From the WashPost: Maui’s neglected grasslands caused Lahaina fire to grow with deadly speed. Visual analysis retraces how the grasslands blazed. Landowners and the government have done little to address the well-known problem.

“A Washington Post investigation found that the inferno that burned Lahaina town to the ground began on a fallow, unmanaged plot of land on a hill north of downtown, and the geographic spread and density of the nonnative grasses were key elements to creating a fast-moving, uncontrollable fire.”