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Breaking news, tourist killed in maui wildfires saved up for ‘healing’ trip, died one day before her flight back home.

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A grandmother from California is the first tourist to have been identified as among the 115 confirmed victims in the Maui wildfires — dying just a day before she was due to fly home.

Theresa Cook, 72, of Pollock Pines in El Dorado County was among eight victims whom island officials identified on Tuesday.

She was staying at the Best Western Pioneer Inn and was last seen near the island’s famous banyan tree at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 8, around the time the massive blaze overwhelmed the historic downtown area of Lahaina.

Cook was scheduled to fly home to Sacramento just a day later.

Neighbors told ABC 10 she had recently shared how she saved up money for the big trip to get “some solitude and rest for herself.”

“She had messaged us and said she was having a wonderful time and the island was so healing,” Cook’s daughter, Melissa Kornweibel, told KCRA .

“It was so beautiful,” the dead woman’s son, Adam Cook, added. “She loved it there.”

The siblings had held out hope for weeks that their mother might have miraculously survived the blaze, as they scrambled to find out any information about Cook’s whereabouts.

Kornweibel said she reached out to the hotel’s property manager and another guest to ask if people had been evacuated.

She found out that guests had been evacuated, but her mother was missing.

For nine days, the siblings sought answers from the Red Cross and the Coast Guard, and reached out to people on Facebook.

“They received little guidance as to where their mother had gone but they remained hopeful,” a GoFundMe set up for the family says.

They finally received the devastating news about their mother on Sunday.

“It’s a lot to process,” Adam said. “It’s still hard to even admit.”

Still, Kornweibel said: “I don’t blame anybody.

“Things happen. Natural disasters happen. We’re human, we make mistakes. We do the best with the information we’re given.”

Locals have told The Post how the fire started early in the morning of Aug. 8 when a transformer blew and ignited dry grass on Maui County-owned land, about a mile from Lahaina’s historic waterfront.

By 9 a.m., county officials reported that the morning fire was “100% contained” — even though hurricane-force gusts were still blowing in the area.

They then left the scene, with county officials later saying the first responders were needed in other locations. But within an hour, the brush fire reignited and roared down the hillside toward the ocean, destroying nearly everything in its path.

Meanwhile, the heads of the Maui and Hawaii emergency management agencies were at an annual conference on Oahu on Aug. 8, the day the fires started leveling Lahaina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) confirmed to HawaiiNewsNow (HNN).

Key federal officials were also at FEMA’s annual disaster meeting when one of the worst disasters in recent US history started occurring on the other island, the outlet said.

The officials gathering in Waikiki only became part of a “coordinating call about 11 a.m.,” a state emergency management spokesperson told the local outlet of what would have been nearly five hours after the blazes started.

The death toll from the fire has reached 115 people, as the number of missing has increased to 1,100.

What we know about the Maui wildfires

At least 114 people have died in the Maui wildfires that started last Tuesday.

The wildfires, fanned by strong winds, burned multiple buildings, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora was partly to blame for the strong winds that knocked out power as night came. About 13,000 residents in Maui were without power, according to reports.

People rushed into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames fanned by Hurricane Dora.

Fire crews battled multiple fires in the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland mountainous region. Firefighters struggled to reach some areas that were cut off by downed trees and power lines.

“We know we’re not alone,” Kornweibel said. “There’s so many people missing and so many people have lost their lives, and we’ve never done this before. 

“We would just love any advice and encouraging words and support.”

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How Tourists Escaped A Fiery West Maui After The Blaze

Normally thousands of visitors would be in the tourist mecca on any given day. But an organized effort by tourism officials helped get them out.

Even as the fires in Lahaina were still burning, even before top state officials knew the magnitude of the disaster, a handful of tourism managers on Maui moved quickly to orchestrate an airlift of some 12,000 visitors off the island and out of harm’s way.

Between the night of Aug. 8, when the fires struck Lahaina, and continuing through the next week, hotel industry executives, tourism officials and tour bus operators organized and operated the exodus.

The prompt and purposeful airlift of tourists removed them from further risk and got them out of the way of rescue workers who descended on the island from all over the United States. It also freed up hundreds of rooms for local residents who had been displaced and were confronting the magnitude of their losses.

In West Maui, a major mecca for tourism, only one tourist is believed to have died in the fire.

This story of what happened to all the tourists unfolded in the background of the cataclysmic wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina and took the lives of at least 99 people.

The picture is just emerging and is still unclear because many officials on Maui have declined to answer specific questions about what happened during the fires and in their aftermath. County officials have remained mum about what transpired in the emergency operations center and what roles that may have played in the visitor rescue. Public relations officials at the major hotel chains present on the island declined to make their employees available for interviews for this story.

But a handful of people are getting accolades for what they did, including Lisa Paulson, executive director of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, and Roni Gonsalves, Maui station manager for Polynesian Adventure Tours. Both are longtime Maui residents who stepped forward during the crisis.

“Lisa Paulson is a saint; she is an incredible person,” said hotel industry veteran Jimmy Tokioka, director of the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, who has been involved in the disaster recovery effort from the first day.

“Roni Gonsalves is a hero for sure,” said Sherry Duong, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau.

Across the world, the first news accounts of the Lahaina disaster, reported in newspapers, on television screens and via social media, captured the furious scramble of tourists off the island.

Urged by top Hawaii officials to evacuate as quickly as possible, amid a multi-day power failure and with food supplies running low in the Kaanapali coast resort district, many visitors had found themselves marooned. With wildfires still raging, Maui officials had blocked the Honoapilani Highway, the vital artery that serves as the major conduit between the hotels and the other, safer side of the island, making it difficult to get out.

Stranded motorists, including tourists and Lahaina residents, described navigating the only alternative exit — a narrow and treacherous one-way road across the northern end of the peninsula, past Kapalua to Kahului, where the airport is located. The Maui Guidebook calls this trek “steep, narrow, cliff-edge driving” and recommends against it for those prone to nervousness.

For hapless vacationers without cars, many of them confused about where they were on the island, there was no easy path to safety.

That meant that many thousands of tourists staying in hotels or short-term rentals had no way to get to the airport and off the island. Several thousands more, who had been traveling around the island when the fires erupted, were being housed in disaster shelters along with traumatized fire survivors who had lost their homes and needed extensive services.

Both Paulson and Gonsalves knew very early that they were confronting an extraordinary crisis.

Weather events have always been defining moments for Paulson, who grew up as the daughter of meteorologist Gerhard Henricksen, an East Coast-based regional director for the National Weather Service. During her childhood, the family was frequently coached on how to shelter in place if a hurricane struck, and, more daringly, she sometimes accompanied her father when he raced out to trace the path of an approaching tornado, speeding with him in his vintage MGB sports car to measure the force of the winds.

It left her with a deep awareness of the destructive power of nature and a strong drive to learn how to best prepare for emergencies when they arise. Consequently, she said, she has taken many courses in disaster training while working at the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association.

“The job I have is to protect people,” she said in an interview. “When you are responsible for life safety, you take the necessary steps to make sure you are prepared.”

Paulson found herself on edge starting on Monday, Aug. 7, the day before the big wildfires struck, because high winds were causing damage and power outages on the other side of the island, in West Maui.

“We were aware of the power outages and the winds,” she said. “Not to sound blasé, but it is kind of commonplace. You know, the power goes out when there’s any kind of wind event because most of our power is above-ground.”

The power outages were a major challenge for her hotel members because they were forced to operate on generators, which made it difficult for them to keep food cold and to prepare cooked meals.

“The hotels were serving sandwiches,” she recalled.

On Tuesday morning, she woke up and went to work, participating in a six-hour Maui County planning commission meeting on video and later attending a planning meeting for a charity event.

Sometime during the day, she recalled, she got a text alerting her that Maui County’s emergency operations center had become partially activated, which put everyone on alert about the possibility of larger problems emerging.

Paulson received the alert because the hotel association and the Maui Visitors Bureau are among a select group of about 50 entities allowed direct access to the Maui County Emergency Management Agency headquarters. She did not go to the command center herself on Tuesday. As the day progressed, she learned that the emergency management system had been fully activated and that the county was establishing disaster shelters.

From her home that evening, Paulson began shooting out emails and texts trying to learn what was happening, but by then, all the cell phone towers were down and backup generators were running out of fuel so communication was coming to an end. She was facing an information blackout.

Then Lauren Geller, a Marriott Corp. employee, reached Paulson and gave her the long code numbers that allow cell phones to communicate with satellite phones. Paulson began making contact with hotel managers in West Maui who had satellite phones and who were witnesses to what was happening there. The managers were also able to get occasional cell phone service from the roofs of their buildings or sometimes out on the lawns. They could see the mountains of dark smoke and fire enveloping Lahaina and knew that the situation was dire.

During these chaotic hours, she heard bits and pieces: Lahaina residents who escaped the flames were stumbling into hotel properties, sharing their own stories of what they had seen. From one of her group’s members, she learned that other Lahaina residents had fled the fire by jumping into the ocean.

Paulson stayed up all night making connections between hotel managers and government officials because of the real danger that the fires would move further along the coast and spread the devastation elsewhere.

By about 10:30 that night, Paulson knew that people needed to be evacuated out of West Maui.

“Priority one was getting everybody out,” she said. “Everybody pivoted right away.”

Working with county transportation officials and various tour bus company operators, Paulson began coordinating a transportation system that would do just that.

But to help people escape, others would have to pass through the burn zone to take them out. Maui’s bus drivers would need to risk their own lives to drive through Lahaina to extract people from danger.

As it would turn out, these bus drivers, some arriving early Wednesday morning, would be among the first to see the horror that Lahaina had become, using their communication radios to tell others what they had seen.

Among the first to agree to go was Roni Gonsalves.

Gonsalves has worked for Polynesian Adventure Tours for almost a decade. A former airline industry employee, she is a commercial bus driver who leads a staff of about 28 drivers and a four-member maintenance team with a 42-vehicle fleet, ranging in size from SUVs to cargo vans to motor coaches.

Over the years, she has taken enormous pride in sharing the beauty of Lahaina with visitors, who she calls guests, not tourists. She and her drivers typically spend long hours conducting visitors to Maui’s beautiful places, with many trips starting, ending or passing through Lahaina, a favored tourist stop.

On Monday, Gonsalves, like Paulson, was watching the weather. She began cancelling scheduled tours where she thought the wind gusts were becoming too dangerous for the buses to safely operate. On Tuesday, she decided that a 22-guest trip to Hana would probably be okay, however, and the driver took off for the day with his passengers, 17 of whom were staying in West Maui.

Gonsalves left the office that afternoon and headed home. She could see smoke billowing on the west side of the island and the smell grew increasingly intense.

“I said, ‘Something’s not right,’ but never thinking it was the town,” she recalled later. “I thought it was a brushfire on the ridge, not the entire town of Lahaina.”

She learned that problems had arisen for the Hana tour group. Police officers were blocking cars from entering or leaving West Maui. She told the driver to take the group over to Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului, where they could get a meal or do some shopping. She knew that he might need to take them to a shelter to stay overnight if they couldn’t get through Lahaina, and she wanted him to keep them busy long enough to get them spots in the more comfortable shelter at King’s Cathedral, a church in Kahului, rather than the War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku, where accommodations are more spartan.

The driver delivered them to King’s Cathedral when it opened, “and the guests were tucked away for the night” by about 8:30 p.m., she said.

Early the next morning, which was Wednesday, she heard the early news reports about the fire in Lahaina, although few specific details had yet emerged. The phone rang. It was an employee from the Maui Visitors Bureau, which was working closely with Paulson on the transportation airlift plan. They needed volunteers to help. She was asked if she would spearhead the effort for Polynesian Adventures.

She said yes.

“Roni is amazing; she never hesitated,” recalled Kelly Camps, the Oahu-based vice president of sales and marketing for Polynesian Adventures.

Camps said that Gonsalves stopped briefly to ask for permission from her boss, Terry Fischer, the owner of the company, who readily agreed, bemusedly noting that Gonsalves would do what she thought was morally right regardless of what he said.

Gonsalves next faced a difficult set of decisions. She knew she would be sending her drivers into danger because the fires were still active. She decided she would lead them there herself, the first driver in a convoy of six buses. She did not know what they would find, what disturbing sights they might see.

She picked the other drivers carefully, she recalled recently.

“I needed to be mindful of who could sustain that impact and still be safe behind the wheel,” she said.

She selected six motorcoaches, each with a capacity of 56 people. They collectively carried 200 gallons of fuel, enough to meet their needs, but she was also conscious that gas itself can cause “an inferno” if ignited, she recalled.

She and the five other drivers set out toward Lahaina and quickly confronted a long line of traffic. Highway crews were clearing the road but dozens of power lines had collapsed and were lying everywhere. There were at least a dozen utility lines in or alongside the road itself, she recalled. The buses needed to drive on the wrong side of the road to get around the obstructions.

The sight of Lahaina came as a terrible shock.

“There are no words to describe it, no words,” she said. “We were affected to the core of our souls, to the heart. So much history is gone.”

The transportation coordinators, including Paulson, had established the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa as the transit hub for the resort district, although this was later moved to Whalers Village. Tourists were told to make their way to those locations for transportation out of the area, to and from evacuation shelters and over to Kahului. At the airport, airlines offered discount airfares to Oahu and the mainland to encourage people to leave quickly.

Gonsalves and the other drivers went to the Sheraton. Other bus companies were also picking up and transporting people from the hotel, and among the disaster shelters where residents and tourists were staying.

Tourists at the Sheraton clambered aboard the buses, Gonsalves recalled. Some brought their luggage, while others left their possessions behind, with the luggage recovery effort part of a later challenge for Maui’s tour bus drivers. The visitors were taken to the airport, from which they made their own ways home.

She noticed that a lot of hotel employees needed transportation to get to their homes on the other side of the island, and found space for them on the buses too.

