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Two Years After Maui Burned, Researchers Reveal the Wildfire’s True Death Toll

Two Years After Maui Burned, Researchers Reveal the Wildfire’s True Death Toll

In August 2023, downed power lines on Maui, Hawaii, sparked a wildfire that quickly exploded into multiple, fast-moving blazes fanned by high winds. Over several days, the fires reduced much of the town of Lāhainā to ashes, displacing thousands and killing more than 100 people.

New research published Thursday, August 22, in the journal Frontiers in Climate suggests this disaster also caused a population-wide increase in mortality beyond what the official death count captured. By calculating the all-cause excess fatality rate—how many more deaths took place over a given period than expected—scientists found a 67% increase in the local mortality rate for August 2023. During the deadliest week of the blaze, the local death rate was 367% higher than expected. These findings underscore a need for improved disaster preparedness that incorporates Native Hawaiian ecological knowledge, the researchers concluded.

What excess death rate reveals

Looking at the excess death rate offered a fuller picture of the fire’s impact, co-first author Michelle Nakatsuka, a medical student and researcher at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, told Gizmodo in an email. “The official numbers mostly count direct causes, like burns or smoke inhalation, but excess deaths capture [the] true toll better by telling us how many more people died than would have otherwise been expected in the month of the Lāhainā fires,” she explained.

Disasters like wildfires often cause deaths in indirect ways that affect communities over time. When clinics shut down and roads are blocked off, people can’t refill their prescriptions or get dialysis treatments, Nakatsuka explained. Stress and displacement can worsen chronic conditions, and power or communication failures can delay emergency responses. “These impacts are amplified in under-resourced settings and [are] disproportionately suffered by vulnerable groups, like the elderly or people of color,” she said.

The tragic toll of the Maui fires

Even with this knowledge, Nakatsuka and her colleagues were surprised by the increase in excess mortality during the month of August 2023. Their analysis included all causes of death except covid-19. “While we anticipated an increase in excess deaths, seeing more than 80 additional deaths in the month of the Lāhainā fires was striking,” Nakatsuka said. “It was also surprising to see that the proportion of those deaths occurring outside of medical settings was larger than expected,” she added.

Indeed, the number of deaths that didn’t take place in a medical context—such as the emergency room—rose from 68% in previous months to 80% in August 2023. These people died in homes or public locations, suggesting that many were unable to reach medical care because of the fires.

A path to resilience

While all-cause excess mortality is useful for correlating increased fatalities with natural disasters, it offers little insight into the details of these deaths, Nakatsuka clarified. “The main limitation here is that we can’t say exactly which deaths were caused by the fires or look into Lāhainā-specific excess mortality; we can only measure the overall increase in deaths,” she said, adding that future research should analyze death records alongside medical and toxicology reports to identify causes of death.

Still, these findings reveal a need to improve Maui’s disaster preparedness and invest in wildfire mitigation strategies rooted in Indigenous knowledge, Nakatsuka said. “Native Hawaiian practices center around caring for the land (mālama ʻāina) in ways that naturally reduce fire risk, like restoring native plants, maintaining diverse ecosystems, and managing water resources,” she said. “Bringing Indigenous knowledge together with modern climate prediction tools will minimize risk of future climate crises and center the community’s voice at the heart of disaster prevention and recovery efforts.”

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You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home">ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard
                You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

 Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.  			 				 			 				 				© ADT 				 			 				 			 				 				© ADT 				 		  The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted.  The Live Light requires a -per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs , including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.) © ADT ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

 For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.      #ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home

ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home">ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard

You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home

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