Washington — FEMA’s disaster fund could dry up within weeks and delay the federal response to natural disasters, the agency’s administrator warned Sunday.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told “Face the Nation” that the agency is watching its disaster relief fund “very closely” ahead of hurricane season and that some recovery projects that are not life-saving measures could be delayed into the next fiscal year if funding falls short.
“Our estimates do still say that we may have a depletion of our fund — now it’s pushed into the middle of September,” Criswell said. “And as we get closer to that, I mean, this is a day-by-day monitoring of the situation.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 15 weather or climate disaster events this year before Aug. 8, with each causing more than $1 billion in damage. The tally does not include the recent wildfires on Maui, which decimated Lahaina, causing an estimated $6 billion in damage to the coastal city. The peak of hurricane season is not until Sept. 11.
President Biden asked Congress earlier this month for $12 billion to replenish the disaster fund to address the response to the wildfires and other natural disasters. Congress is on recess until after Labor Day.
Criswell said that amount may not be enough.
“The $12 billion was going to be able to cover some of the immediate needs that we were going to need to get through this fiscal year,” she said. “As we’re continuing to see the increasingly severe weather events that dollar amount may need to go up as we go into next fiscal year.”
Criswell is traveling with Mr. Biden to Maui on Monday to view the devastation and meet with survivors.
“The biggest thing that the president needs to see is just the actual impact,” Criswell said of the importance of the visit. “It really feels different when you’re on the ground and can see the total devastation of Lahaina. He’ll talk to some of the families that have been impacted by this and hear their stories.”
“He’s really going to be able to, one, bring hope to this community, but also reassure them that the federal government is there,” she said. “He has directed them to bring the resources they need to help them as they begin to start their recovery and their rebuilding process.”
While FEMA responds to the wildfires, it is also preparing for the “really significant impacts” of Tropical Storm Hilary on Southern California, Criswell said.
“We had a lot of staff already on the ground. We are moving in some additional resources to make sure that we can support anything that California might need, but they’re a very capable state as well and they have a lot of resources,” she said. “So if it does exceed what their capability is, we’re going to have additional search-and-rescue teams, commodities on hand to be able to go in and support anything that they might ask for.”
Hawaiian Electric stocks have plummeted more than two-thirds since the Maui wildfires last week that killed at least 114 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina.
Shares jumped about 14% on Friday after Hawaiian Electric filed a report with the SEC saying the utility is seeking advice from experts and the company “intends to be here [Hawaii] for the long term, through the rebuilding effort and beyond.”
But analysts don’t think the jump in stock price will last.
“There is a great deal of legal uncertainty at this point,” Wells Fargo analyst Jonathan Reeder told CBS News. “The prospects of Hawaiian Electric avoiding liability appear highly unlikely, in our opinion, based on the extent of the devastation, Hawaii’s liability standard and the way similar wildfire events have played out in other Western U.S. states,” Reeder said.
On Thursday, Wells Fargo analysts issued a report saying that the state’s primary power company is essentially worth zero dollars – pointing to the increasing death toll, property damage, pain and suffering in Maui.
Hawaiian Electric set a stock price of $8 down from about $17.68 the previous week, and analysts wrote that “economic losses are likely well into the billions of dollars, far exceeding the utility’s pre-wildfire equity value.”
While the cause of the fires has not yet been determined, investigators are looking into whether downed power lines and decisions by Hawaiian Electric played a role, and claims that the utility did not implement precautionary safety measures to reduce wildfire risks have surfaced. A spokesperson for Maui Electric told CBS News in a statement that some steps were taken to mitigate the possibility of fires sparking before hurricane winds arrived.
The investigation could take months or even years to conclude, Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a report dated Aug. 16, and the extent of HE’s insurance coverage likely pales in comparison to potential liabilities.
Maui officials confirmed Friday that the wildfire death toll has risen to at least 114, while the search for hundreds of missing people continued in the historic coastal port city of Lahaina, which was almost completely destroyed by the blaze.
Only six of the victims have so far been publicly identified.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his wife, Jaime Green, held an emotional livestream address Friday night from Honolulu.
“For generations Lahaina’s beauty culture and rich history drew artists, musicians and visitors from around the world,” Jaime Green said. “Tragically, it took less than a single day for us to lose Lahaina in the deadliest fire our country has seen in more than a century.”
The Lahaina fire was one of four which broke out on the island on Aug. 8. Green said Friday that at least 2,200 structures have been destroyed and another 500 damaged in the blaze.
“Far more devastating than any material loss, is the loss of precious lives,” the governor said. “Of mothers, fathers, grandparents, sons and daughters.”
Search and recovery team members check charred buildings and cars in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii. Aug. 18, 2023.
YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images
Earlier in the day, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told reporters that about 60% of the Lahaina burn area had been canvassed for human remains by several hundred federal search and rescue personnel using dozens of cadaver dogs.
A FEMA spokesperson Wednesday estimated that the number of people unaccounted for was between 1,100 and 1,300.
Six forensic anthropologists with the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency are assisting in gathering and identifying human remains, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday. The group is experienced in verifying DNA from long-lost service members, many of whom died as long ago as World War II.
Marcus Coleman, a senior official from FEMA, said Friday that about 1,000 federal responders are now on the ground in Maui.