Once the tourists were gone, Gonsalves and others turned their attention directly to Lahaina residents. Some needed transportation home or to the homes of friends or relatives. Some shaken residents wanted to be taken to the airport to leave Maui, or to get to medical appointments. Later, after the tourists were gone, the dispossessed people of Lahaina were able to take their places and find shelter at hotels that just days earlier had housed visitors.

Some weeks later, Gonsalves took particular pride in transporting the boys of the Lahainaluna High School football team to and from practice.

Back on Oahu, state officials were waiting for an influx of tourists, preparing to house them at the Oahu Convention Center. As it turned out, the evacuation process on Maui had gone so smoothly that the excess capacity in Honolulu wasn’t really needed.

“We were anticipating the worst, that 1,000 to 2,000 would need to shelter on Oahu,” Tokioka said. “We were over-prepared.”

But he said that what people had done on Maui — from hotels, to hotel employees, to community groups, to tourism officials like Paulson and Gonsalves — had helped ease the way for many fleeing the flames.

“This whole disaster shows the strength of the people of Hawaii,” he said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

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About the Author

A Kailua girl, Kirstin Downey was a reporter for Civil Beat. A long-time reporter for The Washington Post , she is the author of “The Woman Behind the New Deal,” “Isabella the Warrior Queen” and an upcoming biography of King Kaumualii of Kauai. You can reach her by email at  [email protected] .

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More than 100 dead as search for hundreds continues in Lahaina: Recap

Coverage on this live blog has ended. Please click here for the latest updates .

Though the wildfires have mostly been contained, Hawaii residents are still reeling from the aftermath as families assess the devastating damage to their homes and identifications are released of some of the 106 people killed.

People have begun to share stories of those killed, including a 68-year-old man who died trying to protect his dog and a family of four who burned to death in their car near their home. Identifications are likely to be released slowly over the coming days as officials recover remains and notify families. 

Those who survived are scattered across at least 11 shelters that are serving more than 4,000 people, according to the Red Cross of Hawaii. Maui residents have also told NBC News they are frustrated as they move out of shelters and into hotels, which will be available for only 30 days. Families are seeking more permanent housing options after having lost their entire lives over just a few days. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is on the ground in Maui working on getting temporary rental assistance, as well as providing money and aiding search efforts. President Joe Biden promised “every asset” available from the federal government to help the state recover Tuesday. 

“It’s almost hollow ... ‘our thoughts and prayers with the people’ ... not just our prayers, every asset, every asset they need will be there for them,” Biden said at an event in Wisconsin. “And we will be there as long as it takes, as long as it takes.”

What to know about the deadly wildfires

• 106 people have been confirmed dead, while many others remain missing . Officials are expected to start identifying the dead today.
• Cadaver dogs are helping search Maui's charred ruins for the missing.
• The fires could pose long-term health risks to residents due to chemical compounds contaminating the air, water and wreckage, authorities have warned.
• The economic cost to Maui could come to $7 billion, Moody’s Analytics said Monday.

Timeline: How ferocious wildfires devastated Maui, hour by hour

• NBC News teams are on the ground and reporting from Maui.

106 remains recovered, county says

Maui County released the names tonight of two of the 106 victims of the wildfires.

The two victims were identified as Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both of Lahaina.

Three more victims have been identified but their names are being withheld pending next of kin notification, the county said in a statement.

The majority of the 106 fatalities have not been identified.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families who are beginning to receive notifications about their loved ones,” Mayor Richard Bissen said in the statement. “As a community, we offer our prayers of comfort in this most difficult time.”

Survivors of Maui fires set up their own aid network as trust in government falters

Jon Schuppe

Corky Siemaszko

WAILEA, Hawaii — One week after wildfires roared across Maui and devoured their property, residents who have called Maui home for generations were watching over the ashes.

Distrustful of the government’s response to a tragedy that has already  displaced hundreds of families  and fearful of outsiders’ swooping in to take their ancestral homes, they were organizing their own relief efforts to get food and supplies to people who are unwilling or unable to venture far from their destroyed properties.

“We are taking charge,” Maui County Council Vice Chair  Keani Rawlins-Fernandez  said Tuesday.

Read the full story here.

For Lahaina couple expecting a child, there was no more time to hope

KIHEI, Hawaii — After the power went out in Lahaina and after smoke was seen from a wildfire that would later sweep into the town, Tasha Anderson “was in denial.”

They had seen other storms and other fires, and they were always able to return later.

“I just didn’t want to leave, like, where we had built the nursery, where we were going to bring our baby home to,” Anderson, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, said today.

Her fiancé, Kevin Campbell, got on a scooter to check the condition of the fire. He said what he saw was not like past experiences.

“The flames, the wind had just taken this fire and made it so much more than a normal fire,” he said. “It was jumping from building to building. It was crossing the street. It was catching a tree and then catching a house.”

When Anderson heard the panic in Campbell’s voice, they got in a car and left, grabbing almost nothing.

Homeless shelter among the buildings destroyed in Lahaina

David Douglas

A 78-unit Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers shelter was among the buildings destroyed in the wildfire that burned into Lahaina, the organization said.

KHAKO Executive Director Monique R. Ibarra said she saw the destruction firsthand with a police escort.

“All the buildings are gone. Wildfire reduced them to ashes and debris,” she said in a statement on the group’s website .

“This morning, I informed the residents who escaped Tuesday afternoon with little more than the clothes they were wearing. It was heartbreaking,” she wrote.

Some of the units were for emergency shelter for families and people making the transition from homelessness to permanent housing, the organization said.

Many on Maui will need shelter in the wake of the destruction in Lahaina, Gov. Josh Green has said. He said over 500 hotel rooms have been identified and are available.

"Hundreds of families and thousands of individuals" have lost either the residences they own or where they have been renting, Green said today.

Road by Lahaina in West Maui to be reopened, governor says

Phil Helsel

A major road by the fire-ravaged Lahaina area in West Maui will be reopened tonight for some groups and tomorrow during the day for everyone, the governor said.

“No one will be able to go into the impact zone where the tragedy has occurred,” Gov. Josh Green said, but he said the decision will allow freer movement in West Maui.

The Lahaina Bypass will be opened starting at 6 o’clock tonight until 6 a.m. for residents, first responders and employees of the region, he said.

Starting tomorrow from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., it will be opened to everyone, and that will be a regular schedule, he said.

10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be for necessary travel for residents and first responders, he said.

“Were trying to get back to normal so that people’s lives can begin to, in some ways, be reconnected to the other side of the island,” Green said.

Confirmed deaths in Maui wildfires rise to 101

The number of confirmed deaths in the wildfires in Maui that devastated the town of Lahaina has risen to 101, Gov. Josh Green said today.

The previous number was 99. Surveys and searches of burned areas are continuing.

Green said more than 1,000 first responders from around the world are assisting after the tragedy. The fire that broke out in Lahaina was one of several in Maui on Aug. 8.

"We are heartsick that we’ve had such loss," Green said.

Daniel Arkin

Nirma Hasty

Monstrous, windswept wildfires ripped through the Hawaiian island of Maui last week, charring communities and killing at least 100 people.

NBC News reconstructed a timeline of events based on public advisories, state government warnings, eyewitness accounts and videos posted on social media.

4 of Maui’s wildfire dead have been identified; DNA taken from relatives

Four of the sets of remains found after Maui’s wildfires have been identified, Maui County said in an update this morning Hawaii time.

The identities of the four will be released once their families are notified, the county said.

Investigators have obtained DNA profiles of 13 more people, and 41 DNA samples have been obtained from family members of people who are unaccounted for, the county said.

Relatives who wish to provide DNA to help in the search can go to a Family Assistance Center, the county said.

Franklin Trejos was among those killed. He died sheltering a golden retriever, longtime friends said. "Just the friendliest guy you would ever meet," Shannon Weber-Bogar recalled.

Maui police: Hope is to search 85% of burned area by weekend

More areas of Maui’s deadly wildfire were searched today, with 32% of the disaster zone having been covered, Maui County said in an update.

Previously, 25% had been searched. Dogs are being used to locate remains in and around Lahaina, the West Maui town that burned when a wind-whipped fire swept in last week.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said at a news conference yesterday that it is hoped that 85% to 90% can be searched by the weekend.

In some cases, dogs have helped find remains after initial searches have been done and searchers retraced where they had been, Pelletier said.

“We don’t want to miss anything,” Pelletier said.

Ninety-nine deaths have been confirmed. The number could rise as more searches are done.

Biden says he and first lady will go to Hawaii as soon as they can

Hawaii residents displaced by fire, forced into shelters.

Lindsay Good

David K. Li

The Maui wildfires have forced evacuees to spend 4,000 stays in shelters so far during the ongoing disaster, officials said Tuesday.

Those residents have been staying at 11 shelters, as more than 270 volunteers have jumped into action, according to the Red Cross of Hawaii .

"Our work is just beginning," the relief organization said. "We’re working with our partners to get help to where it is needed as quickly as possible."

Pilot vacationing on Maui volunteered to fly plane as fires raged, helping 330 people get off island

Marlene Lenthang

A United Airlines pilot vacationing on Maui volunteered to fly a plane off the  wildfire-engulfed island , helping 330 people get home safely. 

Capt. Vince Eckelkamp, of Colorado, told NBC News today that he was scheduled to fly from Maui to Denver last Tuesday after a six-day vacation with his wife and daughter. 

Around 4 a.m. that morning, the power in his hotel went out due to gusty winds that downed power lines. The family packed their bags in the dark and planned to head to Kahului Airport early, but soon found there was no cell service available. 

To get to the airport, Eckelkamp’s family drove through the historic town of Lahaina — only a few hours  before it turned into an inferno .

Disasters like Maui fire open door to charity scammers and fraud, officials say

Federal prosecutors warned the public today to be on the lookout for heartless scammers who won't "hesitate to take advantage of the challenging times to commit fraud and other crimes."

Telltale signs of a scam will include requests for personal information, such as bank account numbers and Social Security numbers, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hawaii said in a statement.

"As the devastation of our communities on Maui and Hawaii Island continues to unfold, local and national organizations have created ways for volunteers to assist as well as to provide donations of food, money and other resources," prosecutors said.

"While such efforts provide critical aid, we know that during periods of tremendous need like this, criminals do not hesitate to take advantage of the challenging times to commit fraud and other crimes," the statement continued.

Maui wildfire becomes latest fodder for disaster conspiracy theorists

Kalhan Rosenblatt

As Maui reckons with the  deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history , it is also dealing with a digital nightmare that has become common around major news stories: social media-fueled conspiracy theories. 

Fires have ravaged and destroyed parts of West Maui, hitting the historic community of Lahania particularly hard. At least 99 people are dead and the economic cost of the fires could balloon to $7 billion. 

It’s still unclear what caused the fires, but the severity of the destruction in West Maui has been attributed in part to a  confluence  of high winds from Hurricane Dora in the Pacific and drought in the region. Wildfires have been  a known risk in the area  for years.

That hasn’t stopped would-be social media sleuths from attempting to uncover a nonexistent plot to start the fires. 

One of the most prevalent and outlandish theories is that the fires were caused by some kind of secret “energy weapon,” a relatively common conspiracy trope that has been repurposed in recent years around a variety of events,  including previous wildfires . Some have misrepresented an image of a SpaceX rocket launch as evidence that some kind of weapon used a beam to cause an explosion on the island. 

Biden says he spoke with Gov. Green and FEMA officials, promises 'every asset' in response to fire

President Joe Biden, speaking Tuesday at an event in Wisconsin, promised “every asset” from the federal government in response to the Hawaii wildfires.

“They’ve claimed the lives of 99 people so far,” Biden said. “They haven’t cleaned things up yet. The deadliest wildfire more than 100 years, whole city destroyed. Generations of native Hawaiian history turned into ruin.”

“And think about this, all that area. They gotta plow up," he continued. "They can’t do it now because you don’t know how many bodies, you don’t know what’s left. Imagine being a mom or dad, wondering where your child is. Imagine being a husband or wife or mother, father. It’s really tough stuff.”

Biden said he’s spoken with Gov. Josh Green multiple times and almost 500 federal personnel have been deployed to the state. He said that he and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii as soon as possible, but don’t want to disrupt rescue and recovery efforts.

“In the meantime, you always hear this phrase and I’ve done so many disasters in my career. It’s almost hollow ... 'our thoughts and prayers with the people' ... not just our prayers, every asset, every asset they need will be there for them. And we will be there as long as it takes, as long as it takes.”

GOP slams Biden for going 4 days without talking about Maui fires

Peter Nicholas

Megan Lebowitz

Monica Alba

WASHINGTON — It’s the sort of split-screen moment that no White House relishes.

While Maui counted its dead Sunday, President Joe Biden sat on the beach in Delaware, rode his bicycle and said little about the deadliest wildfire to hit the U.S. in a century.

“We’re looking at it,” he said, pedaling past reporters who shouted at him as he whizzed by.

Biden first delivered remarks about the catastrophic fires on Thursday. The next day, his son became the subject of a federal special counsel investigation. And since then, Biden has said virtually nothing to the press — not about Hunter Biden, the fires or anything else.

Four days of silence haven’t gone unnoticed. Yesterday reporters pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about why he has not spoken out more; Republicans have piled on criticism that the president was failing to address the devastation; and today the conservative media juxtaposed pictures of Biden at the beach with footage of the fires.

Paris Hilton was vacationing on Maui when uncle’s restaurant burned down

Diana Dasrath

Paris Hilton drew criticism when photos obtained by the Daily Mail showed the star vacationing on Maui amid the wildfire catastrophe. 

A source close to Paris Hilton told NBC News that she had been on the island for a planned family trip, and Maui is like a second home for her. 

“Her uncle’s restaurant in Lahaina burned down, so they decided to shorten their trip and go to see their family and help where they could,” the source said. “When they arrived, they gathered supplies, donated to the local shelters and people in need, and made significant contributions.”

3,000 animals estimated to be displaced by wildfires

An estimated 3,000 animals are believed to have been displaced by the Maui wildfires, many of them likely needing “intense medical care,” the Maui Humane Society said Tuesday.

