Yes, a top FEMA official was in Hawaii before the Maui fires, but it was for a conference
Bob Fenton, White House Monkeypox response coordinator, speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, in Washington. The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023 reported on social media posts claiming President Joe Biden admitted that Fenton, now coordinating the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response and recovery efforts in Maui, was in Hawaii before the deadly storm struck. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
CLAIM: President Biden admitted that a top Federal Emergency Management Agency official was already on the ground in Hawaii even before the Maui wildfires started.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. Biden officials confirmed that Bob Fenton, a regional administrator for FEMA, had been in Hawaii for an annual gathering hosted by the agency on Oahu, an island separate from Maui.
THE FACTS: Social media users are continuing to spread baseless claims that the nation’s deadliest blaze in more than a century was intentionally set by the government.
Many are citing as supposed proof a video of remarks Biden made last week in which he noted that Fenton, the FEMA official leading recovery efforts in Maui for the federal government, was already in Hawaii before the fires erupted.
“Did Joe Biden just confirm that the Lahaina fires were PLANNED to ‘Build Back Better’?” one Facebook user wrote in a post, referencing Biden’s sweeping domestic spending plan that stalled in Congress. “Not good, Joe, not good.”
It’s true that Biden mentioned that Fenton was in Hawaii as he provided an update on the federal government’s recovery efforts in Maui on Thursday.
“To that end, when I was on the island last week, I appointed Bob Fenton, one of the nation’s leading emergency managers — and I mean that; that’s not hyperbole — who has been on the ground in Hawaii since before the fires erupted — as our Chief Federal Response Coordinator to lead our long-term recovery on Maui,” the Democrat said, according to the official White House transcript.
But officials with the Biden administration said Tuesday there’s nothing revealing about the president’s remark.
Fenton happened to be in Honolulu for the Pacific Partnership Meeting, an annual gathering hosted by FEMA Region 9 to discuss disaster response, recovery, mitigation and other related efforts with state, local and territory officials, according to Jeremy Edwards, the agency’s spokesperson.
Based in Oakland, Calif., Fenton has served as administrator of Region 9, which covers Hawaii and other western states and territories, since 2015. Biden appointed him chief federal response coordinator for Maui on Aug. 21.
This year’s Pacific Partnership Meeting was supposed to run from Aug. 8 to 10 at the Alohilani Resort on Waikiki Beach, according to an agenda provided by FEMA.
The three-day gathering included a number of talks on logistics, supply chain management and emergency mutual aid. One discussion also focused on lessons learned and best practices from FEMA’s initial response and ongoing operations following Typhoon Mawar, which battered the U.S. territory of Guam in late May.
But after the fires in Maui on Aug. 8, many of the roughly 75 officials invited left the gathering early to help respond to the blaze, which killed more than 100 people and razed historic Lahaina, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under King Kamehameha.
“Fortunately, because of this meeting, FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton was already on Oahu and able to quickly integrate with state officials at their operations center in Oahu,” Edwards wrote in an emailed statement. “FEMA’s Pacific Area Office and logistics center are also located on Oahu, which allowed FEMA to further integrate with the state and also pre-deploy resources as needed and requested by the State.”
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