Maui’s toxic debris could fill 5 football fields 5 stories deep. Where will it end up?

SEPTEMBER 8, 2024:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The debris and ash that remained after a deadly wildfire last year decimated a historic Maui town now sits in a temporary dump site. It’s enough refuse to cover five football fields five stories high, including soil contaminated with lead and arsenic. A controversy over whether that site is truly temporary — and over where the debris might finally wind up — has sparked a legal fight. Some residents fear an ecological catastrophe if pollution from the debris reaches the ocean downhill from the site. Maui officials want to seize privately owned land across the island for a permanent dump site, but the company that owns it doesn’t want to give it up.

JUNE 27, 2024:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui officials are highlighting some steps toward rebuilding nearly a year after a deadly wildfire destroyed much of Lahaina (Aug. 8, 2023). That includes residential building permits being issued, construction underway to rebuild one home and new growth on a giant, 151-year-old banyan tree along the town’s historic Front Street. Maui officials invited a group of Hawaii journalists to visit certain fire-ravaged sites to show what progress is being made. The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed thousands of homes and killed 102 people in Lahaina.

MAY 3, 2024:

HONOLULU (AP) — Maui County is suing major cellular carriers for failing to properly inform police of widespread service outages during the height of last summer’s deadly wildfire. The county is suing Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Spectrum Mobile and AT&T. The county says it sent at least 14 alert messages to cellphones, warning residents to evacuate. But the county didn’t know those messages weren’t received because of cell tower failures across the island. The lawsuit says the county would have used other warning methods if the carriers reported the service outages as required by federal law.

APRIL 17, 2024:

HONOLULU (AP) — When wildfires broke out across the Hawaiian island of Maui last August (2023), some firefighters carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their fire engines. Another drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking one person at a time away from danger. But an after-action report released Tuesday (April 16, 2024) says that despite devoting nearly every all the personnel and vehicles it had to the effort, the department was outmatched by the unprecedented blazes that left 101 people dead in Lahaina. The report makes more than 100 recommendations including adding more equipment. The Hawaii Attorney General is expected to release another report Wednesday.

Extended version:

HONOLULU (AP) — When wildfires broke out across Maui last August (2023), some firefighters carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking people away from danger one at a time.

But despite devoting nearly all the personnel and vehicles it had to the fight on Aug. 8, 2023, the Maui Fire Department was no match for an unprecedented series of blazes including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina, according to a newly released report.

Maui Fire Department workers “risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of the fires and save lives,” according to the report, made public Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, and are now “grappling with questions about what they could have done differently, a reflection that will likely persist throughout the rest of their careers.”

It was the first of two major assessments of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century coming out this week. The Hawaii Attorney General is expected to release the first phase of a comprehensive report Wednesday (April 17, 2024) that will include a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire.

The department’s report describes the difficulties and harrowing conditions faced by firefighters returning to the reignited Lahaina fire, including many resources being deployed elsewhere, structures quickly catching ablaze amid extreme winds and downed electricity lines making it hard to move resources.

It identifies 17 specific challenges faced by the department — including poorly stocked fire engines, a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties and limited equipment — and makes 111 recommendations aimed at preventing similar disasters in the future.

“The worst-case scenario happened, the fire hydrants began to lose water supply,” the authors wrote. “It is unknown if the sheer number of burning homes caused the water connections to fail or if the water supply tanks were not filled due to the early morning loss of electricity.”

The report describes a truck getting caught between downed lines and the fast-approaching flames. One crew member was able to leave in a smaller vehicle and bring back police officers to evacuate the crew. They huddled to one side of the truck, one of them unconscious from a medical emergency, to avoid the extreme heat before they were rescued.

All of that happened before 4:30 p.m., according to the report.

“There were firefighters fighting the fires in Lahaina as they well knew their homes were burning down,” Fire Chief Brad Ventura said during a news conference in Kula on Tuesday. “There were firefighters who rescued people and kept them in their apparatus for several hours as they continued to evacuate others.”

Ventura said he was “incredibly proud” of the response but believes the department can always improve.

One recommendation is that the department keep all back-up vehicles ready to go. Extra engines that were on standby for large incidents took up to an hour to deploy, according to the report, because they needed to be stocked with the proper equipment. The report did not say what they were missing.

The report also describes the chaos after the fire raged out of control. Around 6 p.m., it says, fire trucks drove over downed power lines carrying evacuees to safety. One crew came across a couple who had found a baby, and another pulled people from the water near the sea wall after they jumped into the ocean to avoid the flames.

The report says a repeater enabled radio communications to stay up despite cell towers and fiber-optic cable damage taking down the cellular network, but they were overwhelmed due to “a variety” of unspecified reasons.

Other recommendations include creating a statewide mutual aid program and an evacuation plan for residents and tourists who speak different languages.

Many of the factors that contributed to the disaster are already known: A windstorm battering the island had downed power lines and blown off parts of rooftops, and debris blocked roads throughout Lahaina.

Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged that one of its power lines fell and caused a fire in Lahaina early on Aug. 8, but the utility company denies that the morning fire caused the flames that burned through the town later that day.

Roughly 40% of Maui County’s firefighting resources were already tied up fighting other wildfires on a different part of the island.

A smaller firefighting team was tasked with handling any outbreaks in Lahaina. That crew brought the morning fire under control and even declared it extinguished, then broke for lunch. By the time they returned less than an hour later, flames had erupted in the same area and were quickly moving into a major subdivision.

“Our firefighters are well-trained, they are well-equipped. They are basically forced to make decisions every single day with the best information available,” Giesa said of the crew leaving. “It’s 20-20 hindsight, but our crews did everything that they normally do on fires.”

Cellphone and internet service was also down in the area at times, so it was difficult for some to call for help or to get information about the fire. And emergency officials did not use Hawaii’s extensive network of emergency sirens to warn Lahaina residents. The after-action report also recommends that officials undertake an analysis of the island’s cellular system.

The high winds made it hard at times for first responders to communicate on their radios, and 911 operators and emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with hundreds of calls.

Police and electricity crews tried to direct people away from roads that were partially or completely blocked by power lines. Meanwhile, people trying to flee burning neighborhoods packed the few thoroughfares in and out of town.

The traffic jam left some trapped in their cars when the fire overtook them, and others who were near the ocean jumped in to escape.

