I must protest the article by Caroline Levine (“Passing the buck,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 23). The direct cause of the Lahaina fire disaster was not global warming. The disaster was caused by the total incompetence of the local government: the county of Maui.

The narrow institutional focus on the threat of hurricanes and tsunamis showed how organizations sometimes cling to familiar backward-looking models, even as new and different threats emerge.

It was an abject failure to anticipate the serious risk of dry grasses near Lahaina Town, hiding in plain sight. The silent sirens, key emergency people off island, the lack of water supply for firefighters, the live wires on power lines, the very late evacuation notices.

This was gross negligence on the part of local government and all the people in the Hawaiian Islands will pay a financial price in higher electric bills and insurance premiums.

Edward Miller

Kailua

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