About 6,000 residents have registered for federal assistance, Coleman said, adding that FEMA has paid out about $5.6 million so far to 2,000 households.
Authorities hope to empty crowded, uncomfortable group shelters by early next week, said Brad Kieserman, vice president for disaster operations with the American Red Cross. Hotels also are available for eligible evacuees who have spent the last eight days sleeping in cars or camping in parking lots, he said.
Contracts with the hotels will last for at least seven months but could easily be extended, he said. Service providers at the properties will offer meals, counseling, financial assistance and other disaster aid.
The governor has said at least 1,000 hotel rooms have been set aside for displaced residents and first responders. In addition, Airbnb said its nonprofit wing will provide properties for 1,000 people.
Bissen said he will name a temporary replacement on Monday for Herman Andaya, the Maui Emergency Management Agency administrator who abruptly resigned Thursday after defending a decision not to sound outdoor warning sirens during the Lahaina fire.
Andaya had said this week that he had no regrets about not deploying the system because he feared it could have caused people to go “mauka,” a Hawaiian term that can mean toward the mountains or inland.
“If that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya explained. He stepped down Thursday, a day later.
Andaya’s resignation letter was brief and had no mention of the health reasons that county officials cited for his resignation.
The decision to not use the sirens, coupled with water shortages that hampered firefighters and an escape route clogged with vehicles that were overrun by flames, has brought intense criticism from many residents following the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.
Hawaii has what it touts as the largest system of outdoor alert sirens in the world, created after a 1946 tsunami that killed more than 150 on the Big Island. Its website says they may be used to alert for fires.
On Wednesday, Andaya vigorously defended his qualifications for the job, which he had held since 2017. He said he was not appointed but had been vetted, took a civil service exam and was interviewed by seasoned emergency managers.
Andaya said he had previously been deputy director of the Maui County Department of Housing and Human Concerns and chief of staff for former Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa for 11 years. During that time, he said, he often reported to “emergency operations centers” and participated in numerous trainings.
“So to say that I’m not qualified I think is incorrect,” he said.
Corrine Hussey Nobriga said it was hard to lay blame for a tragedy that took everyone by surprise, even if some of her neighbors raised questions about the absence of sirens and inadequate evacuation routes.
The fire moved quickly through her neighborhood, though her home was spared.
“One minute we saw the fire over there,” she said, pointing toward faraway hills, “and the next minute it’s consuming all these houses.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The Justice Department confirmed Friday it has deployed federal emergency response teams to assist in that investigation. They include investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez said Thursday that an outside organization will conduct “an impartial, independent” review of the government’s response.
Native Hawaiians and others from Lahaina said earlier Friday they worry Green is moving too quickly to rebuild what was lost while the grief is still raw.
“The fire occurred only 10 days ago, and many people are still in shock and mourning,” Tiare Lawrence, who grew up in Lahaina, said at an emotional news conference organized by community activists. They called Green to give residents time to grieve, provide community leaders with recovery decision-making roles and comply with open-records laws amid distrust in the government response to the disaster.
Since the flames consumed much of Lahaina, locals have feared a rebuilt town could become even more oriented toward wealthy visitors.
Earlier this week, he said he would announce details of a moratorium on land transactions in Lahaina to prevent people from falling victim to land grabs. Green has said Lahaina’s future will be determined by its people, but didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the group’s concerns.
“The governor should not rush to rebuild the community without first giving people time to heal, especially without including the community itself in the planning,” Lawrence said. “Fast-track development cannot come at the cost of community control.”
More than a dozen of Lawrence’s uncles and cousins fled the fast-moving fire last week and went east to her Pukalani home.
The coalition of activists, under the umbrella of a group calling itself “Na Ohana o Lele: Lahaina,” were especially concerned about the impact of development on the environment and noted how mismanagement of resources — particularly land and water — contributed to the quick spread of the fire.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit the island Monday.
If you want to support wildfire relief for victims in Maui, look carefully before you donate, experts say. That’s because scammers are also making appeals for donations, but are pocketing generous donors’ dollars instead of directing the money to legitimate causes.
The scammers are aiming to divert some of the donations that are pouring into funds dedicated to helping the thousands of wildfire survivors whose homes and businesses were burned to the ground.
“We want people to know that whenever there is a natural disaster, scammers are quick to follow,” Colleen Tressler of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Consumer and Business Education told CBS News.
Bad actors are seeking donations through phone calls and direct messages to social media. That’s why it’s important to only contribute through verified organizations.
How to detect scammers
There are telltale signs that solicitations for donations are coming from bad actors.
“These scammers very often create a sense of urgency and you’re really not thinking as clearly as you would normally,” Tressler said.
The also try to imitate reputable organizations, she said. “Some of these scammers use very similar sounding names to these organizations, charities that we all know.”
Here are red flags to be alert to:
Criminals often seek payment in cash, gift cards, wire transfers or crypto currency. “We really recommend that you pay by credit card, which gives you a lot more consumer protections,” Tressler said.
They will mimic the names of reputable organizations. Only donate to charities you trust, and verify the legitimacy of a non-profit through a site like Charity Navigator. “Every dollar that a scammer takes out of a generous person’s pocket means that money isn’t going to the people in need,” Tressler said.
