💬 Quoted… “The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded.”

In a press conference on Wednesday, Maui County officials defended their decision not to sound warning sirens as wildfires swept across the Hawaiian island. The alarm is typically used for tsunamis to warn residents to get away from the coast, so officials say they feared sounding the alarm would cause people to evacuate towards the danger. Maui instead relied on two different alert systems, which sent emergency messages via text and TV/radio.

• At least 111 people have been confirmed dead, while an estimated 1,000 people are still missing.
• Separately, mounting evidence suggests equipment from Hawaiian Electric, a company that supplies 95% of Hawaii’s power, may have been involved in starting the blazes.

🏘️📈 Stat of the Day: 7.09% = the current average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in the US, the highest level in over two decades. That figure is up from sub-3% as recently as September 2021.

🤔 Did You Know?... An estimated 59% of all life on Earth lives below the planet’s surface within soil, per a peer-reviewed study published last week in PNAS. Try not to think about that on your next hot girl walk.

📰 Worth a Read: How a ridiculous Eurodance parody song became the most addictive song of the summer → (BBC Culture)