The organization shared a photo of a cat found by rescuers; they are calling it Alani, which means the color orange in Hawaiian. Based off his scorched coat, he “made his best efforts escaping the fires.” 

“All of his paw pads burned, his mouth swollen and painful. He was dehydrated and lifeless. He had no microchip or other signs of ownership,” the society wrote on Facebook. For now, Alani is on the mend getting daily foot soaks to treat his paws and medications.

"If Alani’s owners are out there, we want them to know that he is safe and recovering," the organization wrote. "Maui Humane Society is dedicated to reunifying pets with their owners."

68-year-old Lahaina resident died in car trying to protect golden retriever

Elizabeth Chuck

Shannon Weber-Bogar told NBC News her friend Franklin Trejos died shielding their 3-year-old golden retriever, Sam, in the wildfires that consumed Lahaina on Aug. 8.

Her husband, Geoff Bogar, found the bodies of Trejos and Sam in a car one day after the blaze tore through their neighborhood.  

Geoff Bogar told The Associated Press that he and Trejos tried to save the Bogars' house and help people in the neighborhood, but fled in their own cars when the flames drew near. 

Geoff Bogar said his car wouldn’t start and he broke through a window and crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and he was taken to a hospital. When he returned the next day, he found the bones of 68-year-old Trejos, his friend of 35 years. 

Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Bogar and his wife, helping her with her seizures when her husband couldn’t. He filled their lives with love and laughter, The Associated Press reported. 

Family of 4 died trying to escape wildfire

The Associated Press

Faaso and Malui Fonua Tone, Salote Takafua, and her son, Tony Takafua died attempting to escape the wildfires that tore through Hawaii last week.

Their remains were found Thursday in a burned car near their home.

“The magnitude of our grief is indescribable,” read a statement from family members.

Lylas Kanemoto, who knew the Tone family, confirmed the devastating news Sunday.

“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 Associated Press by text message on Sunday.

A week into the disaster, airlines have evacuated over 32,000 from Maui

Since wildfires hit Hawaii last week, American Airlines operated 21 flights from Kahului Airport on Maui to the continental U.S., evacuating more than 4,200 people from the island, the airline said in an update Monday . 

American also worked with nonprofits to send in shipments of supplies such as nonperishable food, baby formula and diapers to the island. 

From Aug. 8 to Sunday, United Airlines transported more than 11,000 people off Maui, and flew in responders with the American Red Cross, Air Link and World Central Kitchen, the airline said in a statement.

Hawaii Airlines said in the first 72 hours of the disaster, hundreds of flights were operated and carried more than 17,000 people out of Kahului Airport.

Within the first week, more than 54,000 pounds of essential supplies were also transported to Maui including blood, medical supplies, communications equipment and animal kennels, according to the airline.

Chemicals released into air and water could pose long-term risks

Aria Bendix

Lauren Dunn

Patrick Martin

The fires that have been burning in Maui since Tuesday could pose long-term health risks to residents due to chemical compounds contaminating the air, water and wreckage, authorities and experts have warned.

The Hawaii State Health Department cautioned Friday that ash and dust from burned buildings might carry toxic chemicals like asbestos and lead. Many destroyed buildings in Lahaina — the hardest-hit community — may have contained these chemicals because they were built before lead and asbestos were phased out of construction in the 1970s.

“Things like lead and asbestos are sort of top of the list. Those are things that are in paint, in buildings, and then do not really get destroyed with burning, so they’re now in the ash and the dust,” said Diana Felton, Hawaii’s state toxicologist.

Felton said that there is some concern that people in Lahaina might inhale lead and asbestos particles in the air but that the bigger worry is that residents might unintentionally ingest the chemicals if they get on clothes or hands.

What FEMA's doing on the ground

Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson John Mills shared an update on what the agency is doing on Maui: providing money to survivors for critical needs, temporary rental assistance, getting people out of shelters and into hotels and aiding in search and rescue efforts. 

“This is a very somber and respectful process that we’re going through at the same time working across multiple lines of effort in mass care, emergency services, critical infrastructure and housing to figure out the next steps and support Maui County and support the state,” Mills said on NBC’s “TODAY” show Tuesday morning. 

Power and cell service is slowly being restored, Mills said, but there’s still a ways to go when it comes to searching charred buildings for victims.

Still, there are glimmers of hope from the vibrant community on the island. "Neighbors are really doing an amazing job. So many people are taking survivors into their homes and giving them a temporary place to live,” he said. 

Nearly 500 people affected by fires have been moved into hotels

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said nearly 500 people “impacted from the fires” are now being housed in hotels.

“We’re committed to working with our hotel and vacation rental industries to prioritize the temporary housing needs of our people,” Green tweeted Monday evening. “We mahalo them for their extraordinary efforts.”

He shared a video of a Lahaina native named Jacob, who lost his home in the fire and works at the Royal Lahaina Resort and is being temporarily housed and fed at the hotel with his immediate family. 

“My family we were able to make it here, I’ve accounted for everybody. My children, they are all good. We do have a special needs child, muscle dystrophy along with Down syndrome but due to the outreach and all the help and support we’ve been getting from clinics from his therapy sessions, all that, he’s doing just fine," Jacob said in the clip. "We’re just so grateful for everything everyone has done and please continue to support," he added.

Death toll remains at 99, officials say

Chantal Da Silva

The death toll of the Maui wildfire disaster remained at 99 as of late Monday evening local time, officials said.

At least three people killed in the wildfires had so far been identified as of 10 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET Tuesday) Maui County officials said in an online update.

"Their names will be released after their families are notified," the county said.

Lahaina fire still around 85% contained, officials say

The fire in Lahaina was around 85 percent contained as of late Monday evening local time, officials said.

In an update on the wildfire disaster, Maui County said that as of 10 p.m. local time on Monday (4 a.m. ET on Tuesday) the fire had been at least 85 percent contained.

"Multiple fire crews are assigned to monitor and address any flareups," the county said, adding: "There are no active threats at this time."

The county noted that even when a fire is 100 percent contained, that does not mean it has been extinguished. "It means that firefighters have the blaze fully surrounded by a perimeter, inside which it can still burn. A fire is declared 'extinguished' when fire personnel believe there is nothing left burning."

Former Warriors coach Don Nelson opens Hawaii homes to victims

Former Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson is reportedly opening his short-term rental homes in Maui to those impacted by the deadly wildfires.

“We’re doing the best we can, but we only have space for about 24 people,” Nelson told the San Francisco Chronicle in a phone interview Monday. “There are thousands of people homeless right now. It’s overwhelming.”

Nelson started investing in local real estate in Maui back in 2011 shortly after settling into West Maui full-time, according to the outlet. Now, he said he is leasing his properties for free to those who have lost their homes in the wildfire.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nelson said. “This is home. Right now, it needs all our help.”

Japan ready to 'provide necessary assistance' if U.S. requests it

The Japanese government is ready to "provide necessary assistance" in response to the wildfires if the U.S. requests it, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Japan has so far received reports of homes owned by Japanese nationals being damaged by the wildfires in Maui, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in a daily news briefing. He said the government had not received any news of fatalities or injuries among Japanese nationals.

“Since the outbreak of the wildfire, we have been in close communication with the U.S. government as well as the Hawaiian state government, and we have informed them of our readiness to provide necessary assistance should they request it," he said.

Economic cost could be $7 billion, analysis finds

The economic cost to Maui from the wildfires could come up to $7 billion, Moody’s Analytics said Monday.

"Losses may be more than enough to suggest a brief but severe local recession," the financial services company said.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green also said that the damage was estimated to be close to $6 billion.

He said “there has been a great deal of water conflict on Maui for many years” and that Maui has faced challenges getting enough water to rural areas and to houses.

“We’re in the process of a comprehensive review that I’ve asked our attorney general to do, and there will be multiple reviews at every level to find out what the level of preparedness was,” Green said.

Search continues for the missing as death toll rises

The search for those missing in the Maui wildfires will continue on Tuesday after the death toll rose to nearly 100 people.

At least 99 people were confirmed to have died in the wildfires, officials said Monday. Officials were expected to begin identifying those killed on Tuesday, provided that their families have been notified of their deaths.

Searchers and cadaver dogs had so far covered around a quarter of the town of Lahaina as of Monday, officials said. They will continue their search in what Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said was likely to be the largest natural disaster in the state's history.

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Maui fires – latest: California woman named as first tourist among victims as residents start returning home

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

A California woman has been named as the first tourist to have died in the devastating Maui wildfires .

Officials identified 72-year-old Theresa Cook from Pollock Pines in northern California as among the victims of the deadly blaze in the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina.

Some 115 deaths have been confirmed following the deadliest wildfire in more than a century in the United States . The unconfirmed list of missing people currently stands at 1,100 names.

Hawaiian officials also pleaded with relatives of those missing to come forward and give DNA samples, saying the low number provided so far threatens to hinder efforts to identify any remains discovered in the ashes.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden met with first responders and survivors on Monday and promised that the federal government would be with them “for as long as it takes” to rebuild the community.

Survivors were also voicing fears of a potential wave of land grabs by realtors and investors that could push Hawaiian locals from the island.

California woman identified as victim of Hawaii fires

Biden tells hawaii that the us ‘grieves with you’ as he surveys maui wildfire devastation.

How did Maui wildfires start?

Maui officials say 100 per cent of residential properties searched

Biden appoints new FEMA administrator to Maui

Hawaii governor thanks Joe Biden for visit to Hawaii

Tuesday 22 August 2023 17:30 , Ariana Baio

Hawaii Governor Josh Green posted on Twitter, thanking President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for visiting Maui to survey the damage caused by fast-moving wildfires.

“Jaime and I want to deeply thank President Biden and Dr Jill Biden for their unwavering commitment of support to the people of Lāhainā as they heal and recover from the largest tragedy our state has ever experienced,” Mr Green wrote in a post.

He continued: “Hawai`i and the world will rally around the community of Lāhainā, and we will rise from this together - hand in hand.”

Jaime and I want to deeply thank President Biden @POTUS and Dr. Jill Biden @FLOTUS for their unwavering commitment of support to the people of Lāhainā as they heal and recover from the largest tragedy our state has ever experienced. pic.twitter.com/lkygMTHCOi — Governor Josh Green (@GovJoshGreenMD) August 21, 2023

In Photos: Biden’s trip to Hawaii

Tuesday 22 August 2023 18:00 , Ariana Baio

PGA will play opening event in Maui

Tuesday 22 August 2023 18:30 , Ariana Baio

Jay Monahan, the Professional Golf Association (PGA) commissioner said they plan to host their season-opening event in Maui, despite the wildfires.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Monahan said he hopes the PGA golf tour can be a “source of inspiration for the great people of Maui and Lahaina.”

The event, called The Sentry, is slated to happen in January, leaving some time for officials and residents to begin clean-up and rebuilding efforts.

When Mr Monahan was asked, on Tuesday, about hosting the event in Maui, he said “absolutely” would still host the event there.

“But I think at this point there’s so many unknowns, and we want to be respectful of the challenges. We want to help be a part of the revitalization. There are a lot of considerations. We’re committed, you know, if we’re allowed to, if we’re invited, if we’re embraced, given all that needs to be accomplished, we will be there 100 per cent,” Mr Monahan added.

Voices: How Biden’s response to Hawaii wildfire disaster went so wrong

Tuesday 22 August 2023 19:00 , Ariana Baio

“An off-hand remark has landed the president in trouble – but occupants of the White House need to remember that they are always in the spotlight”

John Bowden writes:

How Biden’s response to Hawaii wildfire disaster went so wrong

FEMA numbers to date

Tuesday 22 August 2023 19:30 , Ariana Baio

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved about $8 million in aid to nearly 2,000 households in Hawaii.

They have also made $3.6 million in rental assistance available to households.

The agency has also made more than 50,000 meals available and some 75,000 liters of water.

More than 1,000 FEMA officials are on the ground in Hawaii to assist in recovery efforts.

Maui mother holds 15th memorial birthday party for son who died in wildfires

Tuesday 22 August 2023 20:00 , Ariana Baio

Among the 114 victims of the devastating wildfires in Maui is Kenyero Fuentes, whose family was getting ready to celebrate his birthday before the fire engulfed his home.

Fuentes was relaxing at his family’s home with their dog in Lahaina on 8 August. He was getting ready for classes to start at Lahainaluna High School the next day, his mother, Luz Vargas, told NPR .

Watch: Biden pets emergency response dog in Maui

Tuesday 22 August 2023 20:30 , Ariana Baio

Biden compares Maui wildfires to a kitchen fire he experienced

Tuesday 22 August 2023 21:00 , Ariana Baio

President Joe Biden tried to empathise with survivors of the Maui wildfires on Monday by sharing his own story of overcoming a small house fire where, luckily, nobody was hurt and nothing of considerable value was burned.

At the Lahaina Civic Center, Mr Biden addressed a crowd of residents who are still reeling from a raging wildfire that spread across their community on 8 August.

“I don’t want to compare difficulties but we have a little sense, Jill and I, what it’s like to lose a home,” Mr Biden told the crowd.

The President went on to share a story from 2004 when lightning struck a wire that ran underneath his home and caused a “small fire that was contained to the kitchen” according to an Associated Press report.

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ‘67 Corvette and my cat,” Mr Biden said.

The President then clarified he was “kidding” and praised firefighters for their brave work to save his family during the 2004 kitchen fire.

“We were insured, we did not have any problem, but being out of our home for a better part of a year was difficult. I can only imagine what it’s like to lose your home completely. Burned to the ground. And more importantly, all the things that matter to you,” Mr Biden continued.

President Biden in Maui on Monday night relayed a story of a kitchen fire sparked by a lightning strike in 2004: "I don't want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I ... Make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my '67 Corvette, and my cat." pic.twitter.com/XlKJkVMOit — The Recount (@therecount) August 22, 2023

Maui residents are still reeling from wildfire devastation. Now investors and relators are trying to cash in

Tuesday 22 August 2023 21:30 , Ariana Baio

Days after wildfires ravaged Maui, investors and relators tried to take advantage of residents striking fear that towns will lose its history and roots.

