Maui police roadblock untold numbers of people to their agonizing death, saving them from fallen trees. Chief Pelletier also led the botched response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting

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

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9

As flames tore through a West Maui neighborhood, fleeing residents headed for the only paved road out of town in a dash for safety.

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

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/435616

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9

Cause of death: climate change, cops, cars

“So the police were blocking roads, the exit, some of the exit roads out,” he says. “And I’m assuming it’s because there’s been some downed power lines or some downed trees.” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier confirmed that at a news conference two weeks later. "We did not close or forbid people from getting out of Lahaina,” Pelletier said. “If there was a downed power line that was live, we wanted to make sure that you didn’t go over a downed live power line.”

“The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,” said Cuevas-Reyes, 38. “I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.”