Lack of leadership at the Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). That was one of the top lines in the first phase of the state’s investigation of the Aug. 8 wildfires that destroyed most of Lahaina and killed 101 people.

It was also underscored more recently when Maui County officials themselves acknowledged that MEMA lacks the capacity to do even its own review of what was plainly a failed response to the disaster. On May 8, the county issued a request for proposals to conduct a report “assessing the coordination” of MEMA’s response to last summer’s wildfires.

Having an external and fully public review produced, of course, is the right course of action at this point, because, among other reasons, the public cannot trust MEMA to reflect objectively on its own performance.

That lack of confidence is shared by county officials. It’s evident in MEMA’s efforts to find an outside contractor to do the review, citing severe staffing limitations. It’s an indisputable problem that merits swift action by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen to begin rebuilding the agency,

This process starts with a call to action from its newly appointed administrator, Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, who officially took over from the longtime chief, Herman Andaya, on Jan. 1. When the Honolulu Star-Advertiser was seeking an interview with Lonokailua-Hewett this week, Lois Whitney, the county deputy director of communications, said he was on “personal leave” and unavailable for comment.

That inaccessibility speaks volumes about the utter lack of urgency to get the agency up and ready to do its job.

There were warning signs — which were not shared with the public in a timely manner. MEMA, under Andaya, has produced previous action reports, including a draft concerning the response to Tropical Cyclone Lane in 2018.

It was intended only for internal use, however, and it became public following news organization requests under the Uniform Public Information Act. The 2018 cyclone revealed Lahaina’s vulnerability to wildfires, but its review was not made widely available, and this was a lost opportunity to address some of the fatal problems encountered Aug. 8.

In the months after the disaster, the state Department of the Attorney General conducted its own overview report on the disaster. The document, released in April, highlighted Andaya’s attendance at an Oahu conference on the day of the fire, leaving an administrative assistant to text him updates. He resigned eight days later.

The responsibilities of MEMA, according to its mission statement, include “planning, preparing, and coordinating emergency management operations in meeting disaster situations and coordinating post-disaster recovery operations.”

It’s already evident to everyone that none of that happened. But it’s essential that Maui officials receive a full breakdown of what went wrong and what best practices are in other jurisdictions. And it’s also essential that the contractor be one with a demonstrated expertise in emergency management analysis.

Finally, Maui officials have said they are considering whether they will produce a report for public release, along with a separate report for internal consumption only. The answer should be a resounding no: Whatever conclusions the analysis produces belong in the public domain.

In a February meeting with the Maui Fire and Public Safety Commission, Lonokailua-Hewett described his staff as “overwhelmed,” acknowledging that county departments “work in silos…that hinders our overall coordination and our overall performance.”

These problems can be fixed. A good time to start that work is now — as Hawaii heads into another wildfire season.