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At least 80 dead in Hawaii fires, officials say
At least 80 dead in Hawaii fires, officials say – CBS News
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Eye Opener: Maui reels amid wildfires
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Eye Opener: Maui reels amid wildfires – CBS News
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Maui wildfires kill at least 80 people, and the race to find survivors is grim as countless residents in torched areas remain missing | CNN
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CNN
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At least 80 people have been killed in Maui’s wildfires, officials said late Friday, as search efforts for survivors are ongoing and many remain missing.
The death toll rose from an announced 67 earlier Friday, making the fires the largest natural disaster in the state’s history. The death toll continued to climb Friday, surpassing the state’s record natural disaster death toll of 61 from a 1960 tsunami that hit Hilo Bay.
On Friday evening, residents in Kaanapali were being evacuated after police said there was a fire in western Maui.
“At this time, there are no restrictions to exit the west side. Our priority is to ensure the safety of the community and first responders. We will allow entrance once it is safe to do so,” police said in a Facebook post.
Gov. Josh Green told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday that none of the human remains discovered in nearby Lahaina were found inside structures yet, but the confirmed fatalities “did occur out in the open as people tried to escape the fire.”
Green said that within days officials expect to have a more comprehensive idea of how many lives were lost.
“We will continue to see loss of life,” Green said during a news conference late Thursday. “We also have many hundreds of homes destroyed, and that’s going to take a great deal of time to recover from.”
Now, families wait in agony to learn what happened to their missing loved ones.
Live updates: Deadly wildfires burn across Maui
Timm Williams Sr., a 66-year-old disabled veteran who uses a wheelchair, last spoke with his family Wednesday as he was trying to flee Kaanapali, just north of the obliterated town of Lahaina.
Shortly before he went missing, Williams sent a photo of flames shooting toward the sky, his granddaughter Brittany Talley told CNN.
While he fled, Williams said he couldn’t tell exactly where he was due to the intense smoke in the air, Talley recalled. “He was attempting to make it to a shelter, but all of the roads were blocked,” she said.
The family has tried every means possible to find the missing grandfather, but to no avail.
“It has been difficult,” Talley said. “Every minute that goes by is another minute that he could be hurt or in danger.”
While rescue crews scramble to find survivors, here’s the latest on the ongoing catastrophe:
• Cadaver dogs are looking for victims: Search-and-rescue teams with cadaver dogs from California and Washington are in Maui to help with recovery efforts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.
• Thousands are displaced: About 1,400 people slept at an airport Wednesday night and more than 1,300 stayed in emergency shelters before many of them were taken to the airport to leave the island, Maui County officials said. Thousands of people are believed to have been displaced, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday.
• Billions of dollars in losses: Determining the full scope of the fires’ impacts on the island will take time, “but it will be in the billions of dollars without a doubt,” the governor said Thursday.
It will take many years to rebuild Lahaina, where “upwards of 1,700 buildings” may have been destroyed, Green told CNN. He said it appears about 80% of the town is “gone.”
• Housing appeal: With many having nowhere to stay, the governor asked residents to open up their homes and hotels to help those in need. “If you have additional space in your home, if you have the capacity to take someone in from west Maui, please do,” Green said.
“Please consider bringing those people into your lives.”
• Fires have burned for days: As of Thursday, the four largest fires still were active in Maui County, Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said. “Additionally, we’ve had many small fires in between these large fires,” the chief said.
“And with the current weather pattern that we’re facing, we still have the potential for rapid fire behavior.” The wildfire that torched Lahaina was 80% contained by Thursday morning, Maui County officials said.
• Communication and power outages: Officials have resorted to satellite phones to communicate with providers on the west side of Maui to restore power to the area, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said.
About 11,000 homes and businesses were in the dark early Friday, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us.
• Resources sent to Maui: President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration to provide federal funding for recovery costs in Maui County. California plans to send a search and rescue team to help support efforts on the ground in Maui. And more than 130 members from the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard have been assigned to provide assistance.
No one knows how many people were still missing Friday after wildfires annihilated the historic town of Lahaina, where 13,000 people lived.
“Here’s the challenge: There’s no power. There’s no internet. There’s no radio coverage,” Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier said Thursday.
Lahaina – an economic hub that draws millions of tourists each year and the one-time capital of the kingdom of Hawaii – is “all gone,” said Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr.
