Hawaii governor provides update on Lahaina wildfire tragedy
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Hawaii Governor Josh Green spoke to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday. They discussed the most up to date information regarding the tragedy.
"More than a thousand are unaccounted for about 1,050. It will take several weeks still. Some of the challenges are gonna be extraordinary as you reported 85% of the land of the impact zone has been covered now by what amounts to an army of search and rescue teams and 41 dogs...We do have extreme concerns that...because of the temperature of the fire, the remains of those who have died...in some cases may be impossible to recover meaningfully. So, they're gonna be people that are lost forever. And right now, we're working obviously with the FBI and everyone on the ground to make sure that we do what we can to assess who's missing," Green shared.
During the interview, Brennan and Green iscussed the fact that no sirens were alarmed.
"We assess every siren across the state on the first of the month. And then we ask people to update them and fix them to their abilities. You know, I, of course, I, as a person, as a father, as a doctor, I wish all the sirens went off. The challenge that you've heard and it's not to excuse or explain anything. The challenge has been that historically those sirens are used for tsunamis," Green explained.
Brennan asked if the power lines in the area were responsible for the fires, but Green responded with, "I don't know, personally whether or not the power lines werethe primary reason the fire occurred. That's why I asked for [a] comprehensive review, I think two days into this, which is very atypical. Normally, these kind of investigations come months or more later, but yeah, we have to ask that question. We have to ask the question on every level of how anyone city county state could have done better. And the private sector, this is, this is the world that we live in now in this case."