Ariana Baio reports:

Days after wildfires ravaged Maui, investors and relators try to take advantage

Over 1800 Lahaina customers still without power

Tuesday 22 August 2023 22:00 , Ariana Baio

The County of Maui said that over 1,800 customers in Lahaina were still without power as of Monday evening.

Hawaiian Electric crew were working to restore “critical circuits” in West Maui that served essential locations like grocery stores, pharmacies and a wastewater pumping facility.

“Once that circuit is restored, coordination between county response teams, individual businesses and private properties will determine next steps toward respective reopening at these commercial facilities,” the County said.

GOP under fire for trying to make news out of Biden petting a dog in Hawaii

Tuesday 22 August 2023 22:30 , Ariana Baio

After a Republican National Committee social media account tried to make a big deal out of President Joe Biden petting a dog during his Hawaii visit, the White House bit back.

On Monday, RNC Research tweeted: “Biden gets distracted by a dog: “That’s some hot ground, man!” The tweet was posted alongside a video of the president petting a golden retriever while talking to a FEMA worker in Hawaii amid the fatal wildfires.

Kelly Rissman reports:

Watch: Biden visits Maui to survey destruction from devastating wildfires

Tuesday 22 August 2023 23:00 , Ariana Baio

Online posts spread misinformation about FEMA aid following Maui wildfires

Wednesday 23 August 2023 00:00 , Ariana Baio

In the aftermath of the deadly Maui wildfires, some social media users are discouraging residents from accepting disaster aid by falsely claiming the Federal Emergency Management Agency could seize their property if they do.

“If you own land in Lahaina, do not sign anything for FEMA,” a woman says on a video circulating widely on social media. “That is why they’re holding back all of the donations and saying, Hey, you want food come sign this?”

But disaster recovery experts and lawyers stress accepting aid doesn’t give FEMA any such powers to take private lands and that the posts are misrepresenting federal law. Here are the facts.

CLAIM: FEMA can seize the private property of any Maui resident that signs up for disaster assistance.

THE FACTS: The federal agency says the claims are “absolutely false” and encourages Hawaiians to visit a website it launched recently to address rumors and frequently asked questions in the aftermath of the fires, which have claimed more than 100 lives.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Pictured: Aftermath of Lahaina fires seen from the sky

Wednesday 23 August 2023 20:42 , Louise Boyle

ICYMI: Mayor of Maui says 850 people are still missing

Wednesday 23 August 2023 01:00 , Ariana Baio

Nearly two weeks after fast-moving wildfires engulfed several neighbourhoods in Maui, there are still 850 people missing.

Richard Bissen, the mayor of Maui, said in a Facebook video post that officials in the American Red Cross, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) based in Honolulu and Maui Police Department have combined and refined a list of names of the missing individuals.

The number is a decline from the 2,000+ names it contained when the search for missing residents first began last week.

Mr Bissen said he was both “saddened and relieved” about the numbers, saying that over 1,287 people have been located safe.

Of the original missing list, 11t have been declared deceased as of Monday morning, with most of those identifications pending.

Maui’s wildfire victims in full

Wednesday 23 August 2023 03:00 , Ariana Baio

Who are the Maui wildfire victims?

Wednesday 23 August 2023 05:00 , Ariana Baio

Joe Biden told Hawaii that the rest of the United States “grieves with you” as he and the first lady surveyed the devastation of the Maui wildfires.

Mr Biden, who has been criticised for his administration’s response to the historic blaze, met with first responders in Lahaina before making remarks next to the famed and still-standing banyan tree.

“The country grieves with you, stands with you and will help do everything to help you rebuild,” the president said.

Graeme Massie reports:

Biden tells Hawaii that the US ‘grieves with you’ as he surveys Maui devastation

Officials take preventative measures over toxins spreading to ocean

Wednesday 23 August 2023 07:00 , Ariana Baio

Officials in Maui are preparing for mudslides or possibly flooding as remnants of tropical cyclone Fernanda is expected to hit parts of Hawaii.

The National Weather Service predicted parts of Maui could receive one to three inches and warned residents to be aware of flooding as burned land can not soak up rainwater.

But another issue is the potential of toxins, released from houses and businesses burning down, running off into the ocean.

Federal and local officials said they were trying to prevent the toxins from spilling into the ocean by using a glue-like material to bind ash and debris.

Fences will be built near the coast and hay bales will be placed near storm drains to reduce the spread of pollution as well.

Maui guest interrupts Steve Bannon broadcast to rail against politicisation of wildfire coverage

Wednesday 23 August 2023 09:00 , Ariana Baio

Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast had an unexpected guest show up mid-broadcast when the former Trump aide’s interview subject was confronted by a Maui resident who accused him of politically exploiting the island’s wildfires.

Nick Sortor, an independent journalist who has been featured on Fox News, Newsmax and OAN, has been covering the Maui wildfires. While talking to Bannon, he was interrupted by a man who popped up behind him on camera.

Maui guest interrupts Steve Bannon show over politicisation of fires

Nearly 2000 residents taking shelter at various hotels

Wednesday 23 August 2023 10:00 , Ariana Baio

More than 1,9000 Maui residents are currently sheltering at several different hotels around Maui.

Those hotels include the Hyatt Regency Maui, Outrigger Kaʻanapali Beach Resort, Royal Lahaina, Honua Kai Outrigger, Maui Seaside Hotel and the Westin Maui.

Concerns over ‘climate gentrification’ rise after devastating Maui fires

Wednesday 23 August 2023 11:00 , Ariana Baio

More than 3,000 buildings in Lahaina were damaged by fire, smoke or both. Insured property losses alone already total some $3.2 billion, according to Karen Clark & Company, a prominent disaster and risk modeling firm.

With a housing crisis that has priced out many Native Hawaiians as well as families that have been there for decades, concerns are rising that the state could become the latest example of “climate gentrification,” when it becomes harder for local people to afford housing in safer areas after a climate-amped disaster.

Jennifer Gray Thompson is CEO of After the Fire USA, a wildfire recovery and resiliency organization in the western U.S., and worked for Sonoma County during the destructive Tubbs Fire in October 2017. Thompson said Maui is one of the “scariest opportunities for gentrification” that she’s seen because of “the very high land values and the intense level of trauma and the people who are unscrupulous who will come in to try to take advantage of that.”

Thompson predicted potential developers and investors will research who has mortgages and said Maui residents should expect cold calls. “You won’t be able to go to a grocery store without a flyer attached to your car,” she said.

How to help victims of Hawaii wildfires

Wednesday 23 August 2023 12:00 , Ariana Baio

Thousands of Hawaii citizens have been displaced following wildfires that devastated the historic town of Lahaina in Maui.

Hawaii’s governor Josh Green has estimated that billions of dollars will be needed to fully recover.

Here is a list of resources to help those impacted by the natural disaster.

Number of missing rises to 1,100

Wednesday 23 August 2023 12:49 , Rachel Sharp

The number of people still missing in the Maui wildfires has now risen to 1,100 – more than two weeks after a deadly blaze tore through the historic town of Lahaina.

Maui County officials announced on Tuesday that between 1,000 and 1,100 remain unaccounted for while 1,400 have been located.

At the weekend, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said around 850 people were still missing.

Steven Merrill, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu field office, said on Tuesday: “Every day the numbers will change.

“That being said, the number that we’re most concerned about is, obviously, trying to clear people from the list. And that has reliably gone down every day.”

Speaking with Maui survivors, Biden likens wildfires to almost losing his Corvette in small blaze at his home

Wednesday 23 August 2023 13:00 , Ariana Baio

President Joe Biden drew criticism after tried to empathise with survivors of the Maui wildfires on Monday by sharing his own story of overcoming a small house fire where, luckily, nobody was hurt and nothing of considerable value was lost.

At the Lahaina Civic Center, Mr Biden addressed a crowd of residents who are still reeling from a raging wildfire that spread across their community on 8 August – causing at least 115 people to die and 80 per cent of the town’s structures to be damaged or destroyed.

“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, what it’s like to lose a home,” Mr Biden told the crowd.

Speaking with Maui survivors, Biden likens wildfires to a small kitchen blaze

FBI ask those submitting missing persons reports to follow-up

Wednesday 23 August 2023 13:30 , Ariana Baio

After the number of missing people in Maui rose to over 1,000, the FBI based on Honolulu are asking those who submitted complaints to follow up with authorities.

“If you have already submitted complaints to the Maui Police Department about a missing person, or to the FBI, or anyone else, please follow back up to ensure that they have the most up-to-date and accurate information, including dates of birth, what they look like, who they’re related to, further contact information,” Steven Merrill, the FBI Special Agent in charge, said.

GOP criticised for trying to make news out of Biden petting a dog in Hawaii

Wednesday 23 August 2023 14:00 , Ariana Baio

In response, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called out the Republican account in defence of Mr Biden, writing: “He’s petting one of the dogs that’s working hard searching for remains so survivors who’ve lost loved ones can have closure.”

“This criticism is classless and stupid,” Mr Bates added.

He's petting one of the dogs that's working hard searching for remains so survivors who've lost loved ones can have closure. This criticism is classless and stupid. https://t.co/uJf99LxT1U — Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) August 21, 2023

Eight more victim identified from Maui wildfires

Wednesday 23 August 2023 14:30 , Ariana Baio

Officials in the County of Maui have identified eight more victims who were killed in the wildfires that broke out on 8 August.

Those people include Clyde Wakida, 74, Todd Yamafuji, 68, Antonia Molina, 64, Freeman Tam Lung, 59, Theresa Cook, 72, Joseph Schilling, 67, Narcios Baylosis Jr, 67, and Vanessa Baylosis, 67.

All of the victims were from Lahaina.

Wednesday 23 August 2023 15:00 , Ariana Baio

Just days after fast-moving wildfires broke out in Maui, Hawaii, residents were heartbroken to see the remainder of their homes, businesses and lives turned to ash.

Thousands are without shelter and their possessions, as nearly 80 per cent of structures in the town of Lahaina have been damaged or completely destroyed.

Even worse are the scores of people forced to mourn the untimely loss of loved ones who were unable to escape the blazes before they engulfed neighbourhoods.

But the same people who are trying to grapple with the immense loss and figure out how to move forward, are reportedly being forced to defend what they have left of their land and grief as investors and relators try to captalise on the disaster.

Days after wildfires ravaged Maui, investors and realtors try to take advantage

Who are the victims of the Maui wildfires?

Wednesday 23 August 2023 15:45 , Ariana Baio

More victims of the Maui wildfires are expected to publicly identified in the coming days as officials use DNA to match survivors and family members to those who have died.

Wednesday 23 August 2023 16:25 , Ariana Baio

The chief of the Maui Police Department said that, realistically, not all of the people who died in the Maui wildfires will be able to be confirmed deaths in a news conference on Tuesday.

“When this is all said and done, realistically, let’s be honest here, we’re going to have a number of confirmed and we’re going to have a number of presumed,” Mr Pelletier said.

John Pelletier said that officials are still working to search every single building in Lahaina for those who died but requested public patience while they do so.

“I’ve said it before, I’m not going to stop saying it, we are going to do this right,” Mr Pelletier said. “We are not going to do it fast, we’re not going to be in a rush to judgment. We’ve got one chance.”

Officials have to be careful while searching for victims to ensure they don’t hurt themselves and can preserve the state of bodies as best as possible.

Maui residents who disobeyed barricades survived fire

Wednesday 23 August 2023 17:00 , Ariana Baio

Before the Maui wildfires ravaged the town, officials closed Lahaina Bypass Road due to the fires – but one family is claiming that the road was one of the only ways out of the burning town.

Nate Baird and Courtney Stapleton told The Associated Press that they took their sons, Mr Baird’s mother and their dog to escape the fire on 8 August and reached the road where officials told them to turn around.

However, behind them, the town of Lahaina was already completely on fire.

Mr Baird and Ms Stapleton chose to ignore the warning and bypassed the cones escaping to a neighbouring town.

“Nobody realized how little time we really had,” Mr Baird said. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn. We would all be dead right now.”

Several reports indicated those who used Front Street to try and escape the flames ended up in gridlock.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said during a news conference that officers never stopped people from leaving the area.

The Associated Press contributed to this report .

Police says final searches of multi-layer structures is underway

Wednesday 23 August 2023 17:45 , Ariana Baio

In a news conference on Tuesday, Maui police chief John Pelletier said officials were conducting searches in the “final division” of multi-level structures in Lahaina.

Pointing to a map, Mr Pelletier said, “Baker Hill, Sugar and Front are the final divisions, if you will, of multi-level structures.”

Teams are going into the structures starting from the top floor and working their way down to find victims of the wildfires that devastated the area on 8 August.

Watch: Joe Biden comments on how 'hot ground' is while touring Maui wildfire devastation

Wednesday 23 August 2023 18:00 , Ariana Baio

Few DNA samples make it difficult to identify victims

Wednesday 23 August 2023 18:45 , Ariana Baio

As of Wednesday morning, only 104 families have submitted DNA samples to Maui officials, which makes identifying victims much harder to process.

“The number of family members who are coming in to provide DNA samples is a lot lower than they’ve seen in other disasters,” Maui County prosecuting attorney Andrew Martin told CBS .

Officials, including the mayor and governor have called on people who are missing family members to submit their DNA to help match people.

Video of Joe Biden ‘sleeping’ in Maui is false, reports say

Wednesday 23 August 2023 19:00 , Ariana Baio

Across Twitter, several right-wing people have shared a video of President Joe Biden visiting Maui and, appearing to, fall asleep while listening to a speech.

The video, slightly out of focus, shows Mr Biden with his head down appearing to have his eyes closed.

But NBC News , PolitiFact and Newsweek all fact-checked the video saying Mr Biden did not fall asleep but just put his head down for approximately 10 seconds.

A high-resolution version of the video from CSPAN shows Mr Biden looking down while listening to the speaker and nodding in agreement. His eyes are open the entire time.

