Category Archives: Hawaii

Hawaii fires: spread of conspiracy theories reveals tech firms’ failings

Posted on by

From secret ‘energy weapon’ starting fires to a global cabal razing the town for an experiment – false theories are fast gaining ground

In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires in Maui, misinformation and conspiracy theories have spread online, underscoring the shortcomings of social media firms’ enforcement policies following disasters.

Conspiracy theories including that the fire was started intentionally by a secret “energy weapon” and that a shadowy cabal of global elites set the blazes purposefully to clear the land for their own nefarious uses have gained popularity.

Continue reading...

Biden will reassure Maui fire victims they will control rebuild, says Fema chief

Posted on by

Deanne Criswell says the president will visit Lahaina on Monday to meet with first responders, officials and victims

The administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Joe Biden will on Monday reassure the people of Lahaina they will be in control of how they rebuild when he visits the Maui community devastated by a historically deadly wildfire.

The president and the first lady, Jill Biden, will meet first responders, officials and victims, getting a first-hand look at the widespread devastation, Criswell told CNN’s State of the Union.

Continue reading...

Head of Maui emergency agency resigns after defending not sounding sirens

Posted on by

Herman Andaya’s resignation comes after the deadly blaze in Maui killed at least 111 people and razed thousands of buildings

The head of the Maui emergency management agency, who has been under fire for not activating disaster sirens during last week’s wildfire response, resigned Thursday, citing health reasons.

Richard Bissen, the Maui mayor, accepted the resignation of Herman Andaya, the county of Maui announced on Facebook.

Continue reading...

Fossil fuel firms move to dismiss climate lawsuit in Hawaii as Maui faces wildfires

Posted on by

In 2020, Honolulu officials had sued eight oil and gas companies over the steep costs of abating damages from extreme weather

Hawaii’s supreme court on Thursday heard attempts by fossil fuel companies to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit. The hearing came as the deadly fires in Maui capture global headlines.

“This is the first time the court has been in session since the fires in Maui last week,” the Hawaii supreme court chief justice said as the hearing began, before calling for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the blazes.

Continue reading...

Joe and Jill Biden to visit fire-ravaged Hawaii as death toll hits 110

Posted on by

President has faced criticism for not speaking about wildfire disaster earlier and using the wrong name when referring to Maui

Joe and Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii next week to witness the impact of wildfires that devastated the town of Lahaina, the White House said on Wednesday, as the death toll from disaster rose to 110.

Announcing the visit, which will take place on Monday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said: “In Maui, the president and first lady will be welcomed by state and local leaders to see first-hand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort.

Continue reading...

‘There’s a lot to get through’: Hawaii crews comb ruins of Lahaina for missing fire victims

Posted on by

At least 106 people have died – a figure set to rise significantly as workers carry out the painstaking work of identifying remains

The destruction in Lahaina stretches as far as the eye can see – homes burned down to their foundations, blackened cars, and piles of twisted metal from the fire that burned all the way to the sea. It is in these ruins that search teams will determine the true toll of the disaster.

The wildfires that ravaged Maui last week exploded rapidly, moving at roughly a mile a minute, and giving residents little time to escape as flames consumed the historic town of Lahaina. At least 106 people died – a figure expected to rise significantly in the coming days as crews scour the rubble. A massive operation is under way to find remains and identify them, and officials have asked for patience.

Continue reading...

As search for Hawaii fire victims continues, power company faces criticism

Posted on by

So far 99 fatalities have been identified but number of dead is expected to rise as teams search devastated neighborhoods

As officials in Hawaii continue to work painstakingly to identify the 99 people confirmed killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui, a mobile morgue unit arrived to assist even as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods reduced to ash. Meanwhile, local power utility Hawaii Electric Company has been facing criticism for not shutting off power in an area at high risk for fire.

The wildfires, some of which have not yet been fully contained, are already the deadliest in the US in more than a century. Fueled through parched invasive grasses by strong winds that whipped flames across miles in mere minutes, the blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina last week destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000.

Continue reading...

‘Time to grieve and heal’: historic Lahaina prepares to rebuild after wildfire devastation

Posted on by

Residents hold on to hope for historic town that ‘represents transformation’ and is central to Indigenous culture

A week after wildfires ripped through western Maui and killed at least 99 people, residents and historians are still processing the full scope of destruction in Lahaina, an 18th-century coastal town that was, for a time, the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Designated a national historic landmark in 1962, Lahaina is a place of incalculable importance for Native Hawaiians. In 1810, King Kamehameha I unified all the Hawaiian islands and made the town his royal residence for the next three decades.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: questions arise over response as death toll rises to 93 – as it happened

Posted on by

Search for victims continues as more than 2,200 structures damaged or destroyed and more than 2,100 acres scorched

As search and rescue crews continue to uncover the scale of the massive and devastating toll in the historic town of Lahaina, anger is building among residents over various aspects of the government response, from warnings during the inferno to aid distribution afterwards. Residents have asked why emergency sirens didn’t warn Lahaina residents in time to evacuate.

Officials have said there wasn’t time to adequately alert the city before the wind-driven firestorm tore through homes and businesses. Along with the lack of warnings, residents are questioning why plans weren’t in place to ensure a quick and effective response for victims still grappling with the ongoing issues caused by the fire, including contaminated water, widespread power outages, and a lack of response programming and infrastructure that could help streamline aid brought in from the outside.