The report also highlights a vulnerability rooted in the dramatic changes Maui experienced since the arrival of Westerners and the conversion of land into pineapple and sugar plantations in the 19th century. When those closed in the late 1900s, the fallow lands became covered in invasive grasses. That and prolonged drought created a “volatile fuel bed” for fire, the report says.

Roughly 3,000 properties were destroyed when the fire overtook Lahaina, causing more than $5.5 billion in estimated damage, according to state officials.

MARCH 7, 2024:

UNDATED (AP)- Officials in Texas say power lines ignited massive wildfires across the state’s Panhandle region that destroyed homes and killed thousands of livestock last week. Texas A&M Forest Service said Thursday (March 7, 2024) that investigators concluded power lines ignited the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires. Xcel Energy also said Thursday in a news release that its equipment appeared to have played a role in the starting of the Smokehouse Creek fire. That blaze has burned nearly 1,700 square miles and spilled into neighboring Oklahoma. It was 74% contained as of Thursday. Xcel Energy disputes claims of negligence in maintaining and operating infrastructure.

Extended version:

UNDATED (AP)- Power lines ignited massive wildfires across the Texas Panhandle that destroyed homes and killed thousands of livestock, officials said Thursday (March 7, 2024), including the largest blaze in state history that the utility provider Xcel Energy said its equipment appeared to have sparked.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said its investigators have concluded that power lines ignited both the historic Smokehouse Creek fire, has burned nearly 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometers) and spilled into neighboring Oklahoma, and the nearby Windy Deuce fire, which has burned about 225 square miles (582 square kilometers). The statement did not elaborate on what led to the power lines igniting the blazes.

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the utility provider stated.

The wildfires that ignited last week in the windswept rural area prompted evacuations in a handful of small communities, destroyed as many as 500 structures and killed at least two people.

Containment levels have been increasing — the Smokehouse Creek fire was 74% contained Thursday while the Windy Deuce fire was 89%. But the Forest Service warned that high winds were expected to be moving across the dry landscape, increasing fire danger.

Downed power lines and other utility equipment have led to other major wildfires, including the deadly blaze in Maui last year and a massive California wildfire in 2019.

A lawsuit filed last week in Hemphill County alleged that a downed power line near the town of Stinnett on Feb. 26 sparked the Smokehouse Creek fire. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Stinnett homeowner against Xcel Energy and two other utilities, alleged the blaze started “when a wooden pole defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain and replace, splintered and snapped off at its base.”

While Xcel Energy said in its Thursday news release that its equipment appeared to have played a role in igniting the Smokehouse Creek fire, it disputed claims of negligence in maintaining and operating infrastructure. The Minnesota-based company also noted in the statement that it did not believe its equipment caused the ignition of the Windy Deuce fire, nor was it aware of any allegations that it had.

Two women were confirmed killed by the wildfires last week, one who was overtaken by flames after getting out of her truck and another whose remains were found in her burned home. On Tuesday, the fire chief in one of the hardest hit towns died while responding to a house fire. An official said that while the blaze wasn’t caused by a wildfire, Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith had been tirelessly fighting wildfires for over a week when he died. An autopsy will determine Smith’s cause of death.

The Associated Press has requested the full reports from the Forest Service on the causes of the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires.

Dale Smith, who operates a large cattle ranch east of Stinnett, worked last week to tally up the number of cattle he’d lost as the wildfires raged. He said then that he believed a faulty power line was likely to blame, and that he’d been concerned about their maintenance.

“These fires are becoming a regular occurrence,” he said. “Lives are being lost. Livestock are being lost. Livelihoods are being lost. It’s a sad story that repeats itself again and again.”

FEBRUARY 14, 2024:

HONOLULU (AP) — The death toll from the wildfire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, has climbed to 101 after Maui police confirmed the identity of one new victim, a 76-year-old man. Maui police found Paul Kasprzycki’s remains off a side street in an industrial area. Police identified him by comparing X-rays taken before and after his death. A new cold case unit Maui police formed after the fire made the identification. There are now two people missing from the Aug. 8, 2023, blaze. Two-thirds of those killed in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century were in their 60s or older.

JANUARY 27, 2024:

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii officials have identified the last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina in August. Maui police said Friday (Jan. 26, 2024) the victim was identified as 70-year-old Lydia Coloma. Identifying those who perished in the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century has been a long, arduous process. Forensic experts and cadaver dogs sifted through ash for bodies that were possibly cremated, and authorities collected DNA samples from victims’ family members. It remains unclear if additional people died. Just a few people remain unaccounted for.

Extended version:

HONOLULU (AP) — The last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina in August was identified Friday (Jan. 26, 2024) as a 70-year-old woman whose husband, sister and several other relatives also died in the fire.

Maui police said they identified the victim as Lydia Coloma based on the context of where the remains were found, rather than through DNA or other positive identification methods.

Her husband, along with a sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, also died in the fire, said her sister-in-law, Tina Acosta, in Honolulu. Coloma was from the Ilocos Sur province in the Philippines, Acosta said, adding that she didn’t know why the final identification took so long.

“We were waiting,” she said.

Identifying those who perished in the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century has been a long, arduous process. Forensic experts and cadaver dogs have had to sift through ash searching for bodies that were possibly cremated, and authorities collected DNA samples from victims’ family members.

The DNA testing allowed officials in September to revise the death toll downward, from 115 to at least 97. The toll rose slightly over the next month as some victims succumbed to their injuries or as police found additional remains.

The number of those who remain unaccounted for has also fallen — to just a few from a previous high of nearly 400, according to the Maui Police Department. Coloma was on the unaccounted-for list before her official identification as a victim. Three people remain on the list.

The victims ranged in age from 7 to 97, but more than two-thirds were in their 60s or older, according to Maui police’s list of known victims. Several were residents of a low-income senior apartment complex.

Authorities began reopening the burn zone last fall to residents and property owners who lost homes while urging returning residents not to sift through the ashes for fear of raising toxic dust.

This month, crews started clearing debris from residential lots. The waste is being wrapped in thick industrial plastic before the Army Corps of Engineers takes it to a temporary storage site south of Lahaina.

