County&#8217;s all-hazard warning sirens that would have alerted residents \u200cto the wildfires.<\/p>\n<p>While MEMA \u2064routinely tests the sirens on the first day of each month, the \u2062agency said \u200cit canceled \u2063the scheduled Sept. 1 system\u200c check out of sympathy \u2063and respect for the fire victims.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Survival Mode&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Grale, a Lahaina resident, \u200dsaid she was getting ready to go to work in Lahaina\u2062 when her grandson\u200b called\u200d her \u200cat 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, asking if she was OK \u2063due to the first fire.<\/p>\n<p>Everything is fine, she told \u2062him.\u200b &#8220;But when I went down to Lahaina, as soon as I got to the pull-off to Puamana, it\u2064 was \u2062all blocked\u2064 off.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Grale found another route but the fire had spread\u2062 onto Lahainaluna Road. Her cell phone \u2062had \u200balso stopped working.<\/p>\n<p>She eventually made it to work by doubling back onto Front Street navigating the high\u2062 winds and fallen trees.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Engaging and informative, this article\u200c tells\u200c the harrowing story of survivors of the\u200d Lahaina \u2063wildfire in West Maui. \u200dFrom the eerie premonitions to the chaotic escape, these individuals faced unimaginable challenges \u200dand made split-second decisions\u2062 to save their \u2063lives. The \u2064accounts of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outgoing-border-patrol-chief-calls-for-more-wall-construction\/\" title=\"Border Patrol Chief urges increased wall construction.\">experiences shed light<\/a> on the miscommunication\u200c and confusion that occurred during \u200cthe emergency\u2062 response.\u200b Through their stories, we gain a deeper understanding of \u200bthe devastating impact of the wildfire and the resilience of those who \u2062managed to\u200d survive.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christy Albinson, 47, remains haunted by nightmares a month after the devastating Lahaina wildfire in West Maui. She describes her dreams as disturbing, with images of children buried in the sand. The trauma has left her feeling spooked and vulnerable, experiencing sudden panic attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":2021345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}