Emergency preparedness
Wildfire readiness after Lahaina, and how profiled candidates describe prevention, staffing, and response capacity.
Candidates present different preparedness priorities after the Lahaina wildfire. Bissen emphasizes MEMA growth and firefighter hiring; Sugimura folds prevention into infrastructure and accountability; La Costa ties resilience to West Maui delivery and infrastructure capacity.
Use the cards below for each candidate’s framing.
Where candidates stand
Same issue for both races. Switch office, then for County Council pick a residency seat to compare candidates running against each other.
Race
Richard T. Bissen Jr.
Grow MEMA & firefighting
How they frame the problem
Pre-Lahaina emergency management was understaffed for the scale of wildfire and multi-hazard risk Maui faces. Detection, prevention staffing, and response capacity lagged the threat.
What they say should happen
Continue expanding MEMA (administration cites growth from 9 to 25 staff), added firefighter positions (29 cited), and detection tools such as smoke-detector cameras; keep preparedness tied to recovery and resilience investments.
Summarized from administration track-record claims in the research brief.
Yuki Lei Sugimura
Prevention + accountability
How they frame the problem
Preparedness fails when infrastructure, prevention, and transparent accountability are treated as optional add-ons. After Lahaina, readiness has to be built into how the county funds and runs core systems, not only into emergency org charts.
What they say should happen
Improve fire prevention and emergency readiness as part of the broader infrastructure and accountability agenda, so prevention, roads, water, and response capacity move together.
Summarized from campaign and council framing; less detailed public platform language than on permitting and fiscal issues.
P. Denise La Costa
Resilience via delivery
How they frame the problem
West Maui and island-wide resilience suffer when recovery, infrastructure, and emergency readiness are siloed: slow delivery on rebuilds and water leaves communities exposed when the next emergency hits.
What they say should happen
Tie preparedness to La Costa Cures delivery priorities (West Maui recovery desks, infrastructure capacity, and workforce fixes) so resilience is measured by what the county actually ships, not only by agency headcount.
Summarized from campaign framing on mayorlacosta2026.com; preparedness is framed through recovery and infrastructure delivery more than standalone MEMA proposals.