The American Red Cross, the Hawai’i Community Foundation, Maui United Way and Maui Food Bank are among them. Other organizations, like the Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation, are assisting by taking care of pets whose families have been displaced in the fires.
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The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency resigned his post on Thursday in the wake of significant criticism for his agency’s response to the Lahaina fire, which has claimed the lives of at least 111 people — the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.
Maui County officials said in a news release that MEMA Administrator Herman Andaya had resigned “effective immediately” due to “health reasons.”
“Given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and I will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible and I look forward to making that announcement soon,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.
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Spam, a beloved staple in Hawaii, is giving back to the state after the devastating wildfires in Maui. As part of the relief effort, Spam’s parent company, Hormel Foods, sent more than 265,000 cans of their canned meat products to the island, the company said in a news release Thursday.
Hormnewsel partnered with Convoy of Hope, a nonprofit which helps bring aid to areas affected by natural disasters, to send three truckloads of Spam products so far, with another two following, the company said. Spam’s cash and product donations to Hawaii are valued at more than $1 million.
To help raise money for relief, they are also selling T-shirts that read “SPAM® Brand Loves Maui.” The company says 100% of proceeds will be given to Aloha United Way, an organization that raises money for various charities, and their Maui Fire Relief Fund.
Hormel Foods is also helping to raise money for local food banks.
“The people of Hawaii have a special place in both the history and heart of the SPAM® brand,” said Jennesa Kinscher, senior brand manager for Spam. “Our donation efforts are just one way we are showing the community our love and support back.”
The company posted about their efforts on Facebook. “To our ‘ohana [family] on Maui, we see you and love you. We’ve been working with our trusted partners on how we can help,” they wrote.
We’ve been at a loss for words seeing the devastation that is happening on Maui. To our ‘ohana on Maui, we see you and…
In the past, Hormel Foods has partnered with organizations like Convoy of Hope and World Central Kitchen to help those who are food insecure after natural disasters. But the brand has a strong connection to Hawaii.
The company says the popularity of Spam in Hawaii began in World War II, when the islands were still a territory, because the canned meat was served to U.S. soldiers stationed there during the war. Hawaiians adopted Spam as one of their staple foods, and it is commonly used in a fried rice dish.
The company says it ships 7 million cans of Spam to the state each year, and its products are “practically the national food” of Hawaii. Spam is served everywhere from convenience stores to fancy restaurants – even McDonald’s locations in the state feature meals that incorporate Spam.
It is unclear exactly what caused the devastating fires and an investigation is underway. Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm, caused dangerous high wind conditions and much of Hawaii was under a red flag due to fire risk caused by dry conditions. The high winds from the storm and low humidity “set the conditions for the wildfires,” said Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard.
In Lahaina, more than 2,700 structures have been destroyed, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said. People tried to flee the blaze but many were trapped, some even tried to save themselves by jumping into the water.
The death toll in the Maui wildfires reached 110 Wednesday — and was expected to rise considerably — as many desperate residents searched for missing family members in the wreckage of the fire that decimated an estimated 80% of the historic town of Lahaina.
FEMA spokesperson Adam Weintraub told reporters Wednesday that the number of people unaccounted for is estimated to be between 1,100 and 1,300. People across the Hawaiian island have been asked to provide DNA samples in an effort to identify human remains.
Only two of the victims have so far been publicly identified, 79-year-old Buddy Jantoc and 74-year-old Robert Dyckman.
Dozens of FEMA search and rescue teams with 40 cadaver dogs continue to methodically comb for human remains, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a news briefing Wednesday afternoon. At least 38% of the Lahaina fire burn area had been searched.
A firefighting helicopter flies near a building that was destroyed by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Getty Images
Lahaina Bypass Road, the main thoroughfare in and out of Lahaina, was reopened Tuesday night for the first time since the wildfires broke out last week, making it easier for residents and emergency responders to access the city.
However, Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier asked residents to exercise caution amid the ongoing search for human remains, warning of health concerns over ash, debris and toxic air.
“There is a difference between need and want,” Pelletier said. “If you need to get over there, go. If you want to get over there, don’t go.”
Michael Richter has been on a dayslong search to find his stepfather.
“I have run into a lot of people that I understand are tired,” Richter told CBS News. “I’m tired too. I haven’t slept in six days. I just want to identify his body and put him at rest.”
Joe Schilling was going to his friend Corie Bluh’s home when the fires began raging around him.
“He was texting me that now there are four houses burning, and then cars exploding on the road,” Bluh told CBS News. “I said, ‘Try and get out.’ He said, ‘We can’t get out. We can’t see, we can’t breathe.’”
Blue believes Schilling may have died in the fire trying to help others evacuate, but his remains have not been found.
The Tone and Takafua family found four family members — including a 7-year-old girl — inside a burned-out car.
Some who have been reported missing have been found. Weintraub said Wednesday that about 60 people sheltering on a single property during the fire who survived had initially been listed as unaccounted for.
The Lahaina fire has destroyed or damaged at least 2,200 structures, about 86% of which were residential, according to numbers released over the weekend from the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Disaster Center.
The exact cause of the wildfires is still unknown. The Hawaii attorney general’s office has launched an investigation into the local government response leading up to and after they broke out on Aug. 8. CBS News has learned that Herman Andaya, chief of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, had no background in disaster response. Local news site Maui Now reported in 2017 that he was hired over 40 other qualified applicants.