Residents of west Maui will be allowed to access Lahaina starting Friday at noon local time, according to a news release from the county. Residents will need identification with proof of residency. Visitors will need proof of hotel reservations. Barricades have been set up to prevent access to the “heavily impacted area of historic Lahaina town” where search crews are continuing to look for victims of the fires.
A curfew will also be in effect from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time “in historic Lahaina town and affected areas,” the news release says.
“Now I want to caution everyone, Lahaina is a devastated zone,” Green warned Friday in an interview with local station KHON. Returning residents “will see destruction like they’ve not ever seen in their lives. Everyone, please brace themselves as they go back.”
Green said a hotline will likely be established to connect displaced residents with available rooms in homes and hotels.
Search dogs have not yet been able to access every burned building, Green said, cautioning residents not to enter any charred structure that appears unsafe.
The governor said he plans to return to Maui on Saturday.
In a Friday news release, the Department of Water Supply also asked Maui residents to conserve water, as first responders continue to fight the flames and intermittent power outages take place. The department asked residents island-wide to refrain from washing cars, washing sidewalks and driveways, and irrigating lawns.
In pictures: The deadly Maui wildfires
Most of Maui looked like its idyllic self on Tuesday morning before the flames spread out of control.
At 9:55 a.m., Maui County posted a seemingly optimistic update on the Lahaina fire:
“Maui Fire Department declared the Lahaina brush fire 100% contained shortly before 9 a.m. today,” the county said on Facebook Tuesday.
About an hour later, the county updated residents on another wildfire burning:
“Kula Fire Update No. 2 at 10:50 a.m.: Firefighter crews remain on scene of a brush fire that was reported at 12:22 a.m. today near Olinda Road in Kula and led to evacuations of residents in the Kula 200 and Hanamu Road areas,” the county said.
By Tuesday afternoon, another wildfire became an increasing threat:
“With the potential risk of escalating conditions from an Upcountry brush fire, the Fire Department is strongly advising residents of Piʻiholo and Olinda roads to proactively evacuate,” Maui County posted at 3:20 p.m. Less than an hour later, it said, “The Fire Department is calling for the immediate evacuation of residents of the subdivision including Kulalani Drive and Kulalani Circle due to an Upcountry brush fire.”
Shortly later, the county said the Lahaina fire had resurged.
“An apparent flareup of the Lahaina fire forced the closure of Lahaina Bypass around 3:30 p.m.,” Maui County posted at 4:45 p.m.
And by 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, there were “Multiple evacuations in place for Lahaina and Upcountry Maui fires,” the county said.
As the ferocious fires spread, some people jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. Rescuers plucked dozens of people from the water or the shore.
Green said he has authorized a “comprehensive review” of the response to the fast-moving fires. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez will spearhead that review, her office announced Friday.
“My Department is committed to understanding the decisions that were made before and during the wildfires and to sharing with the public the results of this review,” Lopez said in a statement. “As we continue to support all aspects of the ongoing relief effort, now is the time to begin this process of understanding.”
State records show that Maui’s warning sirens were not activated, and the emergency communications with residents was largely limited to mobile phones and broadcasters at a time when most power and cell service was already cut.
“The telecommunications were destroyed very rapidly,” the governor said, blaming the rapid spread of the fires on “global warming, combined with drought, combined with a superstorm.”
Green added that restoring utilities will likely to be a lengthy process because of Lahaina’s remote location, as workers and raw materials cannot simply be driven to Hawaii. “This is not to make an excuse. This is just to explain the realities of the island, especially in the post-Covid era,” he said.
May Wedelin-Lee is one of countless residents who lost homes in Lahaina. She described the horror and desperation of those trying to escape and survive.
“The apocalypse was happening,” she told CNN on Thursday.
“People were crying on the side of the road and begging,” Wedelin-Lee said. “Some people had bicycles, people ran, people had skateboards, people had cats under their arm. They had a baby in tow, just sprinting down the street.”
The fire moved so quickly that many left their homes immediately with little notice from authorities, Maui County’s fire chief said.
“What we experienced was such a fast-moving fire through the neighborhood that the initial neighborhood that caught fire, they were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice,” fire chief Brad Ventura said.
The Coast Guard rescued 17 people who fled into the Pacific Ocean to escape the flames, the commander of Section Honolulu said Friday.
