Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images 
Herman Andaya, the head administrator for the Maui Emergency Management Agency, has resigned from his position just shortly after questions erupted about his handling of the wildfire disaster.
Hawaii News Now reported Andaya’s departure Thursday when Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen announced that Andaya resigned for “health reasons.”
“Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon,” Bissen said.
The resignation came after a disastrous news conference on Wednesday wherein Andaya defended his decision to not activate sirens in Lahaina, arguing that it would have sent people fleeing into the fires.
“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the sirens are sounded,” he said. “Had we sounded the sirens that night, we were afraid that people would have gone [mountainside], and if that was the case, they would have gone into the fire.”