King Charles ‘Utterly Horrified’ By Hawaii Wildfires

As of Saturday, the death toll from the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii has reached 93, making the blaze one of the deadliest in U.S. history. Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla issued a public statement on the disaster addressed to President Joe Biden on Saturday, praising the work of firefighters and support for the island’s residents. “We can only begin to imagine the scale of the devastation engulfing the island,” the statement reads, “and the heartrending anguish of those whose livelihoods have been so disastrously affected.”

The series of wind-driven fires began on August 8 in the Upcountry Maui community of Kula, just a day after the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the region due to a combination of very dry conditions and high winds. Other fires swiftly followed, including one that decimated the town of Lāhainā, which was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii and is the site of 80% of the state’s tourist travel. 

The speed and location of the fire—which made swift evacuation especially challenging, especially given the reported failure of some emergency sirens—is one of the reasons it quickly became the most lethal wildfire in the U.S. since 1881, when the Thumb Fire ripped through over a million acres in Michigan. Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier warned that while the current count of those lost is at 93, far more are expected to discover as search crews scoured the area in a press conference on Thursday. “It’s going to be horrible and tragic when we get that number,” he said.

It’s likely that the unprecedented devastation—not any personal ties—prompted the message from Charles and Camilla. The king has visited Hawaii only a handful of times over the years: In 1974, as reported by the New York Times, the Naval officer played a game of polo during a layover near the Pearl Harbor drydock. In 1985, Charles and his first wife, Princess Diana, made a brief visit to Oahu, the Associated Press (via the Royal Post) reported. 

“My wife and I were utterly horrified to hear of the catastrophic wildfires currently burning in Maui, Hawaii,” Charles’s letter to Biden begins. “However inadequate it may be, we both wanted to send our deepest possible sympathy to the families of those who have so tragically lost their lives, and our prayers remain with all those whose loved ones are missing and whose homes have been destroyed.”

While Charles and Camilla certainly aren’t alone in expressing support for people who live in Maui, one area resident is facing blowback this weekend after an Instagram post about the blaze. As noted by the Independent, Fleetwood Mac icon Stevie Nicks posted a statement about the fires near where she’s owned a house “since the 80s.”