Coast Guard resources – including three cutters and two small boat crews – patrolled about 500 square miles of the harbor searching for survivors for more than 15 hours, Captain Aja Kirksey said at a Friday news conference.
One person was found dead and the survivors rescued are all in stable condition, according to Kirksey.
The fires have damaged or destroyed hundreds of structures in Maui County, local officials estimate.
“All of those buildings virtually are going to have to be rebuilt,” Green said Thursday. “It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image with its own values.”
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Survivors say they had little to no warning about deadly Maui wildfires
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Survivors say they had little to no warning about deadly Maui wildfires – CBS News
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Jason Momoa Has 5 Blunt Words For Tourists Considering A ‘Vacation’ Amid Maui Fires
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Jason Momoa warned would-be tourists “DO NOT TRAVEL TO MAUI” as deadly wildfires have devastated the community this week.
“Do not convince yourself that your presence is needed on an island that is suffering this deeply,” Momoa wrote on his Instagram page.
“Mahalo to everyone who has donated and shown aloha to the community in this time of need.”
Text on the clips read: “The devastation from the wildfires will have a lasting island-wide impact on Maui’s resources. Our community needs time to heal, grieve & restore… Do not book a hotel stay… Survivors are the priority.”
Momoa’s post went on to suggest ways people can help with relief efforts amid the wildfires.
Firefighters are continuing to fight the wildfires in Maui County which left buildings “flattened to debris,” “incinerated” vehicles and apartment complexes that residents compared to “a war zone,” according to the Associated Press.
The wildfires, which burned through most of historic Lahaina, have marked Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster in over half a century.
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Thousands displaced by Maui wildfire
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Thousands displaced by Maui wildfire – CBS News
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Maui airport crowded with tourists attempting to evacuate
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Maui airport crowded with tourists attempting to evacuate – CBS News
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Lahaina lies in ruins after devastating Maui wildfire
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Lahaina lies in ruins after devastating Maui wildfire – CBS News
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Smoke rushed in, then they ran. How local Maui residents faced the fire that killed their neighbors and leveled their town | CNN
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CNN
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The day began windier than usual in Lahaina, a Hawaiian sunrise painting the sky enchanting colors, a powerful breeze carrying the salty scent of the North Pacific Ocean inland.
The fire that had started on the mountain early that morning had crept a little closer to their storied Maui neighborhood.
But it still looked so far off.
The winds were building, though, their erratic gusts heaving the fire’s smoke in great bursts toward their homes.
Off Front Street at the ocean, near the oldest historic house on Maui and the beloved banyan tree, La Phena Davis watched the blaze Tuesday from the home where she, her great-grandparents, grandparents and grandchildren all lived.
“Never in a million years did I think that fire would reach our home,” she would say later.
Dustin Kaleiopu and his grandfather also felt the wind at home not far away. He knew, after Hurricane Lane in 2018 sparked wildfires on the island, how wind and flames could threaten and destroy. That time, the fire department had knocked at their door to warn them the danger was getting close.
“But this time, it was nothing,” he remembered. “No warning at all.”
Soon, though, the fire sent its own message.
“The smoke started getting thicker and blacker,” Kaleiopu recalled. “The smoke was filling our house, and we had no choice.
“I told my grandpa we needed to go,” he said, to abandon their home to the worsening fumes and approaching flames.
The “thick, black smoke” also reached Davis, she said.
She grabbed her important papers, knowing she, too, had to get out – and leave to the fire’s whims a place that housed generations, plus decades of their cherished belongings and memories.
Four miles away in Kaanapali, Bryan Aguiran was at work. An emergency alert soon reached him by phone, urging Lahaina residents to flee: The smoke had given way to flames.
Their community of 12,000 was being eaten alive.
Aguiran, of course, already was effectively evacuated. But this son of the one-time capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom couldn’t abide his own safety.
“I started driving my truck to Lahaina, but they blocked the road, they didn’t let anyone in,” he said. “I ran out of gas, so I parked my truck at work and started walking.”
He walked an hour before reaching a hilltop on upper Lahainaluna Road.
That’s when he saw it.
“It looked like doomsday Armageddon,” Aguiran recalled. “It looked like ‘The Simpsons’ episode when the dragons flew over the houses and blew fire.”
Explosions like bombs erupted. Breathing was tough.
“It looked,” he said, “like a war zone.”
The flames arrived at the Tortoise and Bird Refuge in Lahaina with little notice beyond the day’s uptick in wind, Teri Lawrence recalled.
