Maui fire crews battled blazes still scorching parts of the island Friday and rescue workers searched for about 1,000 people reported missing as questions began to swirl about Hawaii’s emergency warning system.
The death toll from the inferno that erupted Tuesday − fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora and exacerbated by overly dry vegetation from the ongoing drought − was at least 55. But it will probably surpass 60 and make the disaster the deadliest since Hawaii became a state in 1959, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday.
Thousands of people have been displaced, more than 1,700 structures have been destroyed, and the historic town of Lahaina was leveled. Green said the state is initially seeking 2,000 rooms for people and asked local hotels and others to help provide temporary housing for those in need.
“We are still in life-preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,” said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
Widespread power and cellular outages have complicated evacuation efforts, and some residents who escaped the flames questioned why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning systems didn’t alert them as the blazes approached.
“We got warned, but the wind was faster,” Leomana Turalde, a 36-year-old who runs a sunscreen company and has family who lived in Lahaina Town, told USA TODAY. “I found out on social media. But there was no real warning.”
Thomas Leonard, 70, told the Associated Press he didn’t know about the fire until he smelled smoke. The retired mailman from Lahaina tried to flee in his Jeep but abandoned his vehicle when nearby cars started to explode. He took refuge behind a seawall for hours before being rescued by firefighters.
Wildfire expert: This was foreseeable
Though officials have said the wildfires sparked and spread so quickly there was little time to warn people, one Hawaii wildfire expert said the tragedy was foreseeable.
Elizabeth Pickett, co-executive director of the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, told the Honolulu Civil Beat she co-authored a report nearly a decade ago that identified an increased wildfire risk to Maui, with Lahaina in an extreme risk area.
“We keep hearing from certain elected officials and other people being quoted in the media, ‘we had no idea, this is unprecedented,’” Pickens told the outlet Thursday. “But actually, those of us in the wildfire community, meaning our fire agencies, our forestry natural resource management community, we have long been working to increase our risk reduction efforts.”
Pickett said many recommended actions from the report to prevent wildfires have been implemented since its release, but only partially, and much more could have been done.
“It might not have been 100% preventable, but it could have been mitigated. It could have been lessened,” she said.
Thousands flee as officials continue evacuating Maui
As crews continued to work to evacuate residents, thousands of tourists and visitors to the island left on flights by Thursday evening, officials said.
Nearly 15,000 visitors left Maui on airplanes as airlines added flights to their schedules. More than 1,200 people were evacuated from Kaʻanapali-area hotels to the airport.
Travelers were urged to book flights directly with airlines to Honolulu, and to the mainland U.S. from there. The Hawaii Tourism Authority said visitors traveling for non-essential purposes should leave the island, and nobody should travel there unless necessary.
Maui firefighters stretched thin, hampering efforts
The effort to keep the fires under control could have been hampered by the relatively small firefighting crew in Maui, said Hawaii Firefighters Association President Bobby Lee.
There are a maximum of 65 firefighters working at any given time, Lee said, out of a total of about 280 personnel. They are equipped with just over a dozen fire engines, with 14 fire stations in the county serving the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai, according to the county.
County officials said in an update on Facebook early Friday morning that 21 firefighters, seven supervisory personnel and four vehicles from Honolulu were aiding crews in Maui, and an additional nine-member search-and-rescue team was also brought in to help.
Hawaii’s siren system didn’t sound during fires
Survivors of the fires and officials reported there was no activation of the state’s storied emergency warning system, which would have sounded blaring outdoor sirens.
Hawaii’s system, known as the All-hazard Statewide Outdoor Warning Siren System, is used to warn residents about emergencies including earthquakes, tsunamis, brush fires, flooding, lava or terrorist events, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
There are over 400 sirens spread throughout the islands, including 80 in Maui County. The state says it’s the largest outdoor warning system in the country, and the “largest single integrated Outdoor Siren Warning System for Public Safety in the world.”
