Hawaii wildfires: Maui death toll rises to 80
4 Min Read
Hawaiin authorities are investigating how and why the fire spread so quickly with little warning and no public warning sirens activated.
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Smoke from wildfires rises at Lahaina harbor in Hawaii on August 8, 2023. (AP)
The death toll from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii has increased to 80, as search and rescue crews scour through the smoldering wreckage of Lahaina, and a new fire forced the evacuation of another village on Friday night.
The latest fire was blazing in Kaanapali, West Maui, to the northeast of the region which burned earlier this week, according to the Maui police department.
According to flyovers by the US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department, the wildfires spread swiftly on August 8, affecting more than 271 properties in the region. Strong winds from a distant hurricane, dry air underlying drought conditions, as well as deforestation, and the introduction of non-native, fire-prone grasses, were listed as reasons for the region's increased susceptibility to fire by a Weather Channel meteorologist and research.
Read more: 36 people killed so far as fire devastates Lahaina, Hawaii
The police statement on social media did not immediately disclose any specifics about the evacuation. According to local news station KHON, officials have subsequently said that the fire is completely controlled and that no more evacuations are required.
The fresh fire and mounting death toll occurred as Hawaiian authorities investigated how the original conflagration spread so quickly across Lahaina, a historic vacation town, with no warning.
Officials acknowledged that, despite having the world's biggest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system, no public warning sirens were activated, according to emergency management data.
Anne Lopez, Hawaii's attorney general, revealed her department was "committed to understanding the decisions that were made before and during the wildfires and to sharing with the public the results of this review,” adding that the process will be understood as the rescue efforts are ongoing.
The blaze is the deadliest natural disaster to befall the state since a tsunami killed 61 people in 1960.
A nightmare scenario
Hundreds of families have been relocated, and more than a thousand buildings in Lahaina had been damaged. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Thursday.
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which is in charge of 14 key historic houses in the town, has lost numerous of its properties to fire.
The two-story Wo Hing Temple Museum, which was established in 1912 as a religious and social hall for the island's Chinese immigrants, and a 150-year-old banyan tree are among them. According to an AFP aerial shot obtained on August 10, just the outer envelope of the Old Lahaina Courthouse, which also housed the Lahaina Heritage Museum, remains.
US senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii told CNN that the area looks like a war zone, and according to Maui County, the Laina fire was still blazing but was 85% controlled.
The island has emergency sirens that are supposed to sound in the event of a natural catastrophe or other threat, but they did not appear to sound during the fire, and Josh Green, Hawaii's governor told CNN that a "comprehensive review" has been authorized to investigate events that unfolded.
Green noted many, concurrent problems, including as telephone outages and firefighters focusing on other significant wildfires when the greatest threat to Lahaina emerged.
According to Bradford Ventura, the fire spread so quickly it was "nearly impossible" for responders to report to emergency officials. During a press conference Thursday he noted they were "basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice."
County mayor Richard Bissen called it an "impossible situation" on NBC’s Today show on Friday. Some describe having no warning and throwing themselves into the Pacific Ocean.
Andrew Rumbach, a climate and communities researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington details how the evacuation effort was hindered by the location's proximity to hills.
Rumbach, a former urban planning professor at the University of Hawaii described it as a "nightmare scenario."