“Around 3, 4 o’clock, we were starting to see flames everywhere,” the animal sanctuary keeper said. “We started taking water from the ocean and spraying it on the flowers and hedges.”
“We saw houses all over us burn,” she said. “We kept trying to put the fires out, but there was no way we could keep up. My staff guy was jumping fences with the hose freaking out, then we heard explosions from propane tanks, and we watched the next street over become engulfed in flames.”
Still, Lawrence thought they could save the animal sanctuary, she said.
Then, her neighbor’s roof caught on fire.
Lawrence grabbed important documents, a few photos of her parents, the ashes of her late brother and cats, and her late dog’s blanket. Even as she slashed through her emergency to-do list, though, “you don’t actually believe you’re not coming back,” she said.
“I really, honestly, thought we were coming back.”
Scared and hysterical, they gathered up all the animals – or so they thought – and sped away from the flames.
Not far away on the ocean, boat captain Christina Lovitt soon found herself on a skiff, also trying to help.
She and two other captains, including her wife, had watched around sunset as black smoke overtook the sky before the wildfire’s flames burned her boat – the one she’d put “every penny” into – right there on the water, she said.
The scene was “toxic,” Lovitt said. Boats in the harbor had burned up, and others were on the brink of explosion.
The trio had managed to get onto the small, flat-bottomed skiff and were ushering others to safety when a large wave flooded their motor, rendering it inoperable.
Stymied from anchoring by 70- to 80-mph gusts, they drifted and eventually were pulled onto a 120-foot boat, Lovitt recalled. That boat had a generator, a radio and drinking water on board, but the wind had blown out the windows. So, the women started boarding them up to keep the smoke at bay.
Then, the onboard radio crackled: The Coast Guard needed help finding wildfire survivors who’d had no choice but to jump into the ocean after getting boxed out by flames.
Another passing boat lent them gas, Lovitt said. The women got back to the skiff, refueled and headed out into the night.
Heavy smoke and the dark night meant the makeshift rescue crew could hardly see. But they managed to find a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, plucking them from the water and handing them over to the Coast Guard, Lovitt said.
As dawn approached, the life Lovitt had loved kept burning all around her, she said.
“There were waves on fire.”
Back in Lahaina, paramedics had texted Dr. Reza Danesh with the horror they’d witnessed.
“‘Hey docs, there’s bodies on the ground, a lot and they’re around,’” recounted the emergency medicine doctor.
Danesh headed in.
“I didn’t realize what I was walking into” when he got there Wednesday, said the founder of MODO Mobile Doctor. “It reminded me a little bit of Covid and the pandemic, how you’d see images from New York, it was a ghost town.”
“It was still fresh and hot,” Danesh told CNN, “like an atomic bomb had gone off.”
The doctor found people who hadn’t eaten or drank water for hours, he said. He and his staff treated people in serious shock, with respiratory problems, with eye injuries.
The survivors told him their stories, which he shared on Instagram: One man had used a rope to rappel three stories down from his apartment when he saw the flames. He’d felt how hot the walls were and knew not to open his door. The man said everyone else in his building died, according to the doctor.
A woman in her Front Street apartment got surrounded by flames along with her neighbors, Danesh recalled her telling him. She left her pet bird, jumped the sea wall with her neighbors and fled with them into the ocean. Some paddled out on rafts and surfboards, she later told Danesh in a video. She watched one of her neighbors die from smoke inhalation, she said.
When he entered Armageddon from the hilltop, Aguiran also had seen the bodies, perhaps among at least 55 people confirmed dead through Thursday in the fire, with the tally expected to rise.
Aguiran and other islanders had grabbed buckets of water to try to save homes yet untouched by the blaze, soaking the land around them to try to protect them from burning, said his cousin Ella Sable Tacderan.
But the fire was too much. Aguiran watched his parents’ house burn down, one of five family homes destroyed, Tacderan said, and among more than 270 structures declared impacted so far by the fire in Lahaina.
“He is scarred,” she said of Aguiran, who with 22 other relatives is taking refuge at Tacderan’s home in Wailuku Maui, taking stock of the terror, the trauma and the yet unknowable future.
Lawrence, her sanctuary staffers and their animals ended up at a 12-floor hotel parking garage in Kaanapali only to meet a horrifying realization: “We forgot two tortoises and seven birds we accidentally left behind,” she said.
