2023-10-12
55 分钟We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and love.
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
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To learn more about Freakonomics Radio plus, search for Freakonomics radio on Apple Podcasts in early August this year, on a Monday morning, the National Weather Service issued a warning of high winds in Maui County, Hawaii.
By the next morning, the wind was gusting at over 70 miles an hour.
Here's how one resident described it.
Tiles are getting ripped off roofs, leaving.
Exposed rooftops with bare wood everywhere.
Power lines are like spaghetti strings everywhere.
The island started to lose electricity.
And near the town of Lahaina, there was a brush fire.
Firefighters arrived and it was soon declared contained.
But later that day, the high winds caused a flare up.
We could see the smoke and all of a sudden, oh my gosh.
The quickness with which it happened was the craziest part.
It was just so fast.
What happened next?
You have probably read about or seen in horrifying videos and news coverage.
The town of Lahaina was swallowed by fire.