Hawaii officials urge families of people missing after deadly fires to give DNA samples

Wednesday 23 August 2023 19:37 , Louise Boyle

Authorities in Hawaii pleaded on Tuesday with relatives of those missing after the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century to come forward and give DNA samples, saying 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 the FBI’s tentative, unconfirmed list of people unaccounted for after wildfires destroyed the historic seaside community of Lahaina on Maui . But the family assistance center so far has collected DNA from just 104 families, said Julie French, who is helping lead efforts to identify remains by DNA analysis.

Maui Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin , who is running the center, said that the number of family members coming in to provide DNA samples is “a lot lower” than in other major disasters around the country, though it wasn’t immediately clear why.

“That’s our concern, that’s why I’m here today, that’s why I’m asking for this help,” he said.

Watch: Joe Biden comments on how ‘hot the ground is' while touring Maui wildfire devastation

Wednesday 23 August 2023 20:02 , Louise Boyle

In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged barricades survived

Wednesday 23 August 2023 20:28 , Louise Boyle

As flames tore through a West Maui neighborhood, car after car of fleeing residents headed for the only paved road out of town in a desperate race for safety.

And car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30.

One family swerved around the barricade and was safe in a nearby town 48 minutes later, another drove their 4-wheel-drive car down a dirt road to escape.

One man took an dirt road uphill, climbing above the fire and watching as Lahaina burned. He later picked his way through the flames, smoke and rubble to pull survivors to safety. Read more at The Associated Press

Pictured: Hawaiian workers craft lei

Wednesday 23 August 2023 21:02 , Louise Boyle

FEMA website set up to debunk Maui wildfire conspiracy theories

Wednesday 23 August 2023 21:30 , Louise Boyle

The US government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has established a website to help fight conspiracy theories in the wake of Maui’s wildfires.

“Help keep yourself, your family and your community safe after the Hawaii wildfires by being aware of rumors and scams and sharing official information from trusted sources ,” it reads.

Misinformation has proliferated since the disaster including that the blazes were started by a “directed energy weapon”.

FEMA has previously created these websites to counteract myths including in the wake of 2017’s Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Watch: Maui residents grapple with wildfire devastation

Wednesday 23 August 2023 22:04 , Louise Boyle

Maui residents are still reeling from wildfire devastation. Now investors and realtors are trying to cash in

Wednesday 23 August 2023 23:03 , Louise Boyle

Just days after fast-moving wildfires broke out in Maui , Hawaii , residents were heartbroken to see the remainder of their homes, businesses and lives turned to ash.

But the same people who are trying to grapple with the immense loss and figure out how to move forward, are reportedly being forced to defend what they have left of their land and grief as investors and realtors try to captalise on the disaster.

“I am so frustrated with inventors and realtors calling the families who lost their home offering to buy their land,” Lahaina resident Tiare Lawrence said in a video on Kāko’o Haleakalā. Read more

Pictured: The aftermath of a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii

Thursday 24 August 2023 00:05 , Louise Boyle

Maui’s wildfire victims: First IDs released after Hawaii disaster

01:08 , Louise Boyle

Raging wildfires in Maui have left at least 106 people dead and thousands of others missing after they were forced to flee their homes.

“We are heartsick that we’ve had such loss,” Hawaii governor Josh Green said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Mr Green said he expects the death toll to rise every day as recovery teams and cadaver dogs search the burned area in Lahaina on Maui . Despite the number of deaths increasing, only a few of the 111 have been identified.

Part of this reason is due to the state that many bodies were found in after the blazing wildfires moved quickly through Lahania.

A mobile morgue unit arrived to help Hawaii officials identify the remains as teams continued to search for more in neighbourhoods that were reduced to ash.

Mr Green asked people who are missing loved ones to submit their DNA to help them identify the victims.Read more

Watch: Warnings over Maui relief donation scams

02:06 , Louise Boyle

03:05 , Louise Boyle

Joe Biden told Hawaii that the rest of the United States “grieves with you” as he and the first lady surveyed the devastation of the Maui wildfires earlier this week.

How did the Hawaii wildfires start?

04:00 , Louise Boyle

At least 115 people are dead and hundreds are still missing after deadly wildfires raged through the Hawaiian island of Maui.

The fires, the deadliest in the US in the last century, erupted on three of Hawaii’s islands forcing visitors to flee and residents to seek emergency shelter.

Photos and videos from Maui show the destruction the fires have caused, with some neighbourhoods including the historic town of Lahaina, nearly burned to ash.

Search and recovery efforts then began as firefighters worked to contain and put out the fires.

On 21 August, President Joe Biden travelled to the Hawaiian island to meet with first responders and survivors as the state begins efforts to rebuild in the wake of the disaster.But a frenzy of questions still remain about how the fires started in the first place and how disasters like this can be prevented in the future.

Here’s everything we know about how the Hawaii wildfires started.

05:05 , Louise Boyle

On Monday, RNC Research tweeted : “Biden gets distracted by a dog: “That’s some hot ground, man!” The tweet was posted alongside a video of the president petting a golden retriever while talking to a FEMA worker in Hawaii amid the fatal wildfires.

In response, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called out the Republican account in defence of Mr Biden, writing : “He’s petting one of the dogs that’s working hard searching for remains so survivors who’ve lost loved ones can have closure.”

Kelly Rissman reports.

05:54 , Stuti Mishra

A California woman has become the first tourist known to have died in the devastating Maui wildfires that have killed 115 people.

Maui County officials named 72-year-old Theresa Cook among the eight more people identified as victims this week.

California woman becomes first tourist identified among 116 victims of Maui wildfire

Watch: Maui locals flee into ocean to escape Hawaii wildfires

06:11 , Louise Boyle

Second person found dead in eastern Washington wildfires, hundreds of structures burned

07:06 , Louise Boyle

A second person has died in wildfires in eastern Washington state that ignited on Friday during red flag conditions, burning hundreds of structures and closing a section of a major interstate for days, fire officials said.

A body was found in the area burned by the Oregon fire north of Spokane on Sunday afternoon, fire officials told The Associated Press on Monday.

Another person died in connection with the Gray fire that started Friday west of Spokane, officials said on Saturday.

Governor Jay Inslee visited the burned areas Sunday and declared a statewide emergency because of those fires — which have destroyed at least 265 structures — and others that combined have burned more than 53 square miles (137 square kilometers) around the state this year.

Inslee said Monday he had talked with President Joe Biden and Federal Emergency Management Administrator Deanne Criswell about securing federal dollars to help with firefighting efforts.

2nd person found dead in eastern Washington wildfires, hundreds of structures burned

Pictured: The fire’s aftermath in Lahaina

08:03 , Louise Boyle

09:09 , Louise Boyle

10:03 , Louise Boyle

11:03 , Louise Boyle

“The country grieves with you, stands with you and will help do everything to help you rebuild,” the president said. Read more

12:04 , Louise Boyle

13:03 , Louise Boyle

Mr Green asked people who are missing loved ones to submit their DNA to help them identify the victims.

California woman identified as first tourist among victims

13:37 , Louise Boyle

A woman from California has been identified as the first tourist among the victims of the Maui wildfires, officials confirmed on Thursday.

Theresa Cook, 72, from Pollock Pines in northern California, was one of dozens of people who died in the blaze which ripped through the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina.

14:04 , Louise Boyle

On 21 August, President Joe Biden travelled to the Hawaiian island to meet with first responders and survivors as the state begins efforts to rebuild in the wake of the disaster. But a frenzy of questions still remain about how the fires started in the first place and how disasters like this can be prevented in the future.

Here’s everything we know about how the Hawaii wildfires started. Read more

Watch: California woman identified as first tourist killed in Maui fire

14:29 , Louise Boyle

Some Maui residents return to homes still standing

14:56 , Louise Boyle

Some Maui residents whose homes were spared by the devastating wildfires have returned to Lahaina.

But conditions on the ground are grim: there is no running water or electricity, and soot and smoke fill the air.

Some residents who spoke to NBC News explained that they were concerned about protecting their homes.

“There’s been some looting that’s been happening, so we’re just trying to keep the house protected,” said Todd Durrell, who returned home with his girlfriend after learning his property survived.

“We’re armed just in case. We don’t want to be victimized any further.”

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Death toll in Maui fires rises to 67: ‘We have not yet searched’ buildings

Residents of Lahaina were being allowed back home on Friday for the first time since wildfires that have killed at least 67 people turned large swaths of the centuries-old town into a hellscape of ashen rubble.

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As search-and-rescue efforts continued on Maui after a fast-moving wildfire tore through the island and killed dozens of people, residents steeled themselves to return to the historic town of Lahaina after it was left in smoldering ruins.

Maui County said those with proof of residency or hotel reservations could return to Lahaina beginning at noon Friday. A curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. was in place, and barriers restricting access to certain areas — including the historic center — were in place because of hazardous conditions.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told local television station KHON-2 that residents would face “destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives.”

“Everyone please brace themselves as they go back,” Green said.

The fire’s confirmed death toll rose to 67 as of Friday afternoon.

Green said the blaze is probably the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades. The catastrophe spurred President Biden to declare a major disaster in Hawaii, opening the door to federal aid.

About 1,000 people are missing, according to federal sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the fires.

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Chaos and terror: Failed communications left Maui residents trapped by fire. Scores died

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The Lahaina fire, one of three that broke out Tuesday on Maui, was said to be 80% contained. Residents and tourists described harrowing efforts to escape the blaze, with some people rushing into the ocean for safety. Many did not know about the fire until they saw flames and smoke, raising questions about official alerts and warnings about the blaze.

Records indicate that neither the state nor the county activated sirens Tuesday, said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Weintraub described Hawaii’s integrated outdoor siren system as the largest in the world, with about 400 sirens spread across the state. It is traditionally used in disasters and other threats, such as hurricanes or coastal hazards, to advise people to seek more information — not to call for evacuations or advise that people seek shelter — he said.

Three other public warning systems were used, Weintraub said: wireless emergency alerts to cellphones, broadcasts through radio and television stations and notifications that residents can sign up to receive through a local emergency alert system . But power outages and communication issues may have affected those alerts.

Much of the west side of Maui remained without internet, power and water Friday morning, although officials said some cellphone service was available.

Federal sources with knowledge of the fires but who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that a breakdown in emergency communications cost precious time, and a number of people in the historic town of Lahaina learned too late about the oncoming fire. Many of those killed were believed to have died in their vehicles, those sources said. The death toll is currently tied to the most urbanized areas, with some bodies recovered from the harbor, they said.

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In an interview on the “Today” show Friday morning, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said he could not “comment on whether or not the sirens sounded.” He called the fires “an impossible situation.”

“I know that fires came up so quickly and they spread so fast,” he said.

Bissen said the death toll so far reflects only those who were found outside buildings.

“We have not yet searched the interior of the buildings,” he said, adding that authorities are awaiting search help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

State and local agencies were assisting with search-and-rescue efforts.

Progress against the Upcountry fire, which broke out in a rural area on the island, was still being assessed. A third blaze, the Pulehu fire, was at 70% containment, officials said. Firefighters were continuing their efforts to secure the perimeters and battle all the blazes.

“Maybe these things happen a lot in California,” said Maui resident Andrew Kayes, “but I’ve lived here 15 years and have never seen anything like this.”

Kayes, 49, lives in Maui’s Upcountry region, where one of the fires began. He watched from his backyard Tuesday night as the blaze grew into a swell of orange flames that glowed against the black sky.

“It looked like a lava flow,” he said.

The fires overtook and closed many roads, which became congested and stranded hundreds of people as they raced to the island’s only major airport, Kahului, where tens of thousands of visitors have left on flights, officials said.

Green estimated that as many as 1,700 buildings have been destroyed in the fires, hundreds of them in Lahaina. Even some of the vessels in Lahaina Harbor were burned.

Maui’s famed Banyan Tree, a 150-year-old landmark with deep significance that is a tourist attraction on the island, was “smoldering at the base, but still standing,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote on Twitter.

Banyan Tree in Lahaina smoldering at the base, but still standing. Just about the only thing left, other than the Lighthouse. pic.twitter.com/t0lGeOwY2H — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 10, 2023

Green had been traveling out of state but returned to Maui on Thursday to assess the damage. He said during a public briefing that he expected the cost of the recovery to be in the “billions of dollars.” Accuweather had a preliminary estimate of damage and economic loss at $8 billion to $10 billion.

Search-and-rescue teams, some equipped with cadaver dogs, from local and state agencies are assisting in the aftermath. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday deployed urban search-and-rescue personnel and other resources.

The search also unfolded online, where many turned to a spreadsheet on Google Drive to search for loved ones. By Thursday evening, the spreadsheet grew as new rows for the missing were added and loved ones marked dozens of family members as “found.” The link to the sheet repeatedly crashed because of high traffic.

Denise Youngblood Coleman, a Honokowai resident who has lived a few miles north of Lahaina for two decades, has been searching for names she recognizes on the Google spreadsheet. Coleman was in Los Angeles when the fires broke out, but said that based on satellite imagery, her home appears to be standing. She said she has not heard from two of her elderly neighbors, whom she described as her “ ohana ,” or family.

“They’re like my surrogate parents, and I don’t know where they are and that worries me greatly,” Coleman said. “Every person I know in Lahaina is homeless. There’s nothing left. That’s a huge thing to come to terms with.”

Although the rest of the state remains open to visitors, officials have asked nonresidents to leave Maui and urged others to avoid nonessential trips to the island.

The cause of the blaze has not been determined, but a number of factors — including high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation — probably contributed, said Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, adjutant general for the Hawaii’s Department of Defense.

Shocking before-and-after images show utter devastation of Maui wildfire

Fires across Maui have destroyed buildings and lead to at least six deaths. Photos from space show the scale of the destruction.

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The weather service had issued a red flag warning ahead of the fires, indicating that warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds were expected to combine to produce an increased risk of fire danger. But Hara said wind strength — forecast at 50 to 55 mph — far exceeded the predictions, reaching 85 mph.

