As Maui fire becomes the nation’s deadliest in a century, tourists urged to stay away

The wildfires that devastated western Maui have become the deadliest the U.S. has seen in more than 100 years, destroyed one of Hawaii’s historic towns and done damage that the state’s leaders and first responders are still trying to comprehend.

With search efforts just beginning, Hawaii officials are urging tourists not to come to Maui, but to instead visit the state’s other islands, according to the Associated Press. That will leave hotel rooms available for displaced residents and first responders.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said 500 hotels rooms will be made available for affected locals, with 500 more for workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the AP reported. Some hotels will carry on with normal business to help preserve jobs and sustain the local economy, Green said.

On Saturday, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said search teams with cadaver dogs had been through just 3% of the affected area. The number of dead is likely to continue to grow as the search continues.

“We’ve got an area that we have to contain that is at least 5 square miles, and it is full of our loved ones,” he said.

Death toll reaches 93, authorities work to identify the dead

10:00 a.m., Aug. 13, 2023

As of Sunday morning, the death toll from the Maui wildfire reached 93 people as authorities began the process of identifying the dead.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that only two people have been identified so far. The process of identifying the bodies is difficult because “we pick up the remains and they fall apart,” Pelletier told the Associated Press.

As crews with cadaver dogs search the area razed by wildfire, the official death toll will likely grow. “None of us really know the size of it yet,” Pelletier said, referring to the number of dead.

At least 2,200 buildings, most of them homes, were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said, according the the AP. Across the island, the damage estimate is close to $6 billion.

Death toll climbs to 89, ‘toxic’ ash blankets Lahaina

9:50 p.m., Aug. 12, 2023

With 89 deaths and more expected, the Lahaina fire has become the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. over the last 100 years, USA Today reported.

According to Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, authorities have identified two of the 89 people whose remains have been recovered.

“We’re going as fast as we can, but just so you know, 3%. That’s what’s been searched with the dogs: 3%,” Pelletier said, per CNN.

After being reopened for residents to assess the wreckage on Friday, Lahaina and West Maui were closed off again Saturday due to the presence of “toxic” ash in the area.

In a press conference, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the fires as being the “largest natural disaster” in Hawaii’s statehood.

Officials are continuing to secure temporary housing for residents affected by the fires and fly non-residents off the island, Green noted.

“Almost 15,000 passengers per day were flown out. It makes our recovery work quite a lot easier and most have left the region,” he told the press. “We still have people staying at the airport or making decisions about when they are ready to go. A lot of people are traumatized and traumatized at what they see others are going through.”

Death toll rises to 80 as rescuers search through wildfire wreckage

11:00 a.m., Aug. 12, 2023

As of Saturday morning, the fire that has wiped through the historic town of Lahaina is still actively burning, but according to local officials, it is about 85% contained, NBC News reported.

At least 80 deaths have been confirmed and many people are still reported missing.

When the road to Lahaina opened on Saturday morning, search and rescue parties resumed, per NBC. However, the operation has shifted into a recovery mission as officials enter the area with cadaver dogs, and search buildings that were inaccessible before. NBC reported that the death toll will “unequivocally” rise as new areas are searched.

On Friday night, a new fire broke out near a county gas and diesel distribution center, prompting an evacuation order for residents in the town of Kaanapali, directly north of Lahaina, according to The New York Times. Maui County officials stated that the new fire was fully contained by 8:30 p.m. Friday night, per the Times’ reporting.

Some Lahaina residents were allowed to return to the town to assess their properties beginning Friday afternoon, per CBS News, and officials said that “a daily curfew will be in effect between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the disaster area.” CBS also reports that due to the active burn areas being “highly toxic” according to officials, residents have been advised to wear masks and gloves and beware of the fire’s hot spots.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said that at least 2,000 people will need temporary housing due to hundreds of homes being lost, and he called on people throughout Hawaii “to take in displaced residents from west Maui if they had the room to accommodate them,” NPR reported.

In addition to displaced residents staying in hotels and with other Hawaii residents, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said he would be lifting restrictions on short-term rentals in the city to help provide more emergency housing options, according to The New York Times.

Maui County repair costs are estimated at $5.52 billion, according to the Pacific Disaster Center and FEMA.

At least 67 people have died, making it the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii state history

7:00 p.m., Aug. 11, 2023

This afternoon, Hawaiian officials confirmed that 12 more people had died in the fires, bringing the total death toll to 67 so far. That makes the devastating wildfire the deadliest natural disaster to strike Hawaii since it became a U.S. state, according to ABC News.

Dogs were brought to the island to search for the dead and work alongside rescue crews to search the charred buildings in the area on Friday, USA Today reported.

“The death count that we had so far really constitutes anyone who was visible from outside of the buildings,” Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz told The New York Times, “And so we are expecting bad news over the next couple of days.”

On Friday, Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green “ordered a comprehensive review of the state’s actions in the hours after devastating wildfires broke out on the islands,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

CNN also reported on a review of the state’s and the city’s planning records that showed “that Hawaii officials had underestimated the deadly threat of wildfires.”

The U.S. Coast Guard continues to look for missing people in the ocean waters around the area for those who likely fled the fires by heading into the water, per the Times.

Death toll rises to 55 — expected to rise as personnel search inside buildings

8:00 a.m., Aug. 11, 2023

The death toll has risen to more than 55 and is expected to rise as emergency personnel continue recovery. A failed emergency alarm system on the island and power outages severely restricted real-time information updates for residents.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said that the wildfires this week are “likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” per The Washington Post.

During an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr. said that the current death count only reflects those found outside the buildings.