Survivors said most residents were not evacuated, and many waited days for help to arrive. None of the island’s warning sirens sounded for evacuation.
When asked Wednesday by reporters if he regrets not activating the sirens, Andaya responded, “I do not.”
“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the sirens are sounded,” Andaya said, noting that the sirens are generally used to warn of tsunamis or approaching storms.
“Had we sounded the sirens that night, we were afraid that people would have gone mauka (mountainside), and if that was the case, they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya said. “So that is the reason why, it is our protocol, to use WEA [Wireless Emergency Alerts] and EAS [the Emergency Alert System].”
Andaya explained that the agency’s “internal protocol” for wildfires is to use both WEA — text alerts sent to cell phones — and the EAS, which are alerts sent to television and radio.
“In a wildland fire incident, the (siren) system has not been used, either in Maui or in other jurisdictions around the state,” Andaya said.
Hawaii’s official government website lists “wildfires” as one of the hazards the siren alert system can be used for.
However, with power knocked out in the area and no television or radio, residents reported receiving no text alerts or television or radio notifications.
Andaya also said that claims “that I’m not qualified, I think, is incorrect.”
Andaya said that prior to taking the reins of the emergency agency, he served as deputy director of the Department of Housing and Human Concerns and spent 11 years as the mayor’s chief of staff.
During that time, Andaya said, he often reported to “emergency operations” officials and went through “numerous trainings.”
FEMA now has about 600 personnel on the island to aid in search and recovery efforts, said Marcus Coleman, director of the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, on Wednesday.
FEMA has approved more than $2.3 million in assistance to more than 1,300 households, Coleman said.
Approximately 2,000 homes and businesses in Lahaina remain without power, Green said Wednesday.
About 1,000 hotel rooms have now been made available for displaced residents, the governor added. The state had also set up an Airbnb program with 1,000 available rooms or houses that will be covered by FEMA for use by both evacuees and first responders.
“We’re making plans right now for the long-haul, for the long reconstruction…so we don’t have to take away housing from our local people while we rebuild,” Green said.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen noted that school started Wednesday on much of the island, and with their schools destroyed by the fire, many Lahaina students were sent to other campuses.
“Many of these students are survivors of the fires, and some of them lost families, some of them lost homes, many of them lost friends,” Bissen said.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit Maui on Monday, Green said.
Two of three large wildfires that ignited Aug. 8 on Maui are still burning. The Lahaina fire, which has burned about 3.39 square miles, is 85% contained.
Aircraft were conducting water drops on the blaze, Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said Wednesday. Ventura noted that the upcoming forecast, which includes possible high winds and rain, could pose challenges for crews.
“We just want people to remain vigilant as we know weather is coming in, winds are up,” Ventura said.
The Upcountry/Kula fire to the east, which has burned just over one square mile and destroyed 19 homes, is 75% contained.
Ventura said that although the perimeter of the Kula Fire “has not expanded,” there are still “lots of trouble spots, there are lots of hot spots.”
— Lilia Luciano and Jonathan Vigliotti contributed to this report.
The wildfires in Hawaii have destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano reports on families searching for their loved ones.
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The deadly fires in Maui have also affected thousands of pets. One shelter is working overtime to find and reunite animals with their owners. “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell has the story.
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There are mounting questions in Hawaii about how the Maui wildfires started and what caused them to spread so quickly. State officials are investigating and residents say they’re angry over the government’s response. CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
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The ongoing search for victims of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century continued in earnest Tuesday on the Hawaiian island of Maui. At least 101 people have been confirmed dead in the blaze that destroyed most of the historic port town of Lahaina — one of several fires that broke out in Maui on Aug. 8 — but hundreds more remain missing.
Speaking Tuesday at an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Biden said all federal resources were being made available to Hawaii.
“Every asset they need will be there for them,” Mr. Biden said. “And we’ll be there in Maui as long as it takes.”
Lahaina, Maui, on Aug. 14, 2023. Ash and debris are all that remain at this home located near Wahinoho Way.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Mr. Biden said that his administration is “surging federal personnel” to Maui to “help the brave firefighters and first responders, many of whom lost their own homes, their properties, while they’re out busting their neck to save other people.”
The president said he and first lady Jill Biden plan to travel to Hawaii “as soon as we can.”
More than 400 FEMA have already deployed to island, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in an address Tuesday afternoon, along with another 273 National Guard soldiers.
At least 27% of the burn area has been canvassed by search and rescue personnel with 20 cadaver dogs, Green said.
About 500 hotel rooms have been made available, Green said, with 331 displaced residents already staying in those rooms. The governor added that the state had also set up an Airbnb program with 1,000 available rooms or houses that will be covered by FEMA for use by both evacuees and first responders.
The goal, Green said, is for displaced residents ‘to be able to leave these shelters and go into stable housing, which is going to take a very long time.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has also deployed about 75 personnel, along with a victim identification team, according to Jonathan Greene, deputy assistant secretary director for the HHS Office of Response.
Approximately 3,400 residents have already registered with FEMA for economic assistance, Keith Turi, FEMA deputy associate administrator for response and recovery, told reporters.
Supplies for Lahaina fire victims are gathered and delivered by Hawaiians sailing on a large catamaran who often sail around the world together to Lahaina neighborhoods. Maalaea, Maui. Aug. 14, 2023.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
What do we know about the victims of the Lahaina fire?