The disaster devastated Maui and Hawaii more broadly. Caught in a hellscape, some residents died in their cars, while others jumped into the ocean or tried to run for safety.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. It may have been sparked by downed power lines that ignited dry, invasive grasses. An AP investigation found the answer may lie in an overgrown gully beneath Hawaiian Electric Co. power lines and something that harbored smoldering embers from an initial fire that burned in the morning and then rekindled in high winds that afternoon.

The blaze destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes, and is estimated to have caused $5.5 billion in damage.

Nearly six months after the blaze, about 5,000 displaced residents were still living in hotels or other short-term accommodations around Maui. Economists have warned that without zoning and other changes, housing costs in already expensive Lahaina could be prohibitively costly for many after rebuilding.

OCTOBER 9, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — The area around the historic Maui town largely destroyed by wildfire two months ago has begun welcoming back travelers. The move this weekend (Oct. 7-8, 2023) comes as the mayor and Hawaii’s governor push ahead to restart tourism in support of the economy despite vocal opposition from some Lahaina residents. The websites of five hotels in West Maui show they are accepting reservations again. Eight timeshare properties also are opening across the region early this month, including some a few miles from the devastation. The reopening falls on the two-month anniversary of the wildfire that killed at least 98 people.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023:

UNDATED (AP)- Melted remains of an old car tire. Two burned trees. A stump of an abandoned utility pole. These are among the pieces of evidence investigators are examining as they seek to solve the mystery of last month’s (Aug. 2023) Maui wildfire: How did a small fire sparked by downed power lines and declared extinguished flare up again hours later into a devastating inferno? The answer may lie in an overgrown gully beneath Hawaiian Electric Co. power lines and something that harbored smoldering embers from the first fire and rekindled into a wall of flame that destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed at least 97 people.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023:

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Authorities in Hawaii have adjusted the number of deaths from the deadly Maui wildfire down to at least 97 people.

Officials previously said they believed at least 115 people had died in the fire, but further testing showed they had multiple DNA samples from some of the victims. The number of those who are missing also fell from 41 to 31, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said.

John Byrd, laboratory director with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said during a news conference Friday afternoon (Sept. 15, 2023) that the current number of dead should be considered a minimum, because it’s possible that toll could rise.

Determining the death toll from the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire in Lahaina has been especially complicated because of the damage caused by the fire and the chaos as people tried to escape, officials said. In some cases, animal remains were inadvertently collected along with human remains.

So far, 74 of the deceased have been positively identified, Pelletier said.

The Lahaina fire is the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. Caught in a hellscape, some residents died in their cars, while others jumped into the ocean or tried to run for safety. The blaze reduced much of the historic town to ash.

“When the fire broke out, people ran together, they huddled together,” said Dr. Jeremy Stuelpnagel, Maui County physician’s coroner. “They’re holding each other in those moments. Some of them were even holding pets.” Because of this, some remains arrived commingled.

Byrd said the initial death tally was too high for several reasons, adding that the lower tally now was the “normal and natural” progression of the long-term forensics investigation.

“We look at body bags that come in and we do an initial inventory and we assess how many people are represented there,” he said. “When you do the first tally of all those that have come in, the number tends to be too high because as you begin to do more analysis and examination you realize that actually you’ve got two bags that were the same person or you have two bags that were the same two people but you didn’t realize that.”

“The numbers start a little too high on the morgue side and eventually settles until at some point it’s going to be a final accurate number. I would say we’re not quite there yet,” Byrd said.

Only people who have had a missing person report filed for them with the Maui Police Department are on the verified missing list, Pelletier said. If a missing person report hasn’t been filed for someone more than five weeks after the fire, then that person probably isn’t actually missing, the chief said.

Stuelpnagel wasn’t supposed to start in his new role until October. But he sped up his start date and arrived on Maui from New York City soon after the fire. Until he arrived, Maui’s medical examiner duties were shared with other counties.

“When this happened it was time to drop everything and come here,” he said.

Stuelpnagel said people working on the identification process are trying to “reunify people to have them as whole as they’re able to be,” before the remains are returned to their loved ones.

The work to reunite fire victims with families involves more than just DNA tests, officials said. Anthropologists are assisting, and officials are gathering clues from dental work and medical devices like pacemakers when possible.

Authorities expressed relief at having a better grasp on the number of dead and those still unaccounted for in the wildfire.

“For the very first time … we legitimately have a chance to identify every single person we lost and to reunite them with their family,” Pelletier said. “And so in the midst of all this tragedy, there’s a little ray of hope right there and so that really is incredible.”

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — Lawyers for residents and business owners of the Hawaiian town devastated by last month’s fires on Maui told a court that cable TV and telephone companies share in responsibility for the disaster. The attorneys made the statements Tuesday (Sept. 5, 2023), saying the companies allegedly overloaded and destabilized some of the power poles. The lawyers said the cables were attached in a way that put too much tension on the poles, causing them to lean and break in the winds on Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii is opening several investigations into people who allegedly have made unsolicited offers for property in the fire-stricken town of Lahaina in violation of a new emergency order. Gov. Josh Green prohibited such offers by signing an emergency proclamation on Aug. 19, 2023, aimed at preventing land in the historic coastal community from flowing into the hands of outside buyers. Green told The Associated Press the order aims to give residents some “breathing room” as they decide what to do next. Earlier this month Green said he wanted to impose a moratorium on Lahaina land sales. He says the prohibition on unsolicited offers is a “de facto” moratorium.

AUGUST 29, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s electric utility acknowledged Sunday night (Aug. 27, 2023) its power lines started a wildfire on Maui but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Hawaiian Electric Company released a statement in response to Maui County’s lawsuit blaming the utility for failing to shut off power preemptively. Hawaiian Electric called that complaint “factually and legally irresponsible,” and said its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours when the second blaze started. A Maui County attorney says it’s the utility’s fault because their power lines caused the initial fire.

AUGUST 28, 2023:

UNDATED (AP)- In the first moments of the Maui fires, when high winds brought down power poles, slapping electrified wires to the dry grass below, there was a reason the flames erupted all at once in long, neat rows — those wires were bare, uninsulated metal that could spark on contact. Videos and images analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed those wires were among miles of line that Hawaiian Electric Co. left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them. Many power poles on Maui were built to “an obsolete 1960s standard,” were leaning and near the end of their projected life.

