This is not an unforeseeable occurrence. Hawaii is a tiny island state that is often hit by hurricanes, tsunami, and volcanic freaking eruptions. Any organization that is empowered to close roads needs to have good policies to decide what to do in emergency evacuations so they don't accidentally social-murder anyone.
Somebody decided that preparing for this fully-predictable event wasn't a priority.
> Any organization that is empowered to close roads needs to have good policies to decide what to do in emergency evacuations so they don't accidentally social-murder anyone
So every time the utility needs to do line maintenance, it has to draw up contingency plans for a nuclear strike?
The problem wasn't overzealous road closures. It was a general lack of a fire plan.
Somebody decided that preparing for this fully-predictable event wasn't a priority.