Our British Associate Gary Tulie Offers His Ideas on the Maui Fires
2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie writes as follows:Regarding the Maui fires I thought I would share with you a few thoughts.
Firstly, the fires and associated deaths are a major tragedy, and anything I say is forward looking as to how similar might be prevented or mitigated in the future.
In the UK, we had our own fire tragedy a few years ago at Grenfell Towers in which 72 people lost their lives when a fire spread through a 24-floor tower block. It turns out that whilst the initial fire was very likely an accident, the spread of the fire was due to a number of management and engineering failures. The building had recently been refurbished with external insulated cladding which turned out to be highly flammable with a small cavity behind the cladding functioning as a chimney speeding the flames. In addition, fire stopping measures between flats and between floors had not been kept in good order when new services were installed allowing fire to spread inside the building between flats. This was made even worse by combustible materials being left in corridors adding fuel to the fire.
The Grenfell fire resulted in major revisions to building codes especially around cladding of high buildings and in property managers being much more pro-active in trying to stop items being left in communal corridors.
It seems to me that a parallel process is needed in Hawaii and across the US and Canada to look at how changes to building regulations might mitigate the effects of wildfires. One house stands out undamaged where the householder had re-covered their roof with heavy steel sheeting rather than wood shingles and had kept the area close to the house free of dense vegetation. Had every house had a steel, concrete, slate or tile roof, kept their yards clear of dense vegetation near the house, and clad their timber framed with fire rated cladding materials, seems to me many people might have been saved. British style homes with brick or stone walls and slate or concrete tile roofs would almost certainly not have burned like the houses in Lahena burned as the materials used to build are inherently far more resistant to burning.
Avoidance – some fires will occur naturally and cannot be avoided, but keeping a clear corridor around overhead power lines so that trees cannot fall on the wires as happens in the UK would be a good start. Alternatively bury power lines in vulnerable areas. Avoiding a large buildup of flammable materials in forested areas by periodic clearing or controlled burns could also help to reduce the intensity of fires by limiting available fuel.
Finally warning – Hawaii has a warning system set up primarily for Tsunamis which could have been used but was not. A review of protocols is needed, and lessons need to be learned.