Just four of the victims so far have been positively identified, according to Maui County police. Their names will be released after their families are notified. Another 13 DNA profiles have been obtained from victims, police said, and 41 DNA profiles have been obtained from family members of the missing.
Along with the 101 bodies already recovered, Green estimated Monday that about 1,300 people remain unaccounted for.
According to 2020 census data, the Lahaina community had a population of about 12,700. Maui’s overall population was at about 165,000.
This marks the deadliest U.S. fire since 1918, when the Cloquet and Moose Lake fires in Minnesota and Wisconsin claimed the lives of 453 people, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
How many structures have been destroyed?
At least 2,200 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the Lahaina fire, according to preliminary numbers released over the weekend by the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Disaster Center. About 86% of those are residential.
The Hawaiian Electric Company, the utility provider for 95% of Hawaii, reported that about 2,000 homes and businesses were still without power. Maui officials stressed that number does not include the more than 2,000 structures estimated to have been destroyed.
The Hawaii State Department of Health was asking those who have been allowed to return to Lahaina to exercise caution due to toxic ash and chemicals such as asbestos, arsenic, lead and debris. Many residents have expressed frustration at not being able to access their homes.
“The fact that they’re making it difficult for us to go back to where we’re from,” said Annastaceya Arcangel-Pang, who lost her home in the fire. “It’s just hard and unbelievable. I mean, I still have loved ones that are trapped.”
Lahaina, Maui on Aug. 14, 2023. The Keawe business center lies in ruins days after a fierce wildfire destroyed much of Lahaina’s business district.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
CBS News has learned that several victims have been found in the rubble by their own families. The Tone and Takafua family found four of their family members — including a 7-year-old girl — inside a burned-out car.
How much of Maui has burned?
The three wildfires which broke out Aug. 8 have so far burned an estimated 4.45 square miles, according to Maui officials. Two of the three fires are still burning, with dozens of firefighters working by ground and air to build containment lines and monitor for any hot spots and flare-ups.
The Lahaina fire, by far the largest of the three at 3.39 square miles, was 85% contained Tuesday.
The Upcountry/Kula fire, which has burned just over a square mile, was 65% contained. It has destroyed 19 homes, including the home of Sweethart Mori in Kula.
Mori told CBS News Tuesday she and her family safely escaped.
“We fortunately got out alive before the fire came,” Mori said.
The Pulehu/Kihei fire was fully contained over the weekend.
Maui natives fear being priced out
Mori also discussed a common fear, which has predated the fire, of longtime Maui natives being priced out of the island by developers and wealthy out-of-state buyers. She said her family plans to stay and rebuild.
“This is my land,” Mori said. We from here. This is my country. So I cannot go anywhere. You know, I think about moving to the USA because it’s so expensive over here. But where I going? I don’t belong there.”
Green told reporters Monday that he would try to restrict land purchases on Maui by out-of-state buyers while the island recovers from the fires.
“I will try to allow no one from outside our state to buy any land until we get through this crisis and decide what Lahaina should be in the future,” Green said.
On Tuesday, the governor announced that he had asked Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez to “watch for predatory practices.” He said that the state would also be “embedding” pro bono attorneys to provide legal advice to local residents who are approached by potential buyers.
“What is also of fundamental importance to us is protecting the land,” Green said. Protecting the land for our local people…So that it’s not stolen by people on the mainland.”
Green said that in a conversation about the issue with superstar Dwayne Johnson, a Hawaii native, Johnson also shared with Green “his desire to see this land stay in the hands of the people.”
How did the Maui wildfires start?
The cause of the wildfires remains under investigation. Local government agencies have been under intense scrutiny for their actions as the Lahaina fire was spreading.
According to a timeline provided by Maui County, a three-acre brush fire was first reported near Lahaina Intermediate School just after 6:30 a.m. local time on the morning of Aug. 8. About two hours later, a little before 9 a.m., the fire was declared 100% contained.
With powerful wind gusts from Hurricane Dora hitting the island, four West Maui schools were then closed due to hazardous conditions, according to the Hawaii Department of Education.
Then, at approximately 3:30 p.m., the fire — which had been previously reported as fully contained — flared up and suddenly exploded with help from Dora’s 60 mph winds. None of the emergency sirens on the island were activated as the fire spread, and with power cut off, Lahaina residents said they received no text alerts.
Many were caught completely off guard and with barely enough time to escape the flames.
“It was a kind of fear and panic that I have never experienced before in my life,” Lahaina resident Kawena Kahula told CBS News.
Kahula said that with no evacuation alert, she followed a line of cars towards what she thought would be safety, but instead, “willingly, unknowingly, blindly headed into the fire.”
“I didn’t know until there was big black mushroom clouds of smoke, continuing to stock up on each other bigger and bigger,” Kahula said.
Problems cascaded after the blaze erupted. Fire crews had no water pressure due to water-damaged pipes which had leaked and ran dry, a utility official told CBS News.
Lopez said Friday that her agency would conduct a “comprehensive review of critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires.”
Green said Monday that the investigation aims “not to find fault in anyone but to say why this worked and this didn’t work.”
— Norah O’Donnell, Jonathan Vigliotti, Lilia Luciano, Emily Mae Czachor and Jordan Freiman contributed to this report.