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press records don’t show the system in Maui being activated Tuesday when fire took over. Instead, alerts were sent out through Maui County residents’ phones, televisions and radios. It’s not clear whether that happened before or after the island was hit with widespread power and signal outages.
Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the fire moved so quickly from brush to neighborhoods that it was impossible to get messages to the emergency management agencies responsible for alerts.
“What we experienced was such a fast-moving fire through the … initial neighborhood that caught fire they were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice,” Ventura said.
In 2019, Oahu and Maui residents were sent into a brief panic when the outdoor siren system was mistakenly triggered during a training – after a 2018 incident when the text message alert system falsely told the whole state to take cover for an incoming ballistic missile that didn’t exist.
None of the fires are 100% contained
Maui County Fire Chief Brad Ventura said none of the fires were “100% contained right now.” Ventura said there are several small fires in between the large fires burning in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry.
Maui County reported the most damaging of the three blazes, the one in Lahaina on the western part of the island, was 80% contained by Thursday morning, and that another one in Pulehu in central Maui was at 70% containment. There was no assessment yet about the fire in the mountainous Upcountry.
Ventura said there is still potential for “rapid fire behavior” with the weather and told people to remain out of the area.
Wildfires were also still burning on the Big Island, but no injuries or destroyed homes had been reported, Mayor Mitch Roth said.
Maui wildfires death toll will likely continue to climb
Maui County reported at least 36 people had died in the Lahaina fire Wednesday evening. By Thursday, the total had reached 55, and it’s expected to continue rising as emergency workers reach parts of the island previously cut off by the fires and other obstructions.
President Joe Biden on Thursday declared a major disaster in Hawaii, making federal aid available to support state and local recovery efforts. Green estimated damage to the area will likely cost billions and take years to repair.
Green said the disaster will likely become the deadliest since Hawaii became a state in 1959. He referenced the 1960 tsunami that hit the Big Island, killing 61 people, and said: “This time it’s very likely that our death totals will significantly exceed that, I’m afraid.”
The Maui fire is also the deadliest in the U.S. in five years. Not since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 and wiped out the town of Paradise, has a U.S. community endured such a tragedy.
Celebrities including Oprah urge support for Maui
The BBC filmed Oprah Winfrey handing out supplies at the war memorial stadium earlier this week. “I came earlier, just to see what people needed, and then went shopping because often you make donations of clothes or whatever, and it’s not really what people need,” Winfrey said. “So I actually went to Walmart and Costco and got pillows, shampoo, diapers, sheets, pillowcases.” People magazine noted Winfrey is a part-time Maui resident.
“Fast X” star Jason Momoa, who is Native Hawaiian, and Connie Britton, who starred on the first season of “The White Lotus” – which was shot in Maui – have also voiced their concerns for the island.
Professional golfer Collin Morikawa, whose paternal grandparents are from Hawaii, pledged to donate $1,000 to support the rescue efforts in Maui for each of his birdies in the FedEx St. Jude Championship as the tournament got underway Thursday in Memphis.
Before and after photos show Hawaii wildfires damage
Satellite imagery and photos from the ground revealed the devastating damage wildfires have done to Maui landmarks, including Lahaina’s iconic banyan tree, Front Street and Waiola Church.
Maui fires map
Maui wildfire map: A look at how Hurricane Dora and low humidity are fueling Hawaii fires
How to help Maui fire victims
Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, from the Hawaii State Department of Defense, asked those who want to donate supplies or volunteer to do so through the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. James Kunane Tokioka, director of the department of business, economic development and tourism, said the governor has also asked people with vacant homes or vacation rentals to provide shelter for those in need.
Several shelters are open to assist those on the islands and several local organizations are collecting donations. USA TODAY compiled resources for Americans to help people and animals in Hawaii here.
Contributing: Damichael Cole, Memphis Commercial Appeal; Jorge L. Ortiz, Minnah Arshad and David Oliver, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
