

Many of the deaths counted thus far are from the most urbanized areas, with some bodies recovered from the harbor, they said. Many of those killed were believed to have died in their vehicles, those sources said. As part of The Times Open Speaker Series, R&Ds News Provenance Project team presented how user-centered design research informed their blockchain-based. But, with the power out and communications systems down, many residents reported receiving no alerts.įederal sources with knowledge of the fires but who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that a breakdown in emergency communications cost precious time, and a number of people in the historic town of Lahaina learned too late about the oncoming fire. Three other public warning systems were used, Weintraub said: wireless emergency alerts to cellphones, broadcasts through radio and television stations and alerts that residents can sign up to receive through a local emergency alert system. The Hawaiian Islands do see wildfire from time to time, but the catastrophic Maui fires were spawned by a striking mix of factors, including climate change. And at certain points around the same time, so was the main exit south out of town, where roads were blocked by fallen power poles, according to a review of Facebook posts by county officials.Įventually, virtually all of central Lahaina was reduced to ash.Īfter nightfall, conditions had deteriorated so much that Maui County urged all West Maui residents to shelter in place unless they were “in an impacted area.”Ĭlimate & Environment How a perfect storm of climate and weather led to catastrophic Maui fire The route up to the north - a narrow road that is a one-lane highway in many places - was closed Tuesday afternoon. “By 4:30, our neighbor’s yard was on fire, and we had minutes to escape,” Kaleiopu said.Īs homes were burning, the only two exit routes out of Lahaina were closed or jammed.

Then, he heard an explosion from a nearby gas station. that Dustin Kaleiopu said he noticed the smoke started to get thicker and make its way closer to his home, which was without power and communication, he told NBC’s “Today” show. It then moved downhill, southwest toward the coast, following prevailing winds and toward the Kahoma neighborhood. The blaze began burning homes in that upper area, Maui County Fire Chief Brad Ventura said. Josh Green says the fires are probably the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades.

You can also read more on The Times’s Open Blog here.World & Nation Death toll in Maui fires rises to 67: ‘We have not yet searched’ buildings To learn more about the Provenance Project, and how you can get involved, please see here. They are working with IBM’s Garage team to help develop a technical proof-of-concept built on Hyperledger Fabric, an open source blockchain framework. The Times’s R&D team, made up of technologists and journalists who explore the potential of emerging technologies for journalism, is spearheading this project. The Project will aim to combat this by establishing a set of signals that can travel with published media anywhere that it is displayed, helping to identify its original context and source. From selective cropping or editing, to the development of deepfakes, consumers can often be mislead or confused by manipulated content. As visual media travels across the internet, it is often at risk of being stripped of its original context. Spearheaded by The Times’s Research and Development team, the News Provenance Project will begin by looking at a blockchain-based system for recording and sharing metadata about media, with a focus on images and videos published by news organizations. The media company has been exploring solutions to weed out fake news and misinformation, and last year announced it was working on a blockchain pilot with IBM Garage. The New York Times is exploring new ways for publishers to help fight misinformation online with the News Provenance Project, a research initiative that will examine how new technologies can potentially inform industry-wide solutions. The New York Times (NYT) has built a blockchain prototype for The News Provenance Project to verify the source and edits of a photo.