AUGUST 25, 2023, UPDATE:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui County has released the names of 388 people still missing more than two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Officials said Thursday (Aug. 24, 2023) that they want to hear from anyone who knows a person on the list to be safe. Police Chief John Pelletier says that releasing the names isn’t easy but that officials want to be thorough. Names were deemed validated if officials had a first and last name and a verified contact for the person reporting them missing. More than 1,700 additional people reported missing have been found safe as of Thursday afternoon. The number of confirmed dead stands at 115.

AUGUST 25, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — Maui County has sued Hawaiian Electric Company over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane. The Aug. 8 fire killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing. A Hawaiian Electric statement says they’re “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”

Extended version:

HONOLULU (AP) — Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday (Aug. 24, 2023) over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.

Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane. The Aug. 8 fires killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing, making them the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.

Hawaii Electric said in a statement it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”

The lawsuit said the destruction could have been avoided and that the utility had a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”

The utility knew that high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”

A drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Hawaii, strong winds toppled at least 30 power poles in West Maui. Video shot by a Lahaina resident shows a downed power line setting dry grasses alight. Firefighters initially contained that fire, but then left to attend to other calls, and residents said the fire later reignited and raced toward downtown Lahaina.

With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina’s Front Street. A number of residents jumped into the water off Maui as they tried to escape the flaming debris and overheated black smoke enveloping downtown.

Dozens of searchers in snorkel gear this week have been combing a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of water for signs of anyone who might have perished. Crews are also painstakingly searching for remains among the ashes of destroyed businesses and multistory residential buildings.

For now, the number of confirmed dead stands at 115, a number that the county said is expected to rise.

Maui County on Thursday released eight additional names of people who have been identified, including a family of four whose remains were found in a burned car near their home: 7-year-old Tony Takafua; his mother Salote Tone, 39; and his grandparents Faaoso Tone, 70, and Maluifonua Tone, 73.

The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted for. The FBI said Tuesday there were 1,000 to 1,100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.

“Our primary focus in the wake of this unimaginable tragedy has been to do everything we can to support not just the people of Maui, but also Maui County,” Hawaiian Electric’s statement said.

Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaii’s electric customers. It is also facing several lawsuits from Lahaina residents as well as one from some of its own investors, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit Thursday, saying it failed to disclose that its wildfire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.

Maui County’s lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during bad windstorms and said the “severe and catastrophic losses … could have easily been prevented” if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.

The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.

Other utilities have been found liable for devastating fires recently.

In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.

Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually razed the town of Paradise, California.

AUGUST 24, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — During the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, a developer of land around a threatened Maui community urgently asked state officials for permission to divert stream water to help fight the growing inferno. In letters reviewed by the AP, the developer suggests approval was delayed while the state sought the OK from a taro farmer downstream. The dispute highlights tensions over water rights that date to Hawaii’s mid-1800s plantation era. The executive who wrote the letters says he wants stream water for fire suppression. Native Hawaiians worry the developer is using the fires to reduce overall caps on their water use.

AUGUST 23, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Authorities in Hawaii are pleading with relatives of those missing after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century to come forward and give DNA samples. Officials said Tuesday (Aug. 22, 2023) that the low number provided so far threatens to hinder efforts to identify any remains discovered in the ashes. Some 1,000 to 1,100 names remain on a tentative, unconfirmed list of people unaccounted for after wildfires destroyed the historic seaside community of Lahaina on Maui. But authorities say that so far, DNA samples have been collected from from just 104 families. That’s lower than what has been seen in other disasters. It’s not immediately clear why. Authorities have said there are 115 confirmed deaths from the fire.

AUGUST 22, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui authorities say more than 800 people remain unaccounted for two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the community of Lahaina. It’s a staggering number that presents huge challenges for officials who are trying to determine how many of those people perished and how many may have made it to safety but haven’t checked in. As of Monday (Aug. 21, 2023) the toll of confirmed dead was 115. A list of the missing was published after a 2018 wildfire killed 85 people in Paradise, California, and officials were able to reduce the number of names from 1,300 to just about a dozen within a month. But Maui officials are not making their list public.

AUGUST 18, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — An emergency official who defended a decision to not sound outdoor alert sirens on Maui as a ferocious fire raged has resigned. Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya had said this week that he had no regrets about not deploying the system because he feared it could have caused people to go “mauka.” That’s a Hawaiian term that can mean toward the mountains or inland. And if the had gone in that direction, he said they would have run into the fire. On Thursday (Aug. 17, 2023), he stepped down. The decision to not use the sirens, coupled with water shortages that hampered firefighters and an escape route clogged with vehicles that were overrun by flames, has brought intense criticism from many residents.

AUGUST 17, 2023, UPDATE:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaii’s governor has vowed to protect local landowners from being “victimized” by opportunistic buyers when Maui rebuilds from a deadly wildfire that incinerated a historic island community and killed more than 100 people. Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday (Aug. 16, 2023) that he had instructed the state attorney general to work toward a moratorium on land transactions in Lahaina. He acknowledged the move will likely face legal challenges. As the death roll rose to 111 on Wednesday, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency defended not sounding sirens during the fire. Hawaii has what it touts as the largest system of outdoor alert sirens in the world.

AUGUST 17, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Public schools on Maui started the process of reopening and traffic resumed on a major road in signs of recovery a week after wildfires demolished a historic town and killed at least 110 people, while the head of the island’s emergency agency said he had “no regret” that sirens weren’t sounded to warn people about the onrushing flames.

At least three schools untouched by flames in Lahaina, where entire neighborhoods were reduced to ash, were still being assessed after sustaining wind damage, Hawaii Department of Education superintendent Keith Hayashi said.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but overall the campuses and classrooms are in good condition structurally, which is encouraging,” Hayashi said in a video update. “We know the recovery effort is still in the early stages, and we continue to grieve the many lives lost.”

Elsewhere crews cleaned up ash and debris at schools and tested air and water quality. Displaced students who enroll at those campuses can access services such as meals and counseling, Hayashi said. The education department is also offering counseling for students, family members and staff.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened its first disaster recovery center on Maui, “an important first step” toward helping residents get information about assistance, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said. They also can go there for updates on aid applications.