“Everyone was like, ‘Yes, yes. I got them,’ but … we didn’t,” she said. “We actually left those animals to fry. It’s unbelievable. My heart is destroyed, knowing their fear, knowing I told them, ‘You’ll never have to worry when you’re with me, never.’
“And I left them,” she said. “I can’t fathom their fear.”
The survivors – human and animal – were stuck in the parking deck for 30 hours without food, water or sleep as the surviving creatures were dropped off at sanctuaries, Lawrence said.
Their caretaker’s nightmare isn’t over.
“I’m covered in soot, still wearing the clothes I had on from the day of the fire; that’s all I’ve got,” she said Thursday from a friend’s home in Huelo. “I lived there for 32 years, but it feels like I was never born. I’ve got nothing else.”
Lovitt’s skiff arrived some 7 miles north at Kaanapali Beach late afternoon the day after the fire ordeal began, she said.
“We looked like refugees or something,” Lovitt said. “It was like something out of a movie.”
Finally ashore, they helped another boat unload humanitarian aid supplies, she said. And though the power is out, Lovitt’s house still stands – and is sheltering those whose homes are just debris.
Kaleiopu and his grandpa also got out of Lahaina, as did his brother and their dad, who before spotting the other son in evacuation traffic had feared his whole family dead, he said.
Still, “the home is lost,” Kaleiopu said.
“Everything in Lahaina is completely gone,” he said, referencing aerial footage. It “was completely devastating to see when we woke up, seeing what our town had transformed into just overnight.
“Everyone that I know and love, everyone that I’m related to, that I communicate with, my colleagues, friends, family – we’re all homeless.”
Davis made it out alive, too, from her family’s generational home. She and her relatives now also are apart in temporary houses after “everything that we’ve owned, in all my 50 years of life, is completely burned to the ground,” she said.
Front Street, known for its art galleries, stores, restaurants and historical sites, has been “completely impacted and leveled,” Davis said. “There’s absolutely nothing left of our neighborhood.”
“It’s a loss of our entire community, our town that we’ve known it to be for generations,” she said.
“We’re shook to our core.”
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Parts of Maui are in ashes after wildfires blazed across the Hawaiian island. These photos show the destruction.
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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.
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.
Some Maui residents say they received no official warnings as the flames spread.
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.
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.”
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
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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.
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.
Getty Images
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.
Robert Gauthier / Getty Images
Robert Gauthier / Getty Images
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Aerial photos show total destruction as wildfires ravage historic Lahaina, Hawaii
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The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 8, 2023.
Matthew Thayer/ | The Maui News | AP
Wildfires in Hawaii have devastated the historic city of Lahaina, the former capital of the islands when they were an independent kingdom.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who surveyed the damage, said the city had been “reduced to ashes.” Although the blaze in Lahaina is 80% contained, there is still an active fire. The city remains without power.
At least 67 people have been killed by the fires as search, rescue and recovery operations continue. Gov. Josh Green said hundreds of homes have been destroyed, leaving thousands without shelter.
Lahaina carries deep cultural significance to Hawaiians. King Kamehameha I established Lahaina as his royal residence in the early 19th century.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking. The recovery process will be long, but we’re committed to these families and communities,” Schatz said on social media.
Wildfire devastation is seen outside the city of Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023.
Rick Bowmer | AP
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows a person walking down Front Street past destroyed buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows destroyed cars in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows destroyed homes and buildings on the waterfront burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of the wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
A burned boat is seen in the waters fronting Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, Maui, Hawaii, Aug.10, 2023.
Marco Garcia | Reuters
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
An aerial image taken Aug. 10, 2023, shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Wildfire wreckage is shown Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui revealed a wasteland of burned-out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze, making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years.
Rick Bowmer | AP
Two Hawaii Army National Guard CH47 Chinook perform aerial water bucket drops on the island of Maui to fight the wildfires, Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 9, 2023.
Air Force Master Sgt. Andrew Jackson
An aerial view of Lahaina after wildfires burned through the town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, Aug. 10, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
An aerial view shows the community of Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023.
Marco Garcia | Reuters
An aerial view shows the community of Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023.
Marco Garcia | Reuters
Cars drive away from Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023.
Marco Garcia | Reuters
Wildfire wreckage is shown in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023.
