An official said that he declined to sound warning sirens to alert residents of the imminent danger because the sirens have historically been used for tsunamis defended the position. It also turned out that the warning system itself was faulty. Residents said that if only they’d had another 10-15 minutes notice, families could have been saved. Some families perished entirely while they were in their homes or cars with absolutely no way to escape.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green said later that he wished the sirens had been sounded. Instead, first responders went door to door to alert residents that they should evacuate.
It was later revealed, as the number of missing stayed high and it came to be known that many children, home alone due to school closures as a result of power outages, that three Maui disaster response officials were not even on Maui, but on the island of Oahu attending a FEMA disaster relief training. They did not even get on a call about the fires until 5 hours after they began the morning of August 8.