Criswell said she would accompany President Joe Biden on Monday (Aug. 21, 2023) when he visits to survey the damage and “bring hope.”

At a news conference, Herman Andaya, Maui Emergency Management Agency administrator, defended not sounding the sirens during the fire. “We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” he said, using the Hawaiian directional term that can mean toward the mountains or inland. “If that was the case then they would have gone into the fire.”

There are no sirens in the mountains, where the fire was spreading downhill.

Hawaii created what it touts as the largest system of outdoor alert sirens in the world after a 1946 tsunami that killed more than 150. Andaya said they are primarily meant to warn about tsunamis and have never been used for wildfires. The website for the Maui siren system says they may be used to alert for fires.

Beyond the decision to not use sirens, state and local officials have faced public criticism over shortages of available water to fight the fire and a chaotic evacuation that saw many trapped in their vehicles on a jammed roadway as flames swept over them.

Avery Dagupion, whose family’s home was destroyed, is angry that residents weren’t given earlier warning to get out and that officials prematurely suggested danger had passed.

He pointed to an announcement by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen on Aug. 8 saying the fire had been contained, “instilling a false hope in residents of Lahaina,” when hours later the fire exploded. That, he said, lulled people into a sense of safety and adds to the mistrust that he and others have over officials’ efforts now.

At the news conference, Gov. Josh Green and Bissen bristled when asked about that mistrust and how they can assure the public they will do all that’s needed to help the community rebuild.

“Did mistakes happen? Absolutely,” the governor said, later adding: “You can look here to see who you can trust,” referring to the police, fire, emergency and Red Cross officials standing behind him.

“I can’t answer why people don’t trust people,” Bissen said. “The people who were trying to put out these fires lived in those homes — 25 of our firefighters lost their homes. You think they were doing a halfway job?”

With the death toll rising by four since Tuesday, a mobile morgue unit with additional coroners has been brought in to help.

Kimberly Buen was awaiting word Wednesday of her father, Maurice “Shadow” Buen, a retired sport fisherman who lived in an assisted-living facility that was destroyed.

The 79-year-old was blind in one eye, partially blind in the other and used a walker or an electric scooter to get around. In recent weeks he also had swollen feet.

“For him, there is no moving quickly,” Buen said. The stories from survivors who fled the fast-moving flames terrified her.

“If able-bodied people were having to run and jump into the ocean, I can only imagine what’s happened to the assisted living and the lower income and the elderly people that didn’t have warning, you know, or have any resources to get out,” she said.

Bill Seidl, 75, lived in the same complex. His daughter, Cassie Seidl, of Valencia, California, said he knocked on doors before escaping.

“I think people were assuming it was just another brushfire,” she said. “I don’t think people realized, and they were not warned.”

Seidl’s father is now camping on a friend’s property in Wailuku.

On Tuesday, the county released the names of two victims: Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79. They were the first of five who have been identified.

Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina was destroyed, and Principal Tonata Lolesio said lessons would resume in the coming weeks at another Catholic school. She said it was important for students to be with their friends, teachers and books, and not constantly thinking about the tragedy.

“I’m hoping to at least try to get some normalcy or get them in a room where they can continue to learn or just be in another environment where they can take their minds off of that,” she said.

The main building of the Children of the Rainbow Preschool in the center of Lahaina was also completely destroyed, director and lead teacher Noelle Kamaunu said via email Wednesday, adding that she’s thankful she closed the school the morning of the fire because the power was out. The staff is safe, and families have been accounted for.

“We are not allowed into the area so I am unable to even see it with my own eyes. Children of the Rainbow Preschool is in my heart, my second home,” said Kamaunu, who has worked there for 20 years. “It is a tragic loss.”

The governor said Wednesday that he instructed the state’s attorney general to institute a moratorium on land transactions in the Lahaina area. Green said he has heard of people he described as not even in real estate reaching out to ask about purchasing land owned by people in the disaster area.

“My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is victimized from a land grab,” he said.

The cause of the wildfires, already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, is under investigation. Hawaii is increasingly at risk from disasters, and wildfire is what is escalating the most, according to an AP analysis of FEMA records.

Green has warned that scores more bodies could be found.

John Allen and his daughter surveyed an ash-gray landscape once festooned with colorful orchids and plumerias from a hill above the fire zone. His daughter wept as she pointed to the coffee shop where she used to work, and the places they used to live.

Allen moved to Maui two years ago after leaving Oakland, California, where he witnessed a destructive wildfire race up hillsides in 1991.

“No one realizes how quickly fires move,” Allen said.

AUGUST 15, 2023, UPDATE:

UNDATED (AP)- Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes in the Maui wildfires have become key evidence in the search for a cause. Hawaiian Electric Co. faces criticism for not shutting off the power amid high wind warnings. A class-action lawsuit has already been filed seeking to hold the company responsible for the deaths of at least 99 people. The lawsuit cites the utility’s own documents from last year showing it was aware that preemptive power shutoffs such as those used in California were an effective strategy to prevent wildfires but never adopted them.

AUGUST 15, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaii officials worked painstakingly to identify the 99 people confirmed killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui and expected to release the first names Tuesday (Aug. 15, 2023), even as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods reduced to ash.

A week after a blaze tore through historic Lahaina, many who survived have started moving into hundreds of hotel rooms set aside for displaced locals while donations of food, ice, water and other essentials have poured in.

Crews using cadaver dogs have scoured about 25% of the search area, the police chief said Monday. Gov. Josh Green asked for patience and space to do the search properly as authorities became overwhelmed with requests to visit the burn area.

“For those people who have walked into Lahaina because they really wanted to see, know that they’re very likely walking on iwi,” he said at a news conference on Maui, using the Hawaiian word for “bones.”

Just three bodies have been identified so far and officials will start releasing names on Tuesday, according to Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, who renewed an appeal for families with missing relatives to provide DNA samples.

Green warned that scores more bodies could be found. The wildfires, some of which have not yet been fully contained, are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Their cause was under investigation.

Authorities paused a system that had allowed Lahaina residents and others to visit devastated areas with police permits. Kevin Eliason said when he was turned away, the line of cars with people waiting to get a placard had grown to at least 3 miles (5 kilometers) long.

“It’s a joke,” Eliason said. “It’s just crazy. They didn’t expect, probably, tens of thousands of people to show up there.”

