Maui residents who made desperate escapes from oncoming flames, some on foot, asked why Hawaii's famous emergency warning system didn't alert them as wildfires raced toward their homes.Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens were triggered before devastating fires killed at least 55 people and wiped out a historic town, officials confirmed. The blaze is already the state's deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the Big Island. Governor Josh Green warned the death toll will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue.Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain to alert people to various natural disasters and other threats. But many of Lahaina's survivors said in interviews at evacuation centres that they didn't hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.
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