Hawaii Emergency Sirens Did Not Warn Residents of Deadly Maui Wildfires Before Flames Engulfed Town

As the death toll from the devastating Maui wildfires reached at least 55 and continues to climb, residents are left wondering why they weren't warned of the impending flames by the island's emergency siren system.

After a deadly tsunami in 1946 killed at least 150 people on Big Island, Hawaii implemented a state-wide emergency apparatus that includes loud sirens to warn residents in times of emergency. But as flames careened through Maui's western side this week, no sirens sounded, according to Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HiEMA) records. 

Instead, the state sent phone, radio and TV alerts. By that time, residents say cell service was down in many areas.

JD Hessemer, a Maui resident who owns a brewery in the now-destroyed Lahaina, told "CBS Mornings” he had to flee without official guidance on Tuesday.

"I received nothing at no point in time. I got nothing on my phone,” he said Friday.

Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the wildfires moved so quickly that it became impossible to get messages to emergency agencies tasked with sending alerts in time. 

“What we experienced was such a fast-moving fire through the ... initial neighborhood that caught fire, they were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice,” he said.

Maui also has a dearth of firefighters — only 65 people are responsible for the entire island, as well as Molokai and Lanai islands, at a time, said Bobby Lee, the president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association.

On Thursday, resident Chelsey Vierra said she still didn’t know if her 97-year-old great-grandmother was able to evacuate her senior housing facility that caught fire. 

“She doesn’t have a phone,” Vierra said, "We don’t know who to ask about where she went.”

Five and a half years ago, HiEMA sent a false alarm to residents that a ballistic missile was headed for the islands. People panicked, running for their lives and thinking they were about to die on that day in January 2018.

After HiEMA corrected the mistake, Hawaii residents said they had little faith in the state to alert them when disaster really doesn't strike.

“My confidence in our so-called leaders’ ability to disseminate this vital information has certainly been tarnished,” Hawaii resident Patrick Day told media in 2018.

Another resident, Philip Simmons, said in the direct aftermath of the screw-up that the felt the government is “inept at protecting the people of this country and notifying them of what’s happening.”