Lahaina residents tell the BBC they had no official warning before "fire hurricane" engulfed their town. Skip to ... When a 'fire hurricane' hit, Maui's warning sirens never sounded. 14 August 2023.

The warning sirens on the island of Maui in Hawaii failed to go off as terrifying fires tore through communities, ... Hawaii governor Josh Green called the blaze a ‘fire hurricane’, ...

Other examples include New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Paradise, Calif., after the 2018 Camp Fire. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) (John Locher / ASSOCIATED PRESS) ...

But Zeek said sirens will not sound often. “It’s going to be strictly for fires, but that’s any type of fire,” he said, adding other large-scale emergencies may occasionally warrant siren use.

"A fire hurricane, something new to us in this age of global warming, was the ultimate reason that so many people perished." Still, many evacuees said they felt they were abandoned.