The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina last week destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000. That fire has been 85% contained, according to the county. Another blaze known as the Upcountry fire has been 65% contained.

Even where the fire has retreated, authorities have warned that toxic byproducts may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes. That has left many unable to return home.

The Red Cross said 575 evacuees were spread across five shelters on Monday, including the War Memorial Gymnasium in Wailuku. Green said that thousands of people will need housing for at least 36 weeks.

More than 3,000 people have registered for federal assistance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that number was expected to grow.

“We’re not taking anything off the table, and we’re going to be very creative in how we use our authorities to help build communities and help people find a place to stay for the longer term,” agency administrator Deanne Criswell said.

FEMA has started to provide $700 to displaced residents to cover the cost of food, water, first aid and medical supplies. The money is in addition to whatever amount residents qualify for to cover the loss of homes and personal property.

The Biden administration is seeking $12 billion more for the government’s disaster relief fund as part of its supplemental funding request to Congress.

Green said “leaders all across the board” have helped by donating over a million pounds (454,000 kilograms) of food as well as ice, water, diapers and baby formula.

“When people are hurting, the community steps up and takes care of each other,” Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said at a news conference Monday.

A small number of active duty U.S. Marines have also joined the aid efforts.

Meanwhile, the local power utility has faced criticism for not shutting off power as strong winds buffeted a parched area under high risk for fire. It’s not clear whether the utility’s equipment played any role in igniting the flames.

Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. will cooperate with the state’s investigation as well as conducting its own, President and CEO Shelee Kimura said.

Kimura said many factors go into a decision to cut power, including the impact on people who rely on specialized medical equipment. She also noted that shutting off power in the fire area would have knocked out water pumps.

“Even in places where this has been used, it is controversial and it’s not universally accepted,” she said.

Fueled by dry grass and propelled by strong winds from a passing hurricane, the flames on Maui raced as fast as a mile (1.6 kilometers) every minute in one area, according to Green.

As firefighters battled the flames last week, a flurry of court actions were lodged over access to water.

Some state officials say there is not enough water available for firefighters in central Maui, and blame a recent ruling by an environmental court judge. The ruling did not directly affect water supplies to Lahaina, the attorney general’s office said Monday.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Jeffrey Crabtree issued an order temporarily suspending water caps he imposed for 48 hours. The judge also authorized water distribution as requested by Maui fire officials, the county or the state until further notice if he could not be reached.

But that wasn’t enough for the state attorney general’s office, which later filed a petition with the state Supreme Court blaming Crabtree for a lack of water for firefighting. The state asked the court not to let Crabtree alter the amount of water to be diverted or to put a hold on his restrictions until the petition is resolved.

It’s part of a long-running battle between environmentalists and private companies over the practice of diverting water from streams that started during Hawaii’s sugar plantation past.

___

Kelleher reported from Honolulu and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Haven Daley in Kalapua, Hawaii; Beatrice Dupuy in New York; and Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

AUGUST 14, 2023:

UNDATED (AP)- The Maui Police Department updated the number of confirmed deaths to 96 around 9 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 13, 2023), Maui County said in a statement.

In a video update released earlier on Sunday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said more than 2,700 structures were destroyed in Lahaina and “an estimated value of $5.6 billion has gone away.”

Green said the response has been “comprehensive” in the past several days: “We are bringing the full force of government to try to do all we can to alleviate suffering.”

FEMA is overseeing the federal response in Hawaii with 416 personnel including FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

“We’ve had a lot of time to discuss how we will ultimately rebuild Lahaina and support Maui,” Green said.

Green said President Joe Biden has “authorized the full force of the federal government in support of us.”

A federal urban search and rescue team will be accompanied by 20 dogs that can locate the places where people have perished.

“I will tell you this, as a physician, it is a harrowing sight in Maui,” Green said. “When those providers, the police and this division, do come across scenes in houses or businesses it is very difficult for them because they know, ultimately, they will be sharing with our people that there have been more fatalities. I do expect the numbers to rise.”

AFTER THE FIRE, BISHOP URGES SURVIVORS NOT TO GIVE UP HOPE

The Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Honolulu celebrated Mass on Sunday at a church in Kapalua — just up the road from fire-ravaged Lahaina — and urged those reeling from the wildfire not to give up hope.

“How could this be a good, loving God allowing such things to happen?” the Most Rev. Clarence “Larry” Silva asked. “We need to wrestle with that. The worst thing we can do is to give God the silent treatment. If we are angry with God we should tell him so. He can take it. He will still love us.”

During the Mass, Silva read a message from Pope Francis that he was praying for those who lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods — as well as for first responders

After the service, Silva declared “God loves us in tragedies and good times” and urged those present “to share that faith with others who may lose it or don’t have it so that they can go on and they don’t give up hope.”

Several parishioners from Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina attended the Mass, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the epicenter of the destruction.

Taufa Samisoni was present. His uncle, aunt, cousin and cousin’s 7-year-old son all died. Samisoni’s wife Katalina cited a Bible reading from Sunday’s Mass about how Jesus’ apostle Peter walked on water because of faith — and she woud rely on faith to cope. “If Peter can walk on water, yes we can. We will get to the shore,” she said, her voice quivering.

The Lahaina church survived the fire even though the adjoining Catholic school burned. Administrators are exploring potentially holding classes for the 200 students in hotel ballrooms and conference rooms.

Silva told The Associated Press the community is worried about the children, who have witnessed tragedy and are anxious. “The more they can be in a normal situation with their peers and learning and having fun, I think the better off they’ll be,” he said.

HOTEL COOK: FROM FEEDING GUESTS TO FEEDING THE DISPLACED

JP Mayoga, a cook at the Westin Maui in Kaanapali, is still making breakfast, lunch and dinner on a daily basis. But instead of serving hotel guests, he’s feeding the roughly 200 hotel employees and their families now living there after Tuesday’s deadly fire ravaged Lahaina just south of the resort.

His home was spared. But his partner, two young children, father and another Lahaina local are all staying in a hotel room together, as it has running water and is safer than the toxic debris now covering Lahaina.

“Everybody has their story and everybody lost something, so everybody can be there for each other and they understand what’s going on in each other’s lives,” he said of his fellow employees.

