In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning
and no way out. Those who dodged a barricade survived

Sounds like certain officials need to go to jail. Setting up a roadblock to prevent people from leaving that inferno is beyond incompetent.

Most people, not all, trust the cops. I'm sure that none of those cops blocking the roads wanted anyone to get hurt and were only doing what they were told to (although maybe one of them might've questioned the wisdom of turning cars BACK into the fire). I'm reminded of the CNN townhall after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting, where CNN had Dana Loesch and other 2nd Amendment advocates marched into an arena full of rabid gun control nuts; none of them had yet seen the video footage of security guard Scott Peterson riding on his little golfcart instead of confronting the shooter and were booing & hissing at Dana et.al. ALL of them expect the cops to protect you...and I bet ALL of them would have died in their cars, listening to someone else tell them what to do, instead of using their brains and blowing past the roadblocks. The Left are all lemmings, doing what they're told to, except for the elite-ruling class.

# 1 - it's called murder. You cannot convince me this was not done on purpose. Too many bad fires now. Something or someone is behind all this. It can happen to any of us at any time.

"The Left are Lemmings" Failure to go around roadblocks forcing you back into the danger zone happen to be "Exhibit "A". Lemmings die. As so did many people who could and would have escaped otherwise.

Fires happen but stupid - or worse - doesn't have to.

I was there 46 years ago this week. We will never know the whole truth I fear, and I grieve for all those who have lost their homes and family members. If this was on purpose…..

So many difficult decisions to be made. This is such a tragedy and my heart goes out to these people. But if there was a Republican in HI government making any decisions at all, you can bet that the reported death toll would be triple what it is right now. Last I heard there were still over 1100 people missing.

Reminds me of the Kentucky nightclub fire back in the 1970s. No smoke alarms, no warnings, too few exits- a deadly fire trap just waiting for a flame.

Re: #2 - I'm reminded in my earlier career of getting late night calls for service in the seedier parts of town, where most kids are raised to hate cops; however, when any citizen needed and called for help, even if the caller had natural hatred for me, I responded. Even if the dispatcher sent me to the address of JYD and informed me you were the complainant, I'd show up in a hurry and risk everything to provide the assistance you needed and sought. The 'dinosaurs" who trained me did the same.

There should have been a line of state police officers waving their little orange flashlights guiding traffic from the fire zone all the way to refuge. The only real purpose of government is to safeguard their taxpayers. Have they gone so far off the tracks that they don't even know that anymore?

The government--any government-- will never serve your best interest if there's a chance it might conflict with their own or even complicate their job. It's easier to count the bodies when they're all in one place.

I have read speculation that the reason for the blockade in the first place was because the cops were protecting the wealthy enclaves behind the barricades. How evil can authorities get if that is true?

I've read a lot of conspiracy theories around this fire and honestly, and sadly, the thing that makes the most sense is sheer incompetence -- much like Hurricane Katrina -- it was a disaster waiting to happen. Hawaii Electric had been repeatedly warned and urged to upgrade their systems so they could kill the power lines in case of emergencies just like this. They didn't do it. And, they had been experiencing a drought in the area so the grassy areas were kindling if a powerline came down. The idiot in charge of emergencies didn't activate the sirens to let people know their was danger -- what's worse is that the fire department acknowledged a fire earlier in the day and then gave people a false sense of safety by saying it was 100% contained. We know there was a delay releasing water to the fire department because of the incompetent Obama-political appointee (although, that part is never mentioned in this article). And, the children, the children were all home alone from school because of high winds on the island that day. It was a complete and total recipe for disaster. We are going to discover (probably months from now) that the majority of the 1,100 people still missing were children and they died. Like the guy said in the article, if they had just had a 15 minute warning, so many people would have been able to get to safety. And, yes, if a Republican within a 500 mile radius of Hawaii could be blamed, they'd be pinning it on that person right now. Remember, Katrina was all Bush's fault even though Louisiana had a Democrat governor and New Orleans a Democrat mayor. They are never, ever held accountable.