Hawaii Policy Research Series · Island Security Policy Institute · 2026
100 deaths. $5.5 billion in damages. $4 billion in wrongful death settlements. Three years after Lahaina, Hawaii's emergency management framework has produced incremental improvements but has not addressed the five structural failures that made the disaster catastrophic rather than manageable.
Independent assessment of Hawaii's emergency management reform three years after the Lahaina wildfire, documenting progress, persistent structural failures, and specific framework reforms required to prevent equivalent outcomes in future island emergency events. This research is produced under the ISPI Research Methodology Guide v4.0 — five pillars: government agency sources, regional organizations, OSINT/Bellingcat two-source verification, the ISPI Global Expert Panel of 78 members across 14 disciplines, and AI synthesis under practitioner review. All ISPI research is free under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Warning system architecture has been partially improved but the fundamental calibration gap — systems designed for tsunami, not wildfire — has not been fully resolved
Single-road evacuation constraints on Maui have not been addressed through infrastructure investment or alternative protocol development
The $4 billion wrongful death settlement fund establishes a legal precedent for island-specific emergency preparedness as a documented duty of care standard for all Hawaii operators
The Lahaina framework failures are present in varying degrees across all SIDS emergency management systems. The Samoa Pathway (2014) identifies disaster risk reduction as a priority area — this paper provides the practitioner analysis that converts that priority into actionable framework reform.
Pulley, Warren. "Maui Recovery and Emergency Management Reform: Three Years After Lahaina." Island Security Policy Institute, 2026. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/hi04-maui-recovery.html