This wasn’t a good old-fashioned fire; it was a high-tech incineration. From Cherie Zaslawsky at cheriezaslawsky.substack.com:
The recent conflagration in Maui’s Lahaina Town shocked the nation. Some have called it an act of war—if so, one might argue that it has a predecessor.
Although the Allies in World War II clearly needed to stop Hitler and to aid Russia in its advance on Germany from the east, many have questioned whether the firebombing of Dresden, the “Florence on the Elbe,” was justified. It was certainly horrific. Historian Donald Miller paints a vivid picture of the cataclysmic scene:
“People’s shoes melted into the hot asphalt of the streets, and the fire moved so swiftly that many were reduced to atoms before they had time to remove their shoes. The fire melted iron and steel, turned stone into powder, and caused trees to explode from the heat of their own resin.”
History may not exactly repeat, but it often rhymes. The above description sounds eerily similar to the effects of the inferno in Lahaina. Of course, Dresden was a major European cultural center in the midst of a world war, while Lahaina is a small town in Hawaii, so there the comparison ends.
And, in the case of Dresden, the apocalyptic ruination of that beautiful city resulted from incessant Allied bombing including incendiaries that created a firestorm, killing tens of thousands of civilians and leaving only charred remains of the exquisite architecture that had graced the city.
Whereas in Lahaina, there were no visible bombs, no readily discernible enemy, and for the most part, not even any rubble. Only ash.
NATURAL VS UNNATURAL EVENTS
But how can one say this fire was an act of war? Wasn’t it an accident? Can’t we call it a natural disaster?