“We have not yet searched in the interior of the buildings,” Bissen said. “We’re waiting for FEMA to help with that search, as they are equipped to handle the hazmat conditions of the buildings that have been burned.”

Bissen said that conditions created “an impossible situation” for the siren system, reported the Post. It did not sound properly to warn the community, although Bissen couldn’t say whether or not it sounded at all.

About 400 sirens are around the island — the state calls it the “largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world,” per KHON2.

A Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman told The Associated Press that records don’t show that the alarm was triggered on Tuesday when the fire started. Emergency alerts on mobile phones, TV stations and radio stations were used instead.

There was little warning for residents when the fires broke out. KHON2 reported that residents didn’t receive real-time information because of the outages, only evacuating when they saw the flames or smelled smoke.

Lack of water also intensified the situation, Bissen told NBC.

1,700 buildings destroyed in wildfires, 14,500 more visitors to be evacuated

6:30 p.m., Aug. 10, 2023

As search and rescue operations continued on Thursday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced in a press conference that the death toll had risen to 53, per The Associated Press.

Green also expressed his fear that the death toll from the wildfires would raise significantly and surpass that of the 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people, USA Today reported.

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Green estimated that 1,700 buildings perished in the fires and said, “about 80% of Lahaina is gone.”

Earlier in the day, President Biden Joe Biden declared the Maui fires a major disaster, paving the way for federal aid to support affected communities.

Among other uses, “assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster,” a White House press release said.

According to the Hawaiian Tourism Authority, tourists are still being moved off-island, with 14,500 visitors estimated to be transported off the island by the end of Thursday. That’s in addition to the 14,000 visitors moved off of Maui on Wednesday.

Winds die down, officials gather first glimpses of Hawaii’s fire damage from the sky

8:00 a.m., Aug. 10, 2023

As of Wednesday night, the death count for the Maui fires has risen to at least 36, with 30 more wounded, reported Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

More than 11,000 travelers were evacuated from the popular vacation destination and the airport is fully operational, Reuters reported.

Damage is extensive to the island, especially the west side, which has been blocked off and restricted to emergency personnel only, Reuters reported. Only a single highway is accessible for evacuees to leave the area.

“We just had the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. All of Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. It’s like an apocalypse,” Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi, who escaped from the city, told Reuters.

Helicopters have since been able to get into the air to assess the damage more fully. It was reported by the Star-Advertiser that 271 structures have been destroyed or damaged on the Valley Isle.

Richard Olstein of Air Maui Helicopters shared footage of the damage from the air, where smoke rises and burnt structures are prominent, especially in the harbor.

“Local people have lost everything. They’ve lost their house. They’ve lost their animals. It’s devastating,” said Jimmy Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, per Reuters.

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said in a Wednesday update that “it will be a long road to recovery.”

Emergency personnel are still working to rescue people and control the fires.

Special unit dispatched to help with fire control and aftermath

4:19 p.m., Aug. 9, 2023

Six people have been confirmed dead with search-and-rescue efforts continuing on the island, per NBC News.

Due to burn risks and catastrophic damage to homes and businesses in western Maui, over 2,000 people have been admitted to shelters, per CNN. Some of those at the shelters remain unaccounted for.

The wildfires in Lahaina, Pūlehu, Kihei and Kula have also negatively impacted local cellphone service. According to CNN, strong winds felled 29 utility poles and, with the fires, damaged fiber optic cables.

Amid the devastation, U.S. officials are discouraging nonessential travel to the island, with American and United Airlines canceling flights to Maui’s Kahului Airport. Per CNN, flights will still be operational out of Maui in order to help evacuate people.

Maui hospitals are seeing an influx of patients injured by the fires, so those who suffered severe injuries from the fires aren’t able to be treated on the island.

“We are already in communication with other hospital systems about relieving the burden — the reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do extensive burn treatment,” acting Gov. Sylvia Luke told USA Today.

Rounding out the rescue and firefighting effort, the Hawaii Military and National Guard have committed two Blackhawk helicopters and one Chinook helicopter, reports NBC News.

CNN also has reports of a “special unit that is trained in search and rescue operations” being sent to the island as well.

Fire breaks out in Maui

9:07 a.m., Aug. 9, 2023

Wildfires on Tuesday spread quickly on the island of Maui, fueled by Hurricane Dora’s winds and spurring many to evacuate their homes.

Blazes erupted on the west side of the island in Lahaina, a popular tourist destination, and another inland mountainous region, officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. An estimated 400 homes in four different communities were evacuated.

One video on social media shows a group of people fleeing the fires. The person taking the video is clearly breathing heavily with panic as the windows of the car are illuminated with houses and cars burning just outside. The driver comments that he can’t see because of the thick smoke.

Closest to the coast, at least a dozen people were forced into the water to avoid the flames and were rescued by about 11 p.m., when the Coast Guard was activated by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, Hawaii News Now reported.

Not just homes, but several businesses were set ablaze along the “most important business street on Maui,” as one resident described it to Hawaii News Now.

“Buildings on both sides were engulfed,” he told the news station. “There were no fire trucks at that point; I think the fire department was overwhelmed.”

Because of high wind gusts from Hurricane Dora, helicopters weren’t cleared for takeoff and weren’t able to extinguish fires from the sky, AP reported. Firefighters were having a hard time maneuvering on the roads because of road blockages.

Winds as strong as 60 mph from the storm made the situation extremely dangerous, Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea told AP.

“The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house,” Giesea said.

Winds are expected to die down late Wednesday and allow officials to better assess the damage and injuries.

“It’s definitely one of the more challenging days for our island,” County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin told AP.

Contributing: Rebecca Olds, Asia Bown, Sarah Gambles, Gabby Peterson, Ashley Nash, Hannah Murdock