Such scenes of community support were seen on the beach just outside the hotel the previous day, when a catamaran that had sailed up to Kaanapali from further south arrived with water, food, batteries, toiletries and other basic necessities.

Lahaina residents said they found comfort and hope in community solidarity. But for many, the shock of the loss was only intensifying.

“This is sinking in,” said Mark Holland, a lifelong Lahaina resident who walked amid the ruins of its commercial and social hub for the first time after the fire. “The things that I saw I cannot describe,” he said through tears.

WILDFIRE MAGNIFIES WORRIES ABOUT CHRONIC HOUSING SHORTAGE

The wildfire that laid waste to wooden homes and historic streets in mere hours last week has magnified concerns about a chronic housing shortage. Maui County estimates more than 80% of the more than 2,700 structures in hard-hit Lahaina were damaged or destroyed, and that some 4,500 residents are newly in need of shelter.

Concerns are multiplying that any homes rebuilt there will target affluent outsiders seeking a tropical haven. That would turbo-charge what is already one of Hawaii’s gravest and biggest challenges: the exodus and displacement of Native Hawaiian and local-born residents who can no longer afford to live in their homeland.

Seeking to help the displaced, the West Hawaiʻi Realtors Association has curated a housing inventory catalog online — encompassing the entire state — in collaboration with other retail associations. The newly launched website details all available housing options in real-time and provides a platform for those willing to offer up a second home, vacation rental, or additional space for a displaced Maui resident.

Richy Palalay so closely identifies with his Maui hometown that he had a tattoo artist permanently ink “Lahaina Grown” on his forearms when he was 16. “Lahaina is my home. Lahaina is my pride. My life. My joy,” he said in a text message.

But with the median price of a Maui home is $1.2 million, that puts a single-family home out of reach for the typical wage earner. It’s not possible for many to even buy a condo, with the median condo price at $850,000.

Still, Palalay vows to stay. “I don’t have any money to help rebuild. I’ll put on a construction hat and help get this ship going. I’m not going to leave this place,” he said. “Where am I going to go?”

IN SEARCH FOR LOVED ONES, RELATIVES IN ANGUISHED WAIT

Lylas Kanemoto has been searching for her cousin, Glen Yoshino, since the inferno swept through Lahaina. Kanemoto said the family is in the process of submitting a DNA test from Yoshino’s nephew in case any remains are found that might belong to her cousin. Other family members, she said, were already found dead in their car. “At least we have closure for them, but the loss and heartbreak is unbearable for many. We as a community has to just embrace each other and support our families, friends, and our community to our best of our abilities,” Kanemoto told the AP by text message on Sunday.

TRAVELERS URGED TO AVOID MAUI

Hawaii officials urged tourists to avoid traveling to Maui as many hotels prepared to house evacuees and first responders on the island that faces a long recovery from the wildfire that demolished a historic town and killed more than 90 people.

About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of Kahului Airport in West Maui since the devastation in Lahaina became clear Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

“In the weeks ahead, the collective resources and attention of the federal, state and county government, the West Maui community, and the travel industry must be focused on the recovery of residents who were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses,” the agency said in a statement late Saturday.

HIRONO: WILDFIRE THREAT IN HAWAII JUST AS GREAT AS IN WESTERN U.S.

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, said she walked through Lahaina with FEMA on Saturday to see firsthand the extent of the loss.

As she walked through the destroyed town, Hirono said she passed a line of charred cars by the ocean where it was clear to her the occupants had fled quickly — likely into the water.

“We are in a period of mourning and loss,” Hirono said.

Hirono said the attorney general has launched a review into why there were not warning sirens alerting people to the danger and allowing them to flee before wildfires quickly consumed the town.

Hirono said the tragedy showed that Hawaii has just as much of a wildfire threat as Western states and more attention needs to be paid to wildfire prevention on the island.

“There is not enough recognition that we are going to have to combat these kinds of wildfires,” Hirono said.

GOVERNOR SAYS DEATH TOLL INCREASES, POLICY REVIEW PLANNED

In a press conference Saturday, Gov. Josh Green said the number of confirmed deaths from the Maui wildfires had risen to 89, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years.

Maui County later raised the confirmed death toll to 93.

There were 2,200 structures destroyed or damaged just in West Maui, and 86% of those were residential buildings, Green said.

“The losses approach $6 billion in estimate,” Green said, adding that it would take “an incredible amount of time” to recover.

Green said officials will review policies and procedures to improve safety.

“People have asked why we are reviewing what’s going on and it’s because the world has changed. A storm now can be a hurricane-fire or a fire-hurricane,” he said. “That’s what we experienced, that’s why we’re looking into these policies, to find out how we can best protect our people.”

DONATIONS ARRIVE IN KAANAPALI

On Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen people formed an assembly line on Kaanapali Beach to unload water, toiletries, batteries and other essentials from a boat that had sailed from another part of the island to drop off supplies.

The catamaran belonged to boat tour agency Kai Kanani Sailing. David Taylor, the agency’s marketing director, said many of the supplies were for hotel employees on the western side of the island who lost their homes and were now living with their families at their place of employment.

“The aloha still exists,” he said as the group applauded when the unpacking was done. “We all feel it really intensely and everybody wants to feel like they can do something.”

Caitlin McKnight, who was among those helping, echoed similar sentiments. She said she’d also volunteered at the emergency shelter set up at the War Memorial, where she tried to be strong for those who lost everything.

“It was evident that those people, those families, people of the Maui ohana — they went through a traumatic event,” she said, using a Hawaiian word for family. “You could just see it in their face.”

AUGUST 11, 2023, UPDATE:

UNDATED (AP)- The Maui Humane Society is seeking donations to help care for hundreds of dogs, cats and other animals that have been injured or separated from their human families because of the wildfires in Hawaii. The group said that it expects an inundation of lost pets. It is seeking emergency foster homes, pet food and litter and cash donations to provide medical care for wounded animals. At least 55 people have died in the devastating fires, and officials warn the toll could rise. Authorities are working to evacuate people from Maui as firefighters work to contain wildfires and put out flare-ups. The County of Maui says that 14,900 visitors left Maui by air on Thursday (Aug. 10, 2023).

