Newsom sends California search-and-rescue teams to Hawaii in wake of deadly Maui wildfires

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday the deployment of 11 members from California search-and-rescue task forces to assist the hardest hit areas from devastating wildfires in Maui that have killed at least 36 people this week in Hawaii.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency worked closely with Newsom as the California governor directed the Office of Emergency Services to also deploy state personnel specializing in urban search-and-rescue and mass fatality management to support Hawaii’s operations.

The specialized team includes local government firefighting personnel from Sacramento, Riverside and Oakland.

“The wildfires and devastation that Maui is experiencing is all too familiar and all too horrifying. We stand at the ready to aid Hawaii in its time of need,” Newsom wrote in a social media post.

Newsom spoke with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday on how California could support the island state through its response and recovery from the devastating wildfires, according to a Cal OES news release.

Nancy Ward, director of Cal OES, said she has been on the phone with Hawaii’s emergency management director, Kenneth Hara, “to coordinate the types of resources that they need.”

“We have expertise, as everyone knows, in wildfires. We have expertise in debris removal, which is something that Hawaii has done for hurricanes — fire’s a little bit different because you have possibly remains, possibly hazmat materials,” Ward said in a released statement. “We have sent two of our subject matter experts on fire resources to Hawaii already.”

Several hundred volunteers with the American Red Cross are flying to, if not already in Maui, to give their support. The Red Cross has a “deep pool” of volunteer roles from sheltering to nurses to mental health and spiritual care as they work with local governments and evacuees during the crisis, officials said.

Red Cross Gold Country, a local California chapter of the American Red Cross, has already sent four volunteers from Northern California, three shelter-trained and one a government liaison, according to Steve Walsh, the chapter’s communications director.

Walsh said all volunteers will spend a two-week term in Maui and, because this is planned to be an extended event, that the Red Cross is constantly looking for new volunteers, which make up 96% of its workforce.

Those who are interested in volunteering with the American Red Cross can register online at www.redcross.org/volunteer. All costs of travel and board are covered by the nonprofit, which also relies heavily on donations.