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

And car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30.

One family swerved around the barricade and was safe in a nearby town 48 minutes later, another drove their 4-wheel-drive car down a dirt road to escape. One man took a dirt road uphill, climbing above the fire and watching as Lahaina burned. He later picked his way through the flames, smoke and rubble to pull survivors to safety.

But dozens of others found themselves caught in a hellscape, their cars jammed together on a narrow road, surrounded by flames on three sides and the rocky ocean waves on the fourth. Some died in their cars, while others tried to run for safety.

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So what is the lesson here?

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-...14b2da0020c40e9

Univ of Saigon 68

Prayers and thoughts for those who died or suffered.

If I was to live in the U.S, I would not live on a small island. I would choose an area in the middle of the continental map and find a place with roads in all four directions.

Tough call. I guess it depends on your practical assessment of local officials' competence and your appetite for risk.

Without information, bypassing the barricades might lead to safety. Or it may trap people on a narrow road in a crematorium. If you drive around, others will follow. That adds a lot of weight over and above your personal choice. The herd instinct applies to these situations.

More to the point, though: If you were paying attention to events and attuned to the current levels of risk, there's a good chance you would have left town before the barricades went up.