Hawaii
From Europe to Canada to Hawaii, photos capture destructive power of wildfires
The destructive power of wildfire has been a defining feature of a summer of climate extremes.
Dozens of people on multiple continents have died. Blazes have reduced homes and businesses to rubble. Thick smoke has darkened skies and carried fine-particle pollution thousands of miles from its source.
It’s a ghastly pattern that climate scientists around the world say has been worsened and fueled by human-caused global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions have greatly increased the chances of hot, dry weather that makes severe fires more likely. And while proper management can help — for instance, controlled burns and clearing out overgrown forests — it’s not always enough to beat the odds as climate change drives fire seasons to start earlier and last longer.
The toll on humans will be great. Beyond the immediate aftermath, experts say that exposure to wildfire smoke can cause long-term issues for human health, with respiratory effects like asthma and COPD as well as impacts on the function of the heart, brain and kidneys. The psychological damage, too, can be lifelong. People in the direct path of wildfires may experience post-traumatic stress or struggle with their mental health after losing their loved ones, homes or livelihoods.
Fire is just one face of climate change, which also drives broiling heat, catastrophic storms and floods and other wacky weather. But the dramatic images of this summer’s infernos, from flames to ash, are a stark reminder of just how much things have changed, and how much we still stand to lose.
WINDS WHIP UP FLAMES IN GREECE AND TURKEY
A blaze rampaging through northeastern Greece on Tuesday killed 18 people, believed to be migrants crossing the border from Turkey, where, in that country too, villages of a northwestern province have been evacuated to protect people from wildfires. In the Greek city of Alexandroupolis, health authorities partially evacuated a hospital, and other flames near the capital traveled into Parnitha national park, a green area to the northwest of Athens.
Firefighters in Greece have confronted more than 350 fires over five days. Gale-force winds have made the task more challenging, and the hot and dry summer conditions have been some of the worst since meteorological records have been kept, authorities said. Across Europe, many areas have experienced a brutally hot summer as global heat records sweltered to all-time record highs in July.
The Greek government is planning tougher penalties for arson in the wake of the damage, but the extra heat from climate change is also to blame. And the fires only add to the cycle of warming: Greece saw its highest wildfire-related emissions on record this July, according to data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, part of the European Union’s Earth observation program.
PANIC AND SORROW ON A RAVAGED MAUI
It started with a brush fire overnight in Kula. Then a grass fire across the island near Lahaina started in the early morning and jumped a containment line by the afternoon.
Without any warning, residents say they were unable to save many of their neighbors, including children. People tried to rush out of Lahaina even as closed roads hindered evacuation efforts. Some, trapped in their cars, jumped over a seawall into rough waves to escape.
Eventually the wreckage became clear: historic Lahaina had become the site of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over 100 years.
Researchers say that climate change and land use changes amplified the cost of human error in this catastrophe, as wildfire, storms, floods and other disasters have been on the rise in Hawaii. Flash droughts, which happened this summer and are more likely as a result of global warming, can create an abundance of dry grass on the islands in a short amount of time. And as some plantation agriculture has shifted to ranching, more areas now act as kindling, fueling the problem even further.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden took an aerial tour of the devastation in Hawaii on Monday. In his remarks in Lahaina, Biden made reference to the burned but surviving banyan tree considered beloved and sacred by many in the island community. The damage is overwhelming and the cleanup will be hard and long, Biden said.
But he added that a Native Hawaiian leader he’d spoken to had called the tree a “diamond in the rough of hope.”
CONFLAGRATION IN THE CANARY ISLANDS
Like much of mainland Spain, the popular tourist destination Tenerife has been in drought for the past several years due to climate change’s impacts on regional weather patterns. Those changes created the perfect kindling for what police said was an arson wildfire that raged out of control over several days.
Firefighters managed to limit the damage, with no injuries reported and no houses burned as of Monday, but access remains difficult, especially in steep and craggy mountainous areas. In the meantime, thousands of people on the island were evacuated or ordered to stay indoors.
In addition, Spain continues to sweat under another summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring as high as 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius) in some parts of the country.
OVER A THOUSAND FIRES ACROSS CANADA
This summer marks Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, and dozens of cities across North America have woken up to see — and smell — the massive plumes of smoke stretching out well beyond the forests where they first sparked. Areas closer to the poles are seeing accelerated changes due to global warming, and Canada is no different. Summers are more intense and winters are warmer. Ice doesn’t form as early and melts faster in spring.
Indigenous communities were disproportionately evacuated by Canadian wildfires this summer, even in far northern regions where wildfires are normally never an issue. Their homes can be in more isolated and fire-prone areas, including the boreal forest, a vital natural resource that stores carbon, purifies the air and water and regulates climate.
Some evacuees piled kids and pets into travel centers. Parents held children as they waited to go home, a prospect that may be coming sooner as better weather arrives in some regions. Others watched from tents at a free campsite as the aurora borealis flickered over their temporary refuge. Like the banyan in Hawaii, it was a source of beauty despite what had been lost.
