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...Worst wildfires in the Canary Islands in at least 40 years drawing closer to the capital Santa Cruz
More than 7,500 people have been evacuated or ordered to stay indoors as the worst wildfire in at least four decades ravages the Canary island of Tenerife, burning through 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) of land and drawing closer to the capital, Santa Cruz.
Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canaries, said more than 250 firefighters – backed by military emergency crews and 17 aircraft – were working to tackle the fire, which broke out in the north-east of the island on Tuesday and which currently has a 32km (20-mile) perimeter.
Continue reading...More than 20,000 residents given until noon on Friday to leave home in face of advancing wildfire that could arrive by weekend
Long lines of traffic have clogged the only road out of the Canadian city of Yellowknife, after authorities ordered the first ever evacuation of a capital in the face of an advancing wildfire.
More than 20,000 residents – the entire population – have been given until noon on Friday to leave their homes, as water bombers flew throughout the night and authorities warned that the fire could reach the city by the weekend.
Continue reading...20,000 residents of capital of Northwest Territories ordered to leave after forecast that wildfire 11 miles away could arrive by the weekend
An evacuation order has been issued for Yellowknife in the north-west of Canada as a wildfire comes closer, with a local minister saying: “The fire now represents a real threat to the city.”
Shane Thompson, the environment and climate change minister for the Northwest Territories, said on Wednesday night that the fire could reach the outskirts of Yellowknife by the weekend and was about 17km (11 miles) away.
Continue reading...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...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...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...Blaze in popular tourist area in the Pyrenees forced evacuation of 2,000 people before it was brought under control
A fire in the south of France burned through 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of land and destroyed a campsite, with 2,000 people evacuated before the blaze was brought under control on Tuesday.
The French environment minister said the climate crisis was exacerbating conditions of drought that fed the fire. No one was injured in the fire, authorities said.
Continue reading...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...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...Lytton First Nation in British Columbia ordered to evacuate on Friday as out-of-control wildfire just 328 yards from reserve land
Members of a First Nation in British Columbia have once again been advised to flee their homes to escape record-setting wildfires, just two years after the community in western Canada was devastated in an earlier blaze.
Residents of the Lytton First Nation were ordered to evacuate late on Friday. By Sunday, the out-of-control Stein Mountain fire was just 300 meters (328 yards) from reserve land, burning its way down a steep slope that has stymied firefighting efforts, the community’s chief, Niakia Hanna, told Reuters.
Continue reading...The York fire has burned pinyon pines, junipers and the region’s famous Joshua trees, which are particularly vulnerable to wildfires
The hundreds of firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire this year in the Mojave national preserve have to work strategically to avoid disrupting a fragile ecosystem.
The York fire, which erupted last Friday, has burned through more than 125 sq miles (323.7 sq km) across the California desert toward the Nevada border.
Continue reading...Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledges ‘inconvenience for visitors’ after 20,000 people were evacuated
Tourists whose holidays on the Greek island of Rhodes were cut short due to intense wildfires are being offered a one-week free stay next year, the Greek prime minister said.
Holidaymakers and local people were forced to flee homes and hotels as the fires burned for days in July, with about 20,000 tourists rescued from danger in the largest evacuation ever undertaken by the country.
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