Experts also said that climate change was increasing the likelihood of more extreme weather and that the changing landscape of unmanaged, nonnative grasslands from declining agriculture is a contributing factor to fire risks.

Jayme Gomes, a 29-year-old Wrightwood, Calif., resident whose father was born on the island and lives in Lahaina, told The Times she didn’t hear from her father until Thursday afternoon. His house had burned and he was separated from relatives during the evacuation, but he made it to the other side of the island and found a phone charger.

“It’s truly devastating,” Gomes said. “The whole town is gone. It’s not just a tourist destination. It’s home to many people.”

Gomes’ family is now staying with friends in Hawaii.

“I know that many people in Hawaii are going to help each other, because that is what aloha is,” she said. “That’s how everybody is there.”

Times staff writers Jeremy Childs and Jack Herrera contributed to this report.

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Maui Fire Department report on deadly wildfire details how it was no match for unprecedented blazes

HONOLULU (AP) — When wildfires broke out across Maui last August, 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 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.

READ MORE: A wildfire in Hawaii has burned native rainforest on Oahu, raising ecological concerns

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.

WATCH: How Hawaii students convinced schools to provide free menstrual products

“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.

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Lauer from Philadelphia. Audrey McAvoy contributed.

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Maui faces water rights questions as island continues wildfire recovery

Nation Nov 17

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A new report on the Maui wildfires cites communications breakdowns

The Associated Press

Search and rescue team members work in a residential area devastated by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 18, 2023. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

Search and rescue team members work in a residential area devastated by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 18, 2023.

HONOLULU — As wildfires ripped across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released Wednesday.

Communications problems were also encountered by the Hawaiian Electric Company, with officials unable to confirm that power lines were de-energized until well after flames had caused widespread damage, the report from the Hawaii Attorney General said.

It was the second of two major assessments out this week about the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century . A report released Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association detailed the challenges facing the Maui Fire Department during an unprecedented series of blazes, including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina.

After the fires, a Maui community tries a novel approach to keep homes in local hands

Attorney General Anne Lopez presented the report at a news conference along with Steve Kerber, vice president of the Fire Safety Research Institute.

"When Attorney General Lopez contacted us, clearly we were paying a lot of attention to what was going on in Lahaina and really had the same question that she had. How is it possible that something like this could happen?" Kerber said.

The new report says that five days before the flames broke out, meteorologists issued a dire warning that strengthening winds resulting from a Pacific hurricane south of Hawaii could create an extreme risk of wildfires across the islands on Aug. 8. "Confidence in the development of critical fire weather conditions this many days away is quite rare, and we believe that this warrants a heads up to you," a National Weather Service forecaster said in an email to Hawaii fire contacts on Aug. 3.

The Maui Emergency Management Agency posted to Facebook Aug. 6 about a "serious fire and damaging wind threat" due to ongoing dry conditions as Hurricane Dora passed.

The agency's administrator, Herman Andaya, was off island at a conference on Oahu on Aug. 8 as the Maui fires intensified. His call and text records show that he was getting updates from Gaye Gabuat, an administrative assistant. After a series of evacuations in Lahaina, Gabaut commented to Andaya that "multiple people look overwhelmed," according to the report. Andaya asked if he should come home to which Gabuat responded, "that it may look okay."

After the fire had been burning for more than five hours, Gabuat relayed to Andaya that flames had reached Front Street, a tourist hot spot in Lahaina. Only then did Andaya respond that "he better come home tomorrow."

By that time, multiple areas in Lahaina had been evacuated, a situation report produced by Andaya's own agency shows. Front Street had been closed along with the Lahaina bypass road, another key thoroughfare. In Lahaina alone, 29 utility poles were reported downed.

Fire crews had also been trapped in the inferno, according to staffing logs included in the report. Around 4:30 p.m., two engines were destroyed. A firefighter from one of the engines had to rescue the crews using a Maui Police Department SUV, according to the logs.

Six months after the Maui fires, an uncertain economy for the island

The preliminary report also describes a breakdown in communication between police responders, firefighters and emergency officials after cellular networks went down. Both the police and fire departments had to communicate using their handheld or car radios on closed channels that public officials and others could not listen to, according to the report.

Meanwhile, a stretched and limited dispatch center had single operators monitoring five or six channels at a time to keep up with what was happening on the ground.

"With no cellular communication, residents and tourists were not able to receive emergency alerts, communicate with loved ones and/or to receive incoming or outgoing calls/texts," the report's authors wrote.

They recounted how a police officer told other responders his daughter had been babysitting in a neighborhood hit early by the fire. Without cell communications he had no way to check if she escaped. It took two days for him to confirm she was OK and had made it out.

On Aug. 8 at about 6:40 a.m. MPD Central Dispatch contacted Hawaiian Electric to relay a report that a powerline came down and started a fire in the area of Lahainaluna Road and Lahaina Intermediate.

The dispatcher said no one was on scene and, "They are headed up there now, but it's near a structure, so we need to de-energize" that as well.

The Hawaiian Electric contact replied, "I think it just went out." which according to the report means the power supply is cut off.

From our previous reporting, we know that at about 6:37 a.m. the Lahaina Fire — about 3 acres - was reported in the area of Lahainaluna Road. Lahaina resident Shane Treu, who lives at 807 S Niheu Pl, is in his backyard facing Lahainaluna Road when he hears utility pole snap and he watches as downed power line ignites dray grass. He calls 911 to report fire.

Native Hawaiians aim to bring cultural sensitivity to Maui wildfire cleanup

The attorney general's report is the first phase of a comprehensive assessment that includes a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire. It says investigators relied on "all known available facts" related to the fire and to the steps that local, state and federal agencies took to prepare for dangerous fires.

It reconstructs a detailed timeline of the Lahaina fire's spread using social media posts, dispatch records, communications between emergency personnel and other sources.

Phase 2 of the report will focus on how Maui's fire protection system functioned during the emergency, specifically what conditions fed the inferno, the attempts to stop its spread, and the evacuation of residents. The report says the third phase will try to answer the critical question "How do we prevent this from happening again?"

"The tragedy serves as a sobering reminder that the threat of grassland fires, wildfires, and wildfire-initiated urban conflagrations, fueled by climate change and urban encroachment into wildland areas, is a reality that must be addressed with the utmost urgency and diligence – not just in Hawaii, but around the globe," the authors wrote.

Tuesday's report by the fire chiefs association described firefighters who carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another first responder drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking people away from danger one at a time.

Fire department workers "risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of the fires and save lives," according to the report, 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."

Both reports describe 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 hampering movement.

The embattled leader of Maui County's Emergency Management Agency has resigned

Among the challenges faced by the department were poorly stocked fire engines, hydrants that lost water supply, and a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties and limited equipment.

The fire chiefs recommended that the Maui 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.

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.

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.

Maui's cultural landmarks burned, but all is not lost

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 reports also highlight 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, Tuesday's 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.

Don Miller | Maui fire dispatches: Reports show…

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Subscriber only, don miller | maui fire dispatches: reports show familiar warnings were sounded.

It’s been a few months since I’ve reported on the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, fires in Maui. So time for an update, since many Santa Cruz County residents have expressed an affinity for the island and/or identify with the struggles residents there continue to go through.

Many of the issues predate the Lahaina fires and, this should sound very familiar, the debate on the island has ramped up about high taxes, a lack of services, too many regulations, out-of-town wealthy buyers coming in to buy up real estate, the cost and availability of insurance, the role of tourism in the local economy and a critical lack of workforce housing.

And – also familiar to Californians – the role of utility companies play in devastating fires continues to make news. Earlier this month, a report was released showing the role the Hawaiian electric company’s power lines played in the Aug. 8 fires. The report from Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez provided a detailed account of how early on Aug. 8 high winds and a downed power line started a fire that eventually engulfed most of the historic town of Lahaina and killed 101 people. The Lahaina blaze destroyed more than 2,200 structures and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damages, displacing more than 6,000 of the town’s 13,000 residents.

The 376-page report, includes transcripts of communication from Hawaiian Electric and emergency responders about where the fire ignited and whether the utility’s power lines had been de-energized in high winds.

The report also said that five days before the flames broke out, meteorologists warned Hawaii fire agencies that strengthening winds resulting from a hurricane south of Hawaii could create an extreme risk of wildfires on Aug. 8.

While the report doesn’t assign blame for the disaster, it also notes that the head of the emergency management agency, Herman Andaya, dragged his heels about returning to Maui amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts.

The origins of the catastrophic fire are traced back to a fast-moving brush fire reported at 6:35 a.m. on Aug. 8, said the report, which was produced by the Fire Safety Research Institute in Columbia, Maryland, at the request of Lopez.

But, Maui firefighters would subsequently report the morning fire was extinguished and returned to their quarters around 2 p.m. A second fire was reported around 2:55 p.m., at the same location as the earlier incident.

Hawaiian Electric representatives told reporters last week its power lines caused the first fire, but that the lines had been shut off for more than six hours by the time the afternoon blaze erupted. The report makes no statements about when the power lines were de-energized.

But, as the report notes, Hawaiian Electric also was dealing with damaged poles from high winds and another blaze that had sparked near downed lines on the other side of the island.

Meanwhile, fire crews, faced with the second blaze, found conditions in areas of Lahaina were rapidly getting out of control, as water pipes failed, with no water coming from many fire hydrants. Some fire crews became trapped. Heat from the fire melted their boots and sealed shut the compartment doors on one engine.

One firefighter used a police SUV to rescue seven colleagues, including an unconscious officer who received CPR, according to the report.

Maui’s fire department issued its own report a day before the attorney general’s report was issued. In it, the department said it lacked sufficient water tankers and fire engines to combat the Lahaina blaze.

The reports also describe a breakdown in communication between police, firefighters and emergency officials after cell networks went down. Both the police and fire departments had to communicate using their handheld or car radios on closed channels that public officials and others could not listen to. And emergency officials did not use Hawaii’s extensive network of emergency sirens to warn residents.

Police and utility 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 narrow roads in and out of town. The traffic jam left some trapped in their cars, while others who were near the ocean jumped in to escape.

The cleanup of the Lahaina fire zone is proceeding … slowly, as the debris (hundreds of destroyed vehicles and what remains of houses and businesses burned to the ground) is being moved twice, from a temporary site on West Maui to the eastern side of the island. Trucks carrying the fire debris are clogging local roadways,

As of February, Hawaiian Electric had been named in at least 101 lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming losses related to the fire. Maui County has also been sued by people seeking damages resulting from the fire.

Additional state and federal reports on the fire are expected to be released later this year. But, as the state report notes, “The tragedy serves as a sobering reminder that the threat of grassland fires, wildfires, and wildfire-initiated urban conflagrations, fueled by climate change and urban encroachment into wildland areas, is a reality that must be addressed with the utmost urgency and diligence — not just in Hawaii, but around the globe.”

Coming soon: The ongoing battle over vacation rentals and housing, post-fire. Don Miller is the Sentinel Opinion Editor.

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Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis

H ONOLULU (AP) — Amy Chadwick spent years scrimping and saving as a single mother of two to buy a house in the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But after a devastating fire leveled Lahaina in August and reduced Chadwick's home to white dust, the cheapest rental she and her now-husband could find for their family and dogs cost $10,000 a month.

Chadwick, a fine-dining server, moved to Florida where she could stretch her homeowners insurance dollars. She’s worried Maui’s exorbitant rental prices, driven in part by vacation rentals that hog a limited housing supply, will hollow out her tight-knit town.

Most people in Lahaina work for hotels, restaurants and tour companies and can’t afford $5,000 to $10,000 a month in rent, she said.

“You’re pushing out an entire community of service industry people. So no one’s going to be able to support the tourism that you’re putting ahead of your community,” Chadwick said by phone from her new home in Satellite Beach on Florida’s Space Coast. “Nothing good is going to come of it unless they take a serious stance, putting their foot down and really regulating these short-term rentals.”

The Aug. 8 wildfire killed 101 people and destroyed housing for 6,200 families, amplifying Maui's already acute housing shortage and laying bare the enormous presence of vacation rentals in Lahaina. It reminded lawmakers that short-term rentals are an issue across Hawaii, prompting them to consider bills that would give counties the authority to phase them out.

Gov. Josh Green got so frustrated he blurted out an expletive during a recent news conference.

“This fire uncovered a clear truth, which is we have too many short-term rentals owned by too many individuals on the mainland and it is b———t,” Green said. “And our people deserve housing, here.”

Vacation rentals are a popular alternative to hotels for those seeking kitchens, lower costs and opportunities to sample everyday island life. Supporters say they boost tourism, the state's biggest employer. Critics revile them for inflating housing costs, upending neighborhoods and contributing to the forces pushing locals and Native Hawaiians to leave Hawaii for less expensive states.

This migration has become a major concern in Lahaina. The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a nonprofit, estimates at least 1,500 households — or a quarter of those who lost their homes — have left since the August wildfire.

The blaze burned single family homes and apartments in and around downtown, which is the core of Lahaina's residential housing. An analysis by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization found a relatively low 7.5% of units there were vacation rentals as of February 2023.

Lahaina neighborhoods spared by the fire have a much higher ratio of vacation rentals: About half the housing in Napili, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of the burn zone, is short-term rentals.

Napili is where Chadwick thought she found a place to buy when she first went house hunting in 2016. But a Canadian woman secured it with a cash offer and turned it into a vacation rental.

Also outside the burn zone are dozens of short-term rental condominium buildings erected decades ago on land zoned for apartments.

In 1992, Maui County explicitly allowed owners in these buildings to rent units for less than 180 days at a time even without short-term rental permits. Since November, activists have occupied the beach in front of Lahaina's biggest hotels to push the mayor or governor to use their emergency powers to revoke this exemption.

Money is a powerful incentive for owners to rent to travelers: a 2016 report prepared for the state found a Honolulu vacation rental generates 3.5 times the revenue of a long-term rental.

State Rep. Luke Evslin, the Housing Committee chair, said Maui and Kauai counties have suffered net losses of residential housing in recent years thanks to a paucity of new construction and the conversion of so many homes to short-term rentals.