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hawaii
Miss Hawaii crowned Miss USA after previous winner resigns
HONOLULU — Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii was crowned Miss USA 2023, more than a week after the previous titleholder resigned for mental health reasons.
Born and raised on the island of Maui, Gankiewicz is a model who leads a female empowerment nonprofit organization. Gankiewicz, who was the first runner-up at the pageant last September, accepted the title on Wednesday during a special coronation attended by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, Hawaii News Now reported. She will hold the title until August.
Miss USA 2024 is scheduled to take place from July 24 to Aug. 4.
Gankiewicz told KHON-TV she received backlash for deciding to take on the remainder of the title’s term. “But I wanted people to know that I’ve taken this title because I feel like it is a responsibility and an opportunity to make a positive change from within, and I can only do that from inside the organization and not standing out,” she said.
Gankiewicz replaces former Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt, a former Miss Utah who stepped aside May 6, citing her mental health. In a statement, Voigt thanked her fans and wrote, “Never compromise your physical and mental well-being.”
Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, also resigned her title within days of Voigt’s resignation, dealing a shock to the Miss Universe Organization, which runs both pageants.
Srivastava, the former Miss New Jersey Teen USA, wrote in a statement that her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
Hawaii
Federal jury returns not guilty verdicts in sprawling bribery case against ex-city prosecutor
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – After nearly two days of deliberation, a federal jury returned a not guilty verdict Friday in the sprawling bribery case against Keith Kaneshiro, Honolulu’s longest-serving prosecutor.
The decision comes nearly two years after Kaneshiro and five others were indicted on conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, bribery and conspiracy against rights. Verdicts were also handed down for the others in the case — all campaign donors affiliated with a high-profile Honolulu engineering firm.
Firm owner Dennis Mitsunaga, who was jailed during trial following new allegations of witness tampering, was also found not guilty.
The jury also delivered not guilty verdicts for the others in the case: Executive Aaron Fujii, executive Chad McDonald, firm Executive Director Terri Ann Otani, and firm attorney Sheri Tanaka.
After the verdict was read, Kaneshiro spoke to reporters, reacting to the decision and expressing his frustration over how the media handled the case.
“I feel vindicated,” he said. “But how am I going to get back my reputation? Because all the information that’s been going out how been negative about me.”
Attorney Sheri Tanaka also spoke, getting emotional about how everything played out.
“This was completely wrong what happened,” she said. “And I think … what the government did for each one of our families, what they put us through, the horrific things they did, of pitting family members against friends, and every step of the way, it was awful. And we’re so very grateful that justice was served today.”
Jurors started their deliberations in the case on Wednesday, after closing arguments wrapped up on the 26th working trial day. In their final pitch to the jury, defense attorneys argued the government hadn’t shown evidence of bribery but had twisted Hawaii traditions of giving and omiyage into something sinister.
The government’s case revolved around campaign donations.
Mitsunaga and his employees, federal prosecutors argued, funneled nearly $50,000 to Kaneshiro’s coffers in exchange for his office going after an enemy of the firm — Laurel Mau, a fired employee who had sued for discrimination.
Mau was an architect at the firm and she’d been accused of stealing by taking side jobs. During trial, Mau said she was directed to take on some of those jobs by firm employees. Meanwhile, some of the jobs were offered pro bono.
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A state judge ultimately threw out the criminal charges against her.
And during the bribery trial, a key witness for the government — retired HPD Officer Rudy Alivado — admitted he lied under oath in multiple court proceedings in order to protect his longtime friend, Mitsunaga, who he’d gone to school with.
One of those cases was Mau’s civil discrimination trial, which she lost.
The Kaneshiro trial was another stunning chapter in a years-long federal corruption probe that previously ended with guilty verdicts against ex-Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, who was a high-ranking city prosecutor, along with several police officers. The Kealohas remain behind bars.
Separately, the government is pursuing a case against three former high-ranking city officers in connection with a $250,000 payout to Louis Kealoha in 2017.
The Kaneshiro trial also had no shortage of twists and turns.
In addition to Mitsunaga being jailed during the proceedings, the judge in the case — U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright — recused himself after being identified as a victim or witness in a murder-for-hire case linked to the trial.
A new judge was selected to preside over trial.
This story will be updated.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Hawaii
Motorcyclist dead after ramming into rock embankment on Hawaii Island
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A 59-year-old man is dead after ramming his motorcyclist into a rock embankment on Hawaii Island Thursday evening.
Police responded to the scene around 5:40 p.m. at the intersection of Mamaloha Highway and Leilani Street.
Officials said the motorcyclist overtook several vehicles near the Manuka State Park entrance, before striking a rock embankment and flying off his motorcycle.
He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The motorcyclist remains unidentified at this time, pending positive identification and notification of next of kin.
It’s part of a deadly trend on Hawaii Island roads.
This is now the 18th traffic fatality this year compared to just 8 at this time last year.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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