The death and destruction on Maui also extend to our four-legged companions, many of which were still missing a week after flames tore through the historic town of Lahaina. One shelter is working overtime to house the pets of residents who lost their homes or are living in shelters until they can be reunited.
Rodnyl Toscana escaped the fire. His home is destroyed, but he and his pets are okay. Toscano is staying in a shelter, and his three dogs and rabbits are being taken care of at the Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation in Wailuku.
“They’ll take care of them really really well here so we can get them back,” Toscana said.
The facility is getting ready for a hundred pets, including dogs, cats and even tortoises.
Dawn Pfendler, CEO of Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation, said taking care of pets gives residents fewer things to worry about.
“Humans need the pets as much as the pets need the humans,” she said. “So we’re really not sure what to expect. So we’re trying to prepare for a marathon, not a sprint.”
The foundation will care for the pets until their owners’ housing situation is more stable.
An estimated 3,000 animals were missing on the island, Maui Humane Society CEO Lisa M. Labrecque said Monday. The group, which is working to reunite pets with their owners, has recovered more than 50 animals from the Lahaina area, including 12 that were hospitalized as of Monday. Eight animals had been reunited with their families.
As questions remain over how the Maui fires were sparked and why they spread so quickly, there is mounting anger from local residents over the government’s response. Some say they went days without food and water as they waited for help. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
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The raging wildfire that swept through the picturesque town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week has killed at least 93 people, authorities said early Sunday, making it the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii since it became a state in 1959.
Two of the fatalities have been indentified, Maui County officials said.
Maui County officials said early Sunday that firefighting crews are continuing to extinguish flare-ups in the Lahaina and Upcountry Maui fires. In the Upcountry Maui fire, three structures in Olinda and 16 structures in Kula were destroyed. On Saturday, the Pulehu/Kīhei fire was declared 100%, which indicates what percentage of the fire perimeter has been enclosed by a control line and reflects opportunities for the fire to spread beyond its original border into new areas.
A 1-acre fire reported Friday evening in Kaʻanapali, near Lahaina, above Puʻukoliʻi has been extinguished.
Hawaii’s deadlist natural disaster since it became a state
The wildfires have become state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.
Brook Cretton puts out hot spots at a home that was destroyed by wildfire on August 12, 2023 in Kula, Hawaii.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate the warning sirens sounded before fire hit the town. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.
The newly released figure also surpassed the toll of the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise. A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.
Hawaii Gov.: Death toll “is going to rise”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said operations Saturday would focus on “the loss of life” as he toured the devastation on Lahaina’s beloved Front Street with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Lahaina fire was the most devastating and destructive of three large wildfires which erupted on the island Tuesday.
“It’s going to rise,” Green remarked Saturday on the death toll as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. “It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced…We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding.”
FEMA said the agency has been spray-painting cars and buildings on Front Street with an “X” to indicate they had received an initial check, but that there could still be human remains inside. When crews do another pass through, if they find remains, they will add the letters “HR” next to the “X.”
As the death toll from the fires on the island rises, it’s unclear how morgues will be able to accommodate the number of victims considering there is just one hospital and three mortuaries.
Search and rescue teams with cadaver dogs brought in from California and Washington had so far searched only 3% of the burn area, Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier disclosed in a news briefing Saturday afternoon.
He said that FEMA had agreed to bring in another 12 cadaver dogs.
“We can only go as fast as that animal can go,” Pelletier said.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said that 150 FEMA personnel were on the ground in Maui, and said more search and rescue teams were coming.
Pelletier also pleaded with residents who have missing family members get a DNA test.
“We need you to do the DNA test,” Pelletier said. “We need to identify your loved ones.”
Mike Rice has been looking for friends on the island but has yet to hear from them. It’s too early to give up hope, he said, but he has not discounted possibility that they might have perished along with scores of others.
None of them had cell phones, he said, making his search for three members of the Hernandez clan all the more challenging.
“I think they could have very well made it out,” said Rice, who now lives in California. “They may or may not have made it, I’m not going to sit around with a sense of impending doom waiting to find out.”
Emergency managers in Maui were still assessing the scope of the damage Saturday in the center of Lahaina and searching for places to house people displaced from their homes.
In Saturday afternoon’s news conference, Green said that the state had secured 1,000 rooms to temporarily house displaced residents and incoming support staff. Green said officials had to ensure the hotels had working electricity before they could be utilized.
“What we’d like to do is get people in as early as now,” Green said. “But without stable power, once again, it will likely be tomorrow or Monday that we see the largest number of people get into housing.”
Green said long-term rentals would be made available “in the coming days.” Those rentals will be fully covered through a combination of state funding, FEMA funding and charitable donations, Green said.
The need for shelter was high, estimated to be as many as 4,500 people, according to the assessment posted by FEMA and the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Disaster Center.
At least 2,207 structures were estimated to have been damaged or destroyed in the wildfires, according to preliminary numbers from the Pacific Disaster Center, which also estimated that rebuilding the island would cost a projected $5.5 billion.
There also was new information Saturday about the damage to boats, with nine confirmed to have sunk in Lahaina Harbor according to sonar.
Lahaina, Maui, on August 11, 2023. Watercraft bear the scars of the wildfire near downtown Lahaina.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Some 30 cell towers were still offline Saturday, and power outages are expected to last several weeks in west Maui.