“Every alarm bell we have should be ringing when we’re literally going backwards in our goal to provide more housing in Hawaii,” he said.

In his own Kauai district, Evslin sees people leaving, becoming homeless or working three jobs to stay afloat.

The Democrat was one of 47 House members who co-sponsored one version of legislation that would allow short-term rentals to be phased out. One objective is to give counties more power after a U.S. judge ruled in 2022 that Honolulu violated state law when it attempted to prohibit rentals for less than 90 days. Evslin said that decision left Hawaii's counties with limited tools, such as property taxes, to control vacation rentals.

Lawmakers also considered trying to boost Hawaii's housing supply by forcing counties to allow more houses to be built on individual lots. But they watered down the measure after local officials said they were already exploring the idea.

Short-term rental owners said a phase-out would violate their property rights and take their property without compensation, potentially pushing them into foreclosure. Some predicted legal challenges.

Alicia Humiston, president of the Rentals by Owner Awareness Association, said some areas in West Maui were designed for travelers and therefore lack schools and other infrastructure families need.

“This area in West Maui that is sort of like this resort apartment zone — that’s all north of Lahaina — it was never built to be local living,” Humiston said.

One housing advocate argues that just because a community allowed vacation rentals decades ago doesn't mean it still needs to now.

"We are not living in the 1990s or in the 1970s,” said Sterling Higa, executive director of Housing Hawaii's Future. Counties “should have the authority to look at existing laws and reform them as necessary to provide for the public good.”

Courtney Lazo, a real estate agent who is part of Lahaina Strong, the group occupying Kaanapali Beach, said tourists can stay in her hometown now but many locals can't.

“How do you expect a community to recover and heal and move forward when the people who make Lahaina, Lahaina, aren’t even there anymore?” she said at a recent news conference as her voice quivered. “They’re moving away.”

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Things to know about aid, lawsuits and tourism nearly a month after fire leveled a Hawaii community

FILE - A man views the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street, Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP, File)

FILE - A girl rides her bike past a sign that says “Tourist Keep Out,” in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - A missing person flyer for Joseph “Lomsey” Lara is posted on the door of a business in a shopping mall in Lahaina, Hawaii, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, following wildfires that devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui earlier in the month. Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Crosses honoring victims killed in a recent wildfire are posted along the Lahaina Bypass in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 21, 2023. Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

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HONOLULU (AP) — Nearly a month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed at least 115 people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed .

Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about the loss of tourism.

Government officials from Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen to President Joe Biden have pledged support , and thousands of people have been put up in hotels and elsewhere as they await clearance to visit and inspect the properties where they once lived.

A look at things to know about how the recovery in Lahaina is taking shape following the Aug. 8 disaster:

HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED?

The official confirmed count stands at 115 , a figure that has not changed since Aug. 21. But many more names remain on a list of people who are considered unaccounted for, and it is unclear whether the toll of the deceased will rise — or whether it will ever be known how many perished.

Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier has repeatedly pleaded for patience as authorities try to verify who is missing, who has been accounted for and who has died.

Officials have also sometimes clouded the situation. Police on Aug. 24 released a “credible” list, compiled by the FBI, of 388 missing people for whom authorities had a first and last name and a contact number for whoever reported them missing.

Many of them, or their relatives, came forward to say they were safe , resulting in the removal of 245 names on Friday. Some others are known to have died in the fire, but their remains have not yet been identified.

Gov. Josh Green had said the number of missing would drop to double digits with Friday’s update, but when police released it, there were 263 newly added names, for a new total of 385.

Crosses honoring victims killed in a recent wildfire are posted along the Lahaina Bypass in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Over the weekend Green posted a video on X , formerly known as Twitter, seeking to clarify, saying, “The official number has been 385 ... but there are only 41 — 41 active investigations after people filed missing persons reports.”

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

Formal investigations will aim to determine the cause of the fire and review how officials handled it. But about a dozen lawsuits have already been filed blaming Hawaii Electric Company, the for-profit, investor-owned utility that serves 95% of the state’s electric customers.

Among the lawsuits is one by Maui County accusing the utility of negligently failing to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.

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

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP, File)

Other lawsuits have come from residents who lost their homes. On Monday, the father of Rebecca Rans, a 57-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who died while trying to escape the fire, sued Maui County, the state, Hawaiian Electric and the state’s largest landowner, Kamehameha Schools, a charitable trust formerly known as the Bishop Estate.

The lawsuit alleges that the county and the Bishop Estate failed to maintain their land by mowing or otherwise removing the dry, invasive grasses that have taken over former sugar and pineapple plantations in the region and which helped fuel the fires on Aug. 8.

“All the landowners knew how dangerous it was to have that huge volume of dry grass next to subdivisions, and could have saved hundreds of lives at a cost of less than $1,000 per acre to cut the brush down,” attorney James Bickerton said in a news release.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to the county. The Department of the Attorney General said in a written statement that the state is reviewing the lawsuit, and Hawaiian Electric declined to comment in an email sent by spokesperson Darren Pai.

“Our hearts are with all affected by the Maui fires,” Kamehameha Schools said in a written statement. “We are committed to restoring our Native Hawaiian people and culture through education, which includes stewarding and uplifting the health and resiliency of our ’āina (lands) and Native communities. As many aspects of the fires are still under investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”

In another case, lawyers representing Lahaina residents and business owners claim that cable TV and phone companies overloaded and destabilized some utility poles , which snapped in high winds, helping cause the fire.

HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT HELPING PEOPLE?

Much of the immediate disaster relief aid has been organized by community members, such as a supply distribution center operating out of a Hawaiian homestead community in Lahaina where most of the homes survived.

Hawaii U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said during remarks Tuesday on the Senate floor that federal support must continue.

“It’s our responsibility here in Congress to provide relief — in any way that we can, for as long as people need it,” he said.

As of Monday night, 5,852 people were staying at 24 hotels serving as temporary shelters around Maui, according to the county.

A missing person flyer for Joseph “Lomsey” Lara is posted on the door of a business in a shopping mall in Lahaina, Hawaii, following wildfires that devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

At the hotels, they’re receiving American Red Cross services including meals, mental health support and financial assistance.

More than 1,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel have been on Maui helping survivors, Schatz said.

FEMA will also need to complete “one of the most complex debris removal operations in its history,” he said, which may take as long as a year and cost up to a billion dollars.

Gov. Green said in a video on social media Monday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared more than 200 parcels.

“This is important because we can start getting people back to inspect their own land and get some closure soon,” he said.

FEMA has given up to $19.4 million of assistance, Green said.

Help is also coming from the rich and famous: Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson announced the creation of a $10 million fund to make direct payments to people on Maui who are unable to return to their homes.

SHOULD TOURISTS VISIT MAUI?

Officials said last week that the visitor traffic to the island has dropped 70% since Aug. 9, the day after Lahaina burned. Maui relies heavily on tourism for jobs, and the economy is reeling.

Lahaina’s restaurants and historic sites, once popular tourist draws, are now charred ruins. Large resort hotels farther up the west coast of Maui were spared but are now housing displaced residents.

Authorities are encouraging travelers to visit the island and support the economy, but ask that they avoid west Maui and instead stay in other areas like Kihei and Wailea.

Celebrities including Native Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa and Aerosmith singer and Maui homeowner Steven Tyler are also among those urging people to visit.

“Everything’s beautiful, except we gotta come there and make it more beautiful, OK?” Tyler said during a weekend concert in Philadelphia.

Johnson reported from Seattle.

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Multiple communications failures hurt emergency response to Maui wildfires – report

Hawaii attorney general releases report day after fire chiefs detail challenges faced by first responders during blazes that killed 101

As wildfires ripped across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels on returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Communications problems were also encountered by Hawaiian Electric, with officials unable to confirm that power lines had been de-energized until well after flames had caused widespread damage, the report from the Hawaii attorney general said.

It was the second of two major assessments out this week of the deadliest US wildfire in a century. A report released on Tuesday by the Western Fire Chiefs Association detailed the challenges faced by the Maui fire department during an unprecedented series of blazes including one that killed 101 people in the historic town of Lahaina.

The report says that five days before the flames broke out, meteorologists issued a dire warning that strengthening winds resulting from a Pacific hurricane south of Hawaii could create an extreme risk of wildfires across the islands on 8 August. “Confidence in the development of critical fire weather conditions this many days away is quite rare, and we believe that this warrants a heads up to you,” a National Weather Service forecaster said in an email to Hawaii fire contacts on 3 August.

The Maui emergency management agency posted to Facebook on 6 August about a “serious fire and damaging wind threat” due to ongoing dry conditions as Hurricane Dora passed.

The agency’s administrator, Herman Andaya, was off island at a conference on Oahu on 8 August as the Maui fires intensified. His call and text records show that he was getting updates from Gaye Gabaut, an administrative assistant. After a series of evacuations in Lahaina, Gabaut commented to Andaya that “multiple people look overwhelmed”, according to the report. Andaya asked whether he should come home, to which Gabaut responded: “that it may look okay.”

After the fire had been burning for more than five hours, Gabaut relayed to Andaya that flames had reached Front Street in Lahaina. According to the report, Andaya responded that “he better come home tomorrow”.

The preliminary report also describes a breakdown in communications among police responders, firefighters and emergency officials after cellular networks went down. Both the police and fire departments had to communicate using their handheld or car radios on closed channels that public officials and others could not listen to, according to the report.

Meanwhile, a stretched and limited dispatch center had single operators monitoring five or six channels at a time to keep up with what was happening on the ground.

Inoperative cell towers left residents and tourists with few options to receive emergency alerts like evacuation orders. And the closed systems used by police created a dam of information that was not being relayed in a timely way to the mayor and emergency officials, the report said.

The attorney general’s report is the first phase of a comprehensive assessment that includes a timeline of the 72 hours before, during and after the fire. It says investigators relied on “all known available facts” related to the fire and to the steps that local, state and federal agencies took to prepare for dangerous fires.

Phase 2 of the report will focus on how Maui’s fire-protection system functioned during the emergency, specifically what conditions fed the inferno, the attempts to stop its spread and the evacuation of residents. The report says the third phase will try to answer the critical question of how to prevent this from happening again.

“The tragedy serves as a sobering reminder that the threat of grassland fires, wildfires, and wildfire-initiated urban conflagrations, fueled by climate change and urban encroachment into wildland areas, is a reality that must be addressed with the utmost urgency and diligence – not just in Hawaii, but around the globe,” the authors wrote.

Tuesday’s report by the fire chiefs association described firefighters who carried victims piggyback over downed power lines to safety and sheltered survivors inside their engines. Another first responder drove a moped into a burning neighborhood again and again, whisking people away from danger one at a time.

Fire department workers “risked their lives in a valiant effort to stop the spread of the fires and save lives”, according to the report, 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”.

Both reports describe 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.

Among the challenges faced by the department were poorly stocked fire engines, hydrants that lost water supply, a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties and limited equipment.

The fire chiefs recommended that the Maui 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.

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 8 August, 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.

Cellphone and internet service was also down in the area at times, so it was difficult for some people 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 has experienced since the arrival of Europeans 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, Tuesday’s report says.

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

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Death Toll Soars in Maui, as Rescue Crews Scour Decimated Town

Lahaina lay in ruins following a wildfire that the governor said most likely killed more than 60 people, making it the deadliest in Hawaii’s history.

By Mike Baker and Thomas Fuller

Mike Baker reported from Lahaina, Hawaii. Thomas Fuller reported from California.

The death toll in a historic Maui town leveled by a wildfire soared to 53 on Thursday as the U.S. military joined search and rescue operations in the charred ruins of one of Hawaii’s most celebrated tourist destinations.

Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii said on Thursday that the number of fatalities from the disaster, already the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history, would likely exceed the 61 people lost when a tsunami crashed into the Big Island in 1960.

“What we’ve seen today has been catastrophic,” Mr. Green said at a news conference Thursday afternoon, calling the fire “likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history.”

Before this week’s fire, Front Street in the western Maui town of Lahaina was a leafy, oceanside tourist thoroughfare of art galleries, souvenir shops and restaurants. The firestorm decimated the street, burning right down to the edge of the Pacific Ocean, a grasslands wildfire that became a house-to-house urban inferno.

Along Front Street, wood-framed stores were unrecognizable. Other structures were reduced to concrete shells. Some 270 structures — including homes, businesses, a school and a church — were destroyed or heavily damaged, the authorities said.

Images of the smoldering ruins on Front Street offered testament to a panicked escape. A collection of charred vehicles, their tires vaporized, clogged the pavement at odd angles. Some cars jutted onto a sidewalk that in calmer times offered an unfettered view of the Pacific Ocean.

Some survivors escaped into the waves — the Coast Guard on Thursday reported they had rescued 17 people from the ocean. There was no way of knowing how many occupants of the homes or vehicles did not get out in time.

Lionel Montalvo, a retired fire chief for the Maui Fire Department, said in an interview on Thursday that many elderly would likely be among those killed.

“I believe that a lot of people stayed in their homes expecting the Fire Department to show up and put out the fire,” he said. Some older people in the community are accustomed to smoke from the days when sugar cane fields were burned at harvest time, he said. They might not have felt that alarmed when they smelled the smoke, he said.

Officials said identifying the remains of the dead among the ashes would be a long, painstaking process. Chief John Pelletier of the Maui County Police Department described Lahaina as “hallowed sacred ground” because of the number of remains around the town. The region’s FEMA administrator said that cadaver dogs are being sent from Washington and California to search for human remains. Asked how many people were missing, Chief Pelletier said: “Honestly we don’t know.” The lack of internet and power were hampering the search, he said.

The Maui wildfire carries the highest death toll of any fire in the United States since the 2018 Camp fire in California that killed 85 people.

By Thursday, the fire was largely contained, the authorities said, and search and rescue efforts were being aided by 30 members of the U.S. military. Thousands of tourists were evacuated from the island, including London Breed, San Francisco’s mayor, who was vacationing on Maui when the fire struck. Thousands more were crowding shelters on the island.

