Hawaii has what officials have previously touted as the world's largest all-hazard public warning system. However, the head of the state's emergency management agency said that records do not suggest that those sirens were triggered on Maui.
Many residents of Lahaina said they received no warning or instructions from authorities before the blaze struck town
Soon after flames were reported on Maui on the morning of 8 August, officials ordered an evacuation order of an area near a school to the east of Lahaina. Instead, Mr Weintraub said, officials used emergency alerts sent to mobile phones as well as TVs and radio stations. On NBC's Today programme, Mayor Bissen said that the fast-moving flames created an "impossible situation" because "everything happened so quickly".
Tee Dang, a 35-year-old visitor from Kansas, told the BBC that she only realised an emergency was taking place when the manager of an Airbnb told her family that they should evacuate.
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