Continue reading...

Hawaii wildfires: deadliest US blaze in a century kills at least 93 people

Posted on by

Governor says death toll in Lahaina is expected to rise after ‘worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced’

At least 93 people have died in the fire that consumed the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and officials warned that the effort to find and identify the dead was still in its early stages.

Meanwhile, anger at the government response to the deadliest wildfire in recent US history is mounting. Residents have raised questions over various aspects of the government response, from warnings during the inferno to aid distribution in the days since.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: fresh blaze prompts renewed evacuations as Maui death toll rises

Posted on by

At least 80 people killed in deadliest disaster in the state’s history, as questions asked about the local warning system

The death toll from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii has risen to 80 as search teams comb through the smouldering ruins of Lahaina and a new fire triggered the evacuation of another community on Friday night.

The Maui police department said the new fire was burning in Kaanapali in West Maui, to the north-east of the area that burned earlier this week.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: rescuers comb through debris in Lahaina as death roll rises to 80 – as it happened

Posted on by

At least 1,000 people reported missing following fires, as a new fire burns in Kaanapali in West Maui

Hawaii resident Ella Tacderan spoke to the Guardian about her experience of the devastation in Maui where her family home once stood.

“A nightmare” scene, Tacderan said:

Continue reading...

Hawaii congresswoman says state underestimated lethality of wildfires

Posted on by

Jill Tokuda says Hawaii ‘did not learn lesson’ from previous hurricane as death toll from devastating fires reaches 80

The Hawaii congresswoman Jill Tokuda told CNN on Saturday morning that she believes state officials underestimated the quickness and lethality of a wildfire that as of Saturday morning had killed at least 80 people there.

“It’s not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions,” Tokuda said on CNN when asked to address the wildfires in her home state, which were exacerbated by winds associated with a category four Hurricane Dora as it passed far to the south-west.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: death toll increases to 67, says Maui county – live

Posted on by

Governor says it’s too early to tell if siren system failed; Lahaina subject to curfew from 10pm-6am and west Maui remains without water and power

CNN’s chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, has visited stricken Lahaina, and had this to say:

It looks like a bomb went off in Lahaina town. All the iconic buildings are either flattened or just scorched skeletons of their former self. Flames came so fast, entire structures went up in a matter of minutes. Anything in the town center here is just completely devastated. The fire was so hot, it burned everything all the way to the ground. [It’s] just lifeless, smoky, and sooty devastation where Lahaina town used to be.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: death toll rises to 67 as residents return to assess damage

Posted on by

Three days later, Maui is morning loss of life and land, with governor Josh Green warning there will be more fatalities

The loss of life from the wildfires that have ravaged Maui rose to 67 on Friday as firefighting crews continue to fight the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii’s history.

Authorities confirmed 12 more fatalities as of Friday afternoon, bringing the total above the 61 confirmed deaths from a tsunami in Hilo in 1960.

Continue reading...

Hawaii fires: Biden approves disaster declaration amid fears Maui death toll could rise – latest updates

Posted on by

Federal funding made available on Thursday; emergency teams searching areas impacted by fires after at least 36 people were killed

ABC is reporting that the US national weather service has canceled all high wind and red flag warning alerts for Hawaii as wind speeds are expected to decrease slightly on Thursday.

Gusts of 25-35 mph (40-56 kph) are still anticipated, which could still hamper fire containment efforts, but is much lower than the last couple of days, which have seen wind speeds on Maui reach as high as 67 mph (107 kph).

The Old Lahaina Courthouse roof is entirely gone. And so is the beautiful heritage museum we had there. The top floor had ancient Hawaiian things, things from the monarchy and plantation and whaling periods, objects from all of Lahaina’s eras.

Continue reading...

Desperate search for survivors in Maui after 36 people die in Hawaii fires

Posted on by

Officials warned death toll could rise after wildfires left dozens of people injured and homes and businesses destroyed

At least 36 people have died in ferocious wildfires that have ravaged the historic town of Lahaina in Hawaii, as crews continued mass evacuation efforts and desperate searches for survivors.

Officials warned on Thursday that the death toll in the blazes on the island of Maui could rise. Search teams spread out to charred areas on the island at first light.

Continue reading...

Maui fires: six people killed in unprecedented Hawaii wildfires fanned by Hurricane Dora

Posted on by

Officials said at least two dozen had been injured as the fire destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina in western Maui

Six people were killed in the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight, authorities said.

The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina, and left at least two dozen people injured, officials said at a press conference Wednesday. There have been 13 evacuations for three fires.

Continue reading...

Six dead, dozens injured in Hawaiian blazes – as it happened

Posted on by

This liveblog is now closed. You can read our full story on the wildfires below:

Hawaii Governor Josh Green, is expected to be back in Hawaii on Wednesday evening, after returning home from a scheduled trip.

Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release.

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed. We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harm’s way to save lives.

I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response. The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilised Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui. The US Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts. The US Marines are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island. The Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from Maui, and the Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts.

I urge all residents to continue to follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert.

Continue reading...

Ken Potts, survivor of sinking of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, dies at 102

Posted on by

Lou Conter, 101, is now final survivor of ship on which 1,177 were killed when Japanese attack brought US into second world war

Ken Potts, one of the last two survivors of the USS Arizona battleship, which sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.

Howard Kenton Potts died on Friday at the home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts’s Arizona shipmate and friend.

Continue reading...