Reddit Post:
Lahaina Evacuation Lessons
This article describes the people who either ignored barriers or took dirt road out of their doomed town. The part at the end about all the kids who died while home alone from cancelled school made me cry and realize if schools are closed for any hazardous conditions don’t let your boss sucker you into coming into work. These children died because conditions were too hazardous for school but not other workplaces apparently.
Article Link: https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9
Reddit Commenter: I work in a chemical manufacturing environment where alarms are used to signal problems.
You should always assume that most people who hear the alarm won't know what it means.
This is a blindspot in most manufacturing environments, which leads to a ton of inappropriate responses. People running down hallways because they confuse an alarm that just warns that water temperature to the sewer is slightly too warm. People ignore pending emergency release alarms for a few minutes because they can't tell the difference between that and an actual emergency. (Edit: Just because there are different alarms doesn't mean that difference won't be misconstrued!)
Mostly, when alarms are just a Ding or siren, people waste time trying to figure out what the alarm means, instead of trying to solve the problem.
Simple sirens and dings are low effort, and slightly cheaper, so we run with it. I guaranfuckingtee you that in the face of this disaster, most city planner people will think the problem is an education one, and will waste time and money teaching half the citizens of their district something they'll forget in a year.
The only solution to this problem is to buy long range focused speakers that SAY exactly what the fuck is going on. Here is a video clip of one of these LRAD devices in action, from a helicopter. The first voice is from a megaphone. The second is from an LRAD
All of the following are a hell of a lot better than sorting out "Was that three seconds between repeating WheeeeWhoooos? Or was that 2 Wheewoos in quick succession followed by a pause and two more Wheewoos?
"ATTENTION. THERE IS A TORNADO WARNING UNTIL 3:15PM. SEEK SHELTER INDOORS IMMEDIATELY."
"ATTENTION. THERE IS A TSUNAMI WARNING. MOVE TO HIGH GROUND IMMEDIATELY.
"ATTENTION. THIS IS A TEST ALARM. THIS IS ONLY A TEST. THANK YOU AND HAVE A SAFE DAY."
ATTENTION. THERE IS A WILDFIRE FORECAST TO HIT THIS AREA IN THE NEXT 30 MINUTES. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE."
If you work in manufacturing, community preparedness, or anywhwere with a control room, please make an effort to push for priority alarms that have a readout instead of a Ding. Lives depend on it.
Reddit Post Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/15z548f/lahaina_evacuation_lessons/
