Letters for Sunday — July 25, 2004

• Lihu‘e fire

Lihu‘e fire

Grade or score: “D-“

Having been caught in the mass of cars trying to get around Lihu‘e the day of the fire, as a resident of Kaua‘i, I was shocked and disappointed in the delay in notifying the residents affected by the fire.

I drove into Lihu‘e about 2 p.m. when the fire was well underway. About 3 p.m. I was returning through Lihu‘e, heading back to Kapa‘a and got trapped in the traffic. Obviously, the police department need to do a lot more training in regard to redirecting traffic. Not until you got to the Industrial area were police visible to turn traffic away.

They should have been on Rice Street to decrease the inflow of traffic towards the Industrial Area that was being evacuated which was overburdening the police officers.

I turned on the radio to see what’s happening, thinking an aircraft may have crashed at Lihu‘e Airport. I called one station and they knew nothing about what was going on, I called another with the same response, the person answering appeared not even interested in what I was telling him. Finally, I called KHNL TV in Honolulu to see if they knew anything? They didn’t but indicated they would look into it immediately.

I changed the radio station and KONG was the only station giving any information about evacuations, suggesting alternate routes for drivers, etc. How could such a serious event not be relayed to all local radio stations? A major improvement is needed. Further, I noticed one officer directing traffic, with the possible hazardous smoke driving right by and all around him without any face mask on. How does that make sense?

I hope before another emergency situation occurs, more training is implemented. Mostly with regard to Notification to the radio stations, and how the police get organized in evacuations and redirecting traffic.

Dave Trovato

Kapa‘a