At least two other fires have been burning in Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry. A fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community in West Maui north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.
Green said the Upcountry fire had affected 544 structures, of which 96% were residential.
Some residents in Lahaina have expressed frustration about having difficulty accessing their homes amid road closures and police checkpoints on the western side of the island.
On the south end of Front Street on Saturday morning, one resident walked barefoot carrying a laptop and a passport, asking how to get to the nearest shelter. Another person, riding his bicycle, took stock of the damage at the harbor, where he said his boat caught fire and sank.
One fire engine and a few construction trucks were seen driving through the neighborhood, but it remained eerily devoid of human and official government activity.
The cause of the fires remains unknown. As the Lahaina fire broke out Tuesday, it was accompanied by chaos and confusion. Emergency sirens weren’t activated on the island. Resident also said the power was cut off, which gave them no access to television or radio. They also said they received no text alerts. Those in town only fled when the flames were on their heels.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced Friday that her agency would conduct a “comprehensive review of critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires.”
The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.
Rebuilding on the Hawaiian island of Maui following this week’s devastating wildfires — which have left at least 89 people dead and countless more missing — could cost more $5.5 billion, officials forecasted Saturday.
At least 2,207 structures were estimated to have been damaged or destroyed in the wildfires, according to preliminary numbers released by the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Disaster Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Of those, 86% were believed to be residential and 9% commercial.
The research center projected that the fires left $5.52 billion of “capital exposed,” which is defined as the “estimated cost to rebuild.”
Furthermore, an estimated 4,500 residents will need ongoing emergency shelter during this process, the research center said.
Destroyed buildings and homes are pictured in the aftermath of a wildfire in the city of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 11, 2023.
PAULA RAMON/AFP via Getty Images
The vast majority of the devastation has been centered around the historic city of Lahaina. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green previously estimated that about 80% of the city was destroyed in the Lahaina fire, the most devastating of three large wildfires which broke out on the island Tuesday, and have torched an estimated 3.39 square miles. The Lahaina fire was about 85% contained, Maui County officials reported late Friday.
According to the Maui Economic Development Board, about 80% of the island’s economy is dependent on the tourism industry. Per numbers from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Maui alone had 1.49 million visitors between January to June of this year.
Lahaina was a magnet for tourists, who served as the economic lifeblood of this once thriving town, which now mostly lies in ruins.
“There’s no real jobs around anymore, you know, around town or anything,” Lahaina resident Greg Knickerbocker told APTN News. “And now the bakery where I worked is burned down.”
Kila Zuttermeister returned to Lahaina to find his family’s home still standing but surrounded by entire neighborhoods reduced to ash.
“The whole town is just, it’s not the same, it’s not even here,” Zuttermeister said.
Since the wildfires erupted, Maui’s Kahului Airport has been crowded with thousands of tourists attempting to fly out.
Julie Brasil of California told CBS News that she and her family have taken trips to Maui for more than three decades. However, her latest trip this week ended in an evacuation that lasted 30 hours in a small rental car.
“There’s this long line of cars and I’m like, ‘Am I gonna get outta here? What’s gonna happen?’” Brasil told CBS News.
LaTanya Parker had previously honeymooned in Maui, and returned last week for her anniversary, but said she had no plans to return “any time soon.”
“You know, Hawaii is beautiful, but this was a very traumatic experience,” Parker said.
The cause of the fires remains unknown. As the Lahaina fire broke out Tuesday, it was accompanied by chaos and confusion. Emergency sirens weren’t activated on the island. Resident also said the power was cut off, which gave them no access to television or radio. They also said they received no text alerts. Those in town only fled when the flames were on their heels.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced Friday that her agency would conduct a “comprehensive review of critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires.”
— Jonathan Vigliotti and Carter Evans contributed to this report.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said operations Saturday would focus on “the loss of life” as he toured the devastation on Lahaina’s beloved Front Street with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Most of our focus will be on humans today,” he said.
FEMA said the agency has been spray-painting cars and buildings on Front Street with an “X” to indicate they had received an initial check, but that there could still be human remains inside. When crews do another pass through, if they find remains, they will add the letters “HR” next to the “X.”
As the death toll from the fires on the island rises, it’s unclear how morgues will be able to accommodate the number of victims considering there is just one hospital and three mortuaries.
Anthony M. La Puente, 44, recovers items from his house in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 11, 2023.
PAULA RAMON/AFP via Getty Images
The number of deaths has risen to 80, according to a statement by Maui County on Friday. The number of confirmed fatalities in the 9 p.m. announcement increased from the previous figure of 67.
The fire is the deadliest in the U.S. since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.
Mike Rice has been looking for friends on the island but has yet to hear from them. It’s too early to give up hope, he said, but he has not discounted possibility that they might have perished along with scores of others.
None of them had cell phones, he said, making his search for three members of the Hernandez clan all the more challenging.
“I think they could have very well made it out,” said Rice, who now lives in California. “They may or may not have made it, I’m not going to sit around with a sense of impending doom waiting to find out.”
Emergency managers in Maui were still assessing the scope of the damage Saturday in the center of Lahaina and searching for places to house people displaced from their homes.
