Category Archives: Hawaii fires

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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:

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Hawaii congresswoman says state underestimated lethality of wildfires

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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