AUGUST 11, 2023:

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui residents who made desperate escapes from oncoming flames have asked why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning system didn’t alert them as wildfires raced toward their homes. Officials have confirmed that Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens were triggered before devastating fires killed at least 55 people and wiped out a historic town. The blaze is already the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami. The governor warned the death toll will likely rise. Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world. But many of Lahaina’s survivors said in interviews that they only realized they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.

AUGUST 10, 2023, UPDATE:

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui is revealing a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities, as firefighters battle the stubborn blaze that has already claimed 36 lives, making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday (Aug. 8, 2023) and took the island by surprise, racing through parched growth and neighborhoods in the historic town of Lahaina, a tourist destination that dates to the 1700s. Maui County said late Wednesday that at least 36 people have died, but that figure could rise as rescuers reach parts of the island Thursday that had been unreachable.

Extended version:

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze that has already claimed 36 lives, making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years.

Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday (Aug. 8, 2023) and took the island by surprise, racing through parched growth and neighborhoods in the historic town of Lahaina, a tourist destination that dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island’s west side.

Maui County said late Wednesday that at least 36 people had died, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise. The Hawaii toll could rise, though, as rescuers reach parts of the island that had been unreachable due to ongoing fires or obstructions. Officials said earlier Wednesday that 271 structures had been damaged or destroyed and that dozens of people had been injured.

“We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,” said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

He said search and rescue teams still won’t be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they’re sure that they’re going to be able to get to those areas safely.

“What we have here is a natural disaster,” Weintraub said. “There may have been questions that need to be examined about whether it was handled in the right way. But we still got people in danger. We still have people who don’t have homes. We still have people who can’t find their loved ones.”

The flames left some people with mere minutes to act and led some to flee into the ocean. A Lahaina man, Bosco Bae, posted video on Facebook from Tuesday night that showed fire burning nearly every building on a street as sirens blared and spark-filled winds roared by. Bae, who said he was one of the last people to leave the town, was evacuated to the island’s main airport and was waiting to be allowed to return home.

Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described their harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies Tuesday afternoon. The couple and their 6-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire.

“We barely made it out,” Kawaakoa, 34, said at an evacuation shelter on Wednesday, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment.

As the family fled, a senior center across the road erupted in flames. They called 911, but didn’t know if the people got out. As they drove away, downed utility poles and others fleeing in cars slowed their progress. “It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything,” Kawaakoa said.

As the fires rage, tourists were advised to stay away, and about 11,000 flew out of Maui on Wednesday, with at least another 1,500 expected to leave Thursday, according to Ed Sniffen, state transportation director. Officials prepared the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to take in the thousands who have been displaced.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said the island had “been tested like never before in our lifetime.”

“We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time,” he said in a recorded statement. “In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a ‘kaiaulu,’ or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha.”

The fires were fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south. It’s the latest in a series of disasters caused by extreme weather around the globe this summer. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events.

Wildfires aren’t unusual in Hawaii, but the weather of the past few weeks created the fuel for a devastating blaze and, once ignited, the high winds created the disaster, said Thomas Smith an associate professor in Environmental Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

“The vegetation in the lowland areas of Maui is particularly parched this year, with below-average precipitation in the spring, and hardly any rainfall this summer.” Smith said.

The Big Island is also currently seeing blazes, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there.

As winds eased somewhat on Maui on Wednesday, pilots were able to view the full scope of the devastation. Aerial video from Lahaina showed dozens of homes and businesses razed, including on Front Street, where tourists once gathered to shop and dine. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront, boats in the harbor were scorched, and gray smoke hovered over the leafless skeletons of charred trees.

“It’s horrifying. I’ve flown here 52 years and I’ve never seen anything come close to that,” said Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company. “We had tears in our eyes.”

Power was out in parts of Maui. Cellular service was down, too, making it difficult for many to check in with friends and family members. Some were posting messages on social media.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, of the Hawaii State Department of Defense, told reporters Wednesday night that officials were working to get communications restored, distribute water, and possibly add law enforcement personnel. He said National Guard helicopters had dropped 150,000 gallons (568,000 liters) of water on the Maui fires.

The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape the flames and smoke, including two children.

Bissen, the Maui County mayor, said Wednesday that officials hadn’t yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires.

Mauro Farinelli, of Lahaina, said the winds started blowing hard on Tuesday, and then somehow a fire started up on a hillside.

“It just ripped through everything with amazing speed,” he said, adding it was “like a blowtorch.”

The winds were so strong they blew his garage door off its hinges and trapped his car in the garage, Farinelli said. So a friend drove him, along with his wife, Judit, and dog, Susi, to an evacuation shelter. He had no idea what had happened to their home.

“We’re hoping for the best,” he said, “but we’re pretty sure it’s gone.”

President Joe Biden declared a major disaster on Maui on Thursday. He ordered all available federal assets to help with the response and said the Hawaii National Guard had mobilized helicopters to help with fire suppression as well as search-and-rescue efforts.

“Our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses and communities destroyed,” Biden said in a statement.

Gov. Josh Green cut short a trip and planned to return Wednesday evening. In his absence, acting Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation and urged tourists to stay away.

Alan Dickar, who owns a poster gallery and three houses in Lahaina, bemoaned the loss of so much in the town and to him personally.

“The central two blocks is the economic heart of this island, and I don’t know what’s left,” he said. “Every significant thing I owned burned down today.”

AUGUST 10, 2023:

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36 people in one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in recent years. The fire took many by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood in Lahaina Town. The historic town dates to the 1700s and has long been a favorite destination for tourists. Crews battled blazes in several places on the island Wednesday (Aug. 10, 2023), and the flames forced some adults and children to flee into the ocean. Maui County announced the updated death toll on its website late Wednesday.

AUGUST 9, 2023:

HONOLULU (AP) — Maui officials say wildfire in historic Lahaina town has burned parts of one of the most popular tourist areas in Hawaii. County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said in a phone interview early Wednesday (Aug. 9, 2023) says fire was widespread in Lahaina, including Front Street, an area of the historic town popular with tourists. She says traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate and officials asked people who weren’t in an evacuation area to shelter in place to avoid adding to the traffic. Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures, forcing evacuations and closing schools in several communities Wednesday, and rescuers pulled a dozen people escaping smoke and flames from the ocean.

Maui’s toxic debris could fill 5 football fields 5 stories deep. Where will it end up?

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