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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Herman Andaya resigned Thursday as head of Maui's Emergency Management Agency, effective immediately, following controversy over his decision not to sound the Hawaiian island's emergency alert system when a deadly wildfire struck last week.
On Wednesday, he told journalists he did not regret the decision, saying that sounding the alarm "would not have saved those people." Following his resignation, which he said was based on health reasons, there have been calls online for Andaya to be placed under investigation.
So far, 111 people are confirmed to have died in the Maui blaze, which erupted on August 8 and is the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. The death toll is expected to rise as emergency workers comb through the wreckage. The town of Lahaina, on Maui's western coast, suffered extreme devastation and was mostly destroyed, with more than 1,700 buildings reportedly burned.
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Andaya's resignation was announced in a statement from Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. It said: "Today Mayor Richard Bissen accepted the resignation of Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Administrator Herman Andaya. Citing health reasons, Andaya submitted his resignation effective immediately.
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"Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon," Bissen said.
Newsweek has reached out to Bissen by email for comment.
Andaya said he stood by his decision not to activate Maui's emergency alert system, saying it would have provoked the wrong response for a wildfire. He said: "The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded."
However, the Hawaii government's website lists wildfires as one of the disasters that emergency sirens can be used for, along with tsunamis, flooding and terrorist threats.
On social media, some commentators asked whether Andaya should be investigated, or even prosecuted, over his decision not to sound the alarm.
Reacting to Andaya's resignation, Nick Sortor, who has 181,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and has appeared on Fox News and the BBC, posted: "Residents have concluded the use of the sirens would've saved COUNTLESS lives, but Director Andaya said he had 'NO REGRETS' about refusing to activate the sirens.
"SHOULD THE DIRECTOR BE PROSECUTED IN RELATION TO THE DEATHS OF OVER 100+ CITIZENS OF LAHAINA?"
In a message to her 433,000 X followers, influencer Tara Bull asked: "Hawaii official emergency services chief, Herman Andaya, resigns amid backlash, when asked if he regrets not sounding the alarm to alert residents of wildfires he responded, 'I do not.' Should he face criminal charges?"
Referring to Andaya, UltraMJTruth, who has nearly 60,000 followers, said: "He needs to be investigated. Resigning is not good enough."
Breitbart Pentagon correspondent Kristina Wong tweeted a link to Andaya's press conference remarks and wrote: "Maui County Emergency Management Agency Chief Herman Andaya's response that he did not regret not sounding the sirens on Maui — and the official who tried to step in and shield him from the reporter pressing for answers — is distasteful.
"The public has a right to know what happened in Maui and what decisions were taken or not taken and why," Wong said.
Authorities are also working to save Maui's iconic 150-year-old banyan tree, which was badly burned by the fire. Planted in 1873 in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii, it had reached 60 feet in height and was considered one of the largest banyan trees in the world.
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