“We are going to need to house thousands of people,” the governor said on Thursday. He urged people across the state to open their homes to those made homeless by the fires.

Some residents of Lahaina raised questions over the timeliness of evacuation orders. A number of survivors said they fled because they saw the fire, not because of any instructions from authorities. The Maui County mayor, Richard T. Bissen Jr., said at the news conference on Thursday that “mandatory evacuations did take place” in affected areas, but he did not address why many people said they got no alerts.

Evacuation orders posted to social media show a confused picture. Areas around the Lahaina Intermediate School, on the eastern edge of town, were ordered to evacuate at 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday. Two and a half hours later, the Fire Department declared that the fire had been “100 percent contained.” But the fire flared back up, and new evacuation orders did not come until late that afternoon, after 4 p.m.

Cole Millington, who runs a hot sauce company in Lahaina, said the fire came with breathtaking speed. Within 15 minutes of seeing smoke outside his window, he and his roommates left their home. The street was on fire, and fallen power lines and trees were blocking the way. No one knew what was going on, he said, and traffic out of Lahaina was at a standstill. Everything he owns is now gone, he said.

Tad Craig, a wedding photographer, described hearing exploding propane tanks and being buffeted by winds so powerful that smoke from the fires was blowing sideways. “It was just a total inferno — Armageddon,” he said.

At around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Michele Numbers-Stefl looked out a window of the home that she shares with her husband, Mark Stefl, in Lahaina and saw flames on a hill about 500 yards away.

“Oh, my God! Pack up the dogs, there’s a fire there!” she yelled to her husband, according to Mr. Stefl.

He told her, “Don’t worry, the Fire Department will put it out.”

Within what felt like mere seconds, Mr. Stefl said, the wildfire, fanned by the raging winds, had raced down the hill and was just 30 yards from their house. “When I turned around, it was right there. That’s how fast it was,” Mr. Stefl said. “It was like a freight train coming down the mountain.”

He and his wife ran to their cars, trying to scoop up their two dogs and two cats on the way. “We literally ran down the stairs, grabbed cats and dogs and backed up the drive through black smoke, fire, heat, just flying through,” Mr. Stefl said.

Mr. Stefl, 67, a tile setter, drove his pickup. His wife was in her Kia Sorento.

“I couldn’t see where I was driving and drove down the hill, and next thing you know, the town’s on fire,” Mr. Stefl said. “The fire was just traveling too fast and too hot, and next thing you know Lahaina Town is gone, literally gone.”

Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, for which wildfires are a constant challenge, said Hawaii authorities might have had trouble alerting tourists to danger.

“Alerts are the lifeblood of getting people to safety in a crisis,” Mr. Ferguson said. “But if you’re visiting from New Jersey, are you signed up for emergency alerts? Probably not.”

Hawaii’s emergency response also has geographic disadvantages, Mr. Ferguson said. Tens of thousands of state and local firefighters are on constant alert in California, for instance; Hawaii, a rural state, has a far lower population and far fewer emergency medical workers. Access to mutual aid and firefighting equipment is also far easier on the mainland, he noted. “Honolulu can’t just drive extra fire trucks over, if Maui needs them,” he said.

The cause of the wildfires was not yet known. However, in recent years brush fires in Maui have been fueled by nonnative grasses that overtook abandoned pineapple and sugar cane plantations, according to Clay Trauernicht, a tropical fire specialist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Declining rainfall, a result of weather patterns and of rising temperatures likely influenced by climate change, have also increased the risk.

This week a hurricane hundreds of miles south of the Hawaii islands helped to create the dangerous conditions that drove the fire across western Maui and into Lahaina, meteorologists said. The hurricane pulled in moisture, reinforcing the already dry conditions on Maui.

Robert Bohlin with the Hawaii Weather Office said that the strong winds accelerated when they hit Maui’s mountains, similar to the effect of a strong water current hitting a rock and speeding up on the other side. The vicious winds propelled the flames into the town, turning a wildfire into an urban one.

A number of landmarks in the historic town appear to have been destroyed, including the Baldwin Home Museum, a former missionary compound and the oldest standing home on the island.

One of the town’s cherished landmarks is still standing: a 150-year-old banyan tree on Front Street. But it appears to have been badly singed by the fire, and whether the tree will survive is unclear.

The tree was just eight feet tall when it was planted in 1873 to commemorate a Protestant mission to Lahaina a half-century earlier. However, years of careful tending by residents helped the banyan tree grow to more than 60 feet tall, according to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which manages more than a dozen historic sites in the town.

“It’s said that if the roots are healthy, it will likely grow back,” county officials said in an update about the tree late Wednesday. “But it looks burned.”

The damage to Maui businesses also appears substantial. Theo Morrison, executive director of the foundation, said that the damage in Lahaina, particularly to its historic district, is significant.

“People haven’t just lost homes,” she said. “They’re going to lose jobs, and we have just lost a big part of our economy. Those historic sites were part of what made Lahaina such a special place.”

Mike Baker reported from Lahaina, Hawaii, and Thomas Fuller from San Francisco. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs , Jill Cowan , Colbi Edmonds , Jacey Fortin , Shawn Hubler , Judson Jones , Michael Levenson and Simon Romero contributed reporting.

Mike Baker is the Seattle bureau chief, reporting primarily from the Northwest and Alaska. More about Mike Baker

Thomas Fuller is the San Francisco bureau chief. Before moving to California he reported from more than 40 countries for The Times and International Herald Tribune, mainly in Europe and Southeast Asia . More about Thomas Fuller

New reports detail what critics call lapses in response to deadly Maui fire

Reports prepared for the state attorney general and maui fire department provide a more clear timeline on events leading to the most deadly blaze in u.s. history..

A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Hawaiian Electric did not respond until the afternoon to reports of downed power lines on the first day of the Maui fires. It responded after a blaze started and sent a worker to that scene about 7 a.m. The article also incorrectly said that the utility sued Maui County over the Lahaina fire. It was Maui County that sued the utility. The article and headline have been corrected.

Hawaii’s attorney general has released a comprehensive timeline of how local agencies and the state’s electric utility responded to multiple brush fires on Aug. 8, the precursors of what would become the deadliest fire in U.S. history.

The 376-page report , conducted by the Fire Safety Research Institute on behalf of Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez and released Wednesday, is the first in a three-phase probe into how and why the Lahaina brush fire turned so catastrophic.

While it did not assign blame or responsibility for how the fire started and spread, the report — along with an independently conducted Maui Fire Department report released earlier in the week — raises fresh questions about how Hawaiian Electric and multiple public agencies, including Maui County’s mayor, handled the disaster.

Using communication records, dispatch calls, notes and information obtained through subpoenas, the two probes paint the most comprehensive picture yet of how leaders and officials from the spate of agencies and companies planned for, responded to and communicated during the fires. Critics, including fire experts and lawyers for the victims, say the investigations show slow response times as well as failures in distributing key information during critical moments in realizing the risk of disaster until it was too late.

The report shows the Maui Fire Department first learned a power pole had snapped, sending “low hanging wires across” the road at 5:16 a.m. on Aug. 8, prompting fire officers to immediately alert Hawaiian Electric, referred to as Maui Electric in the report.

Data in the report shows that Maui Police had also been calling the utility to report broken and flailing equipment on homes and across roadways early that morning. In one call at 5:55 a.m., officers stated that Hawaiian Electric was trying to get the power back on. Interviews with residents and independent sensor data, previously reported on by The Washington Post, show that the lines were re-energized around 6 a.m.

About 30 minutes later, police and fire officers started reporting calls about a fire near the pole from the 5:16 a.m. call. At 6:40 a.m., dispatch again called Hawaiian Electric, stating “a power line came down and started a fire. … It’s near a structure, so need to de-energize that as well,” talking about the power. The utility worker responded, “I think it just went out.”

Hawaiian Electric sent a worker to “evaluate the damage” at 7 a.m., the data shows, and sent crews later in the day “to begin repairs on several poles in the area.” Firefighters, per their radio transmissions, continued to have issues with lines and said they were still waiting for utility workers until around 2 p.m. Throughout the day, the communications and logs show, police officers and fire officials had no idea whether the lines were de-energized.

At 9:36 a.m., Maui Police again called Hawaiian Electric reporting lines down at the scene, and the utility tells the dispatcher that they have crews going in that direction and that the power was out.

At 2 p.m., the report states, fire crews “reported the area was secure and they were awaiting the arrival of MECO,” the acronym for Maui Electric. Later in the timeline, before 4 p.m., a fire officer asked a utility worker if the lines have been de-energized, but the representative could not confirm that.

In a statement, Hawaiian Electric stated that the attorney general’s report did not reveal anything new about the blaze’s origin. “The cause of the afternoon fire that spread to Lahaina remains undetermined and is the subject of investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” the company said in a statement. The company also said they had crews responding to that location and many others throughout the entire day.

The company has previously acknowledged its equipment probably caused the initial fire — known as the “morning fire” — which Maui firefighters worked to contain. Responding to a lawsuit last year that Maui County filed against the utility, Hawaiian Electric suggested the county bore responsibility for the day’s events after firefighters earlier said the fire was extinguished. “Unfortunately, the county’s lawsuit may leave us no choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility for what happened that day,” said Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric in an Aug. 27 statement.

Maui County has rejected that assertion, as have some lawyers representing fire victims. Attorney Alexander Robertson IV said the attorney general’s report affirms that the utility failed to properly responded to downed power lines and also failed to de-energize its power lines at the first sign of trouble during a high-wind event, he said.

Had the utility dispatched a repair crew and visually inspected that broken pole, “they never should have re-energized that line at 6:07 a.m. thereby causing the fire,” said Robertson, an attorney representing families who lost homes and loved ones in the blaze. “This horrible tragedy was entirely avoidable, in my opinion.”

Some wildfire experts and firefighters have also raised questions about Hawaiian Electric’s differentiation between a morning and afternoon fire.

Jonathon Golden, a former U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighter, said that he’s “never heard of incidents being referred to like that, especially if the incident is in the same exact area.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Golden, now the executive director of the Wildfire Industry Collective. He also noted that a “contained” fire is not the same as a “controlled” fire. The latter means the blaze has been extinguished.

“Firefighters aren’t perfect and sometimes contained fires sneak past control lines,” Golden said. “Until that thing is controlled, it’s not out.”

The attorney general’s probe, which confirms the fire’s origin and how it spread, aligns with The Post’s previous reporting on how the fire originated.

Residents told The Post they were awakened by an arc flash and strong winds in the early hours of Aug. 8. They noticed that their air conditioners and lights were off. Around 6 a.m., they said their power came back on. Data prepared by Whisker Labs, a company that monitors U.S. grids, also confirmed that the grid experienced faults at this time. Around 6:30 a.m., the residents started to smell smoke.

The fire occurred on a day when — despite red flag warnings, high wind watches and fire weather watches — the Maui Emergency Management Agency was understaffed, the attorney general’s report showed.

The agency usually operates with an administrator and eight full-time employees. On Aug. 7, the agency’s administrator at the time, Herman Andaya, was in Oahu at a conference, and another employee was unavailable.

The agency’s Emergency Operations Center — which is activated depending on weather incidents — was partially operating with two employees the day before the fire. The Emergency Operations Center wasn’t fully activated until 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8, well after the flames had begun to engulf Lahaina, with most of the agency’s employees assuming different roles to respond to the situation.

Other Maui County agencies, including the police and fire departments, maintained normal staffing and did not preposition employees for the increased risks, underscoring the island’s lack of preparedness. Hawaiian Electric maintained normal staffing as well.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen was also slow to treat the blazes as serious emergencies, according to the probe. Despite schools closing and multiple fires burning at once, Bissen refused to declare an emergency, saying it “was not necessary,” the report stated.

At 3:15 p.m., as the Lahaina fire grew quickly in intensity and size, state officials tried to get ahold of the mayor, asking if he was in the Emergency Operations Center, and were told “no.” Finally, at 8 p.m., Bissen signed an emergency order. By that time, Lahaina had already burned to the ground and scores of people were missing.

In its own investigation into its fire preparation and response, conducted by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, the Maui Fire Department highlighted significant lapses in planning and resources needed to respond to a major event. For example, their relief vehicles lacked standard equipment, which added to delays in deploying them.

In addition, neither the state nor the county has any official mutual aid agreements among their fire departments, resulting in a cumbersome and slow process for dispatching and relocating equipment. As has been previously reported, dry water hydrants and access severely impacted firefighters’ response, in what the report’s authors called “the worst-case scenarios.”

The chaos put police and firefighters in extremely dangerous situations . At least seven firetrucks were damaged, burned, or rendered immobile by tangled power lines, with firefighters incurring injuries, sprinting to save residents by carrying them on their backs, and having to try to rescue their own who were trapped in extremely hot, stranded engines.

Communication was also a major problem, the report said. Some fire department staff members did not receive information and remained unaware of the unfolding disaster. Top officers and certain fire department staff use the “WhatsApp” application for updates, but use of that app was not universal across the department.

The Maui Fire Department also lacks hand crews to perform brush-clearing work, the report noted, an essential tool in wildfire prevention.

The two reports come as Maui residents continue to seek answers on basic questions about the disaster.

For months, at least 90 lawsuits representing hundreds of victims had been stalled due to Hawaiian Electric’s demands to have them tried in federal court. At the same time, Maui County agencies have declined to answer fire investigators’ requests for all records and interviews, forcing investigators to issue 67 subpoenas so far to the Maui Emergency Management Agency and the water, police and fire departments.

“We have limited information from EOC, from MEMA. We have made multiple requests for that information,” said Derek Alkonis, research program manager for the Fire Safety Research Institute, during a news conference Wednesday on the report’s release.

Investigators have been asking for information such as emergency management-related plans; staffing records for the day of the fire; communications within teams just before and after the fire; a recent history of brush clearance; water level records; details regarding West Maui’s water pipe systems; and documents about multiagency training.

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