One possibility was to put some of the survivors and disaster responders at the Sheraton Hotel, with 200 rooms available there, FEMA said in a briefing Saturday morning. But the need for shelter was much higher, estimated to be as many as 4,500 people, according to the assessment posted by FEMA and the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Disaster Center.
At least 2,207 structures were estimated to have been damaged or destroyed in the wildfires, according to preliminary numbers from the Pacific Disaster Center, which also estimated that rebuilding the island would cost a projected $5.5 billion.
There also was new information Saturday about the damage to boats, with nine confirmed to have sunk in Lahaina Harbor according to sonar.
Lahaina, Maui, on August 11, 2023. Watercraft bear the scars of the wildfire near downtown Lahaina.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Some 30 cell towers were still offline Saturday, and power outages are expected to last several weeks in west Maui.
Some residents in Lahaina have expressed frustration about having difficulty accessing their homes amid road closures and police checkpoints on the western side of the island.
On the south end of Front Street on Saturday morning, one resident walked barefoot carrying a laptop and a passport, asking how to get to the nearest shelter. Another person, riding his bicycle, took stock of the damage at the harbor, where he said his boat caught fire and sank.
One fire engine and a few construction trucks were seen driving through the neighborhood, but it remained eerily devoid of human and official government activity.
The cause of the fires remains unknown. As the Lahaina fire broke out Tuesday, it was accompanied by chaos and confusion. Emergency sirens weren’t activated on the island. Resident also said the power was cut off, which gave them no access to television or radio. They also said they received no text alerts. Those in town only fled when the flames were on their heels.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced Friday that her agency would conduct a “comprehensive review of critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires.”
Many survivors of the deadly wildfires on Hawaii’s Maui island say they had little to no warning as the flames raced toward their homes and businesses. Records show no warning sirens went off, but officials did send alerts to cell phones and television and radio stations. CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports from Maui.
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Wildfires ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui this week, killing dozens of people and forcing thousands to evacuate. Little is left in the historic town of Lahaina, which was once Hawaii’s capital.
The exact cause of the blaze is still unknown, but a mix of land and atmospheric conditions created “fire weather.” “Fire weather” is characterized as strong winds, low relative humidity and thunderstorms, which create an environment where a fire can ignite and spread rapidly, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Officials warned that the death toll is expected to rise. Multiple fires are still burning, and teams have spread out to search charred areas, officials said. The number of people still missing is unknown, said Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier.
Buildings and homes burned to the ground in Lahaina, in western Maui.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
“What we saw is likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
A person was seen walking down Front Street in Lahaina, past destroyed buildings that were burned to the ground.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Police have advised that people stay away from Lahaina “due to biohazard and safety concerns.”
“Things are falling every minute around us,” said Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura. “There have been people hurt by falling telephone poles and such.”
Some residents were being allowed to return to check on their property starting Friday afternoon, but a curfew will be in effect between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the disaster area, officials said.
The fast-moving wildfire destroyed almost everything in its path, making it all the way to Lahaina’s harbor area.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
“Until you see the devastation, it’s difficult to describe,” said Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. “But there’s lots of people that will need a lot of help.”
An aerial photo shows charred homes along Lahaina’s waterfront.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Part of a structure still stands after being destroyed by the wildfire in Lahaina.
Getty Images
The fires began burning early on Tuesday, Aug. 8, putting 35,000 lives at risk, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Four wildfires began spreading rapidly after winds from Hurricane Dora, out in the Pacific, whipped the island.
The harbor area burned to the ground in Lahaina, leaving almost nothing behind.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
The fire caught many residents of Maui off guard, making it difficult to plan for an organized evacuation. Dustin Kaleiopu fled Lahaina with his grandfather. He told CBS News they had to go with only the clothes they were wearing.
“The smoke was starting to come through our windows. By the time we got in our car, our neighbor’s yard was on fire. There were strangers in our yard with their water hoses trying to put fires out,” Kaleiopu said.
Burned cars sit in front of an apartment building that was destroyed by the wildfire in Lahaina.
Getty Images
Dozens of cars were destroyed when the wildfire struck western Maui.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
As evacuees wait to return to their homes, Pelletier, the police chief, told reporters it could be weeks before neighborhoods are reopened.
Jesus Vasquez sits in his van waiting to return to his home near Lahaina.
Robert Gauthier / Getty Images
The Lopes and Vasquez family camped in a parking lot waiting to return home.
The devastating Hawaii wildfires have killed dozens of people in Maui and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 homes, businesses or other structures on the island. Among them, Mick Fleetwood says his restaurant was also lost.
The rock legend posted a statement on his Instagram that his restaurant, Fleetwood’s on Front Street, was burned down amid the fires that have wiped out Lahaina, the historic town that both he and the venue have called home for several decades.
“This is a devastating moment for MAUl and many are suffering unimaginable loss,” he wrote Thursday. “Fleetwoods on front Street has been lost and while we are heartbroken our main priority is the safety of our dear staff and team members.”
Fleetwood, the drummer behind Fleetwood Mac, vowed to be part of the rebuilding process for the island in the aftermath of the wildfires.
“On behalf of myself and my family I share my heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the people of MAUI. We are committed to supporting the community and those affected by this disaster in the days month and years to come,” he said.
Mick Fleetwood says his restaurant in Maui was burned down in the Hawaii wildfires.