Rick Bowmer | AP
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Setting foot in the charred heart of Lahaina | CNN
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Lahaina, Hawaii
CNN
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As the boat approaches Lahaina, the sun is strong, the waves crest into whitecaps and on the shore, so much is black.
“Puamana is gone!” a crewmember shouts in shock, looking at one of the resort areas on Maui’s western coast that drew tourists to the area and is now wrecked by wildfire.
The ruins stretch as far as the eye can see, 100-foot coconut trees charred all the way up their trunks.
It’s hard to even dock. Ferry boats have burned and sunk, just melted into the ocean to create underwater hazards.
There’s a powerful stench from the pipes, plastic and fiberglass boats that have liquefied into an evil soup now floating in the harbor.
Finally onshore, the quaint, historic and simply charming town of Lahaina is unrecognizable.
Block after block is just ash. Some concrete and stone walls still stand but it’s hard to see what they once contained.
The two-story Pioneer Inn with its airy wraparound verandas is burned to the ground. First built in 1901, it was the oldest hotel in Hawaii. And it’s completely gone.
Even structures built out over pilings into the Pacific Ocean are reduced to cinders, showing how the flames from wildfires fanned by hurricane winds came not just down to the shore, but engulfed anything they could reach there.
On the roads are burned out shells of cars.
Survivors have told CNN how traffic stood at a standstill as the fire approached, forcing some people to run into the ocean to try to save themselves.
But with an inferno on one side and treacherous waves, spilled diesel and a reef on the other, there are fears that the sea was no safe place.
Gallery owner Bill Wyland told CNN he escaped on his Harley Davidson motorbike, driving on the sidewalk to get around the cars stuck on the roads.
“Flames were shooting over the top coming at you. I didn’t even want to look behind me because I knew they were behind me,” he said.
He returned to the center of Lahaina to find his gallery gone, artworks incinerated.
Just a few hundred feet away, he finds a shred of hope. The banyan tree that’s been a feature of the town for a century and a half is charred but still stands.
“I’m looking at it now. I’m telling you, it’s going to survive,” he said, standing in the shade of the massive, sprawling tree.
Wyland said there could be a new Lahaina, perhaps better than before, while acknowledging the history of the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom is gone.
Farmer Eddy Garcia is more focused on the immediate needs, still stunned by what he saw.
“It moved so fast, it happened so fast,” he said of how the fire rampaged.
He told CNN he would open his farmland to house those without homes and urged others to stay away but send any help they could.
“Every single home in Lahaina is gone,” he said. “It’s apocalyptic.”
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Historic Hawaiian Town Razed By Wildfire
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The historic seaside town of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii has been largely reduced to ash as wildfires continued to rip through the state, with 36 people already confirmed dead. What do you think?
“Out of respect, I will wait a day before calling to check on my reservation.”
Larry Balestras, Patent Holder
“Just once, I’d like to hear a positive story about out-of-control wildfires.”
Liza Toles, Bionics Engineer
“I just hope the wealthy were evacuated in time.”
Julian Haber, Carrion Exporter
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Maui resident describes fleeing devastating wildfires, says he wasn’t told to evacuate
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Maui resident describes fleeing devastating wildfires, says he wasn’t told to evacuate – CBS News
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Part-Time Maui Resident Oprah Pitches In on Hawaii Wildfire Relief Efforts
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Oprah Winfrey is no stranger to giving a leg up to those in need, on micro and macro levels. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, she built a community in Houston for displaced people who had lost their homes, contributed millions of dollars of her own, and coordinated millions more in donations from others.
Now, she’s pitching in to help with relief efforts in the Maui wildfires—a disaster that’s incredibly close to home for the media mogul. Oprah lives part-time on the island and owns more than 2,000 acres of land there; Jeff Bezos, Steven Tyler, Clint Eastwood, and Peter Thiel, among others, also own homes there. The death toll from the disaster is at 55 and is expected to rise, local officials have said. More than 11,000 people have fled their homes.
Oprah, rightfully, called the disaster “overwhelming,” arriving at Maui’s War Memorial Stadium on Thursday to help hand out supplies at the relief station. She came to the relief site twice that day, first to see what was going on and make her strategy, then to distribute supplies.
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“I came earlier just to see what people needed then went shopping because often, you know, you make donations of clothes or whatever and it’s not really what people need,” she told reporters. “So I actually went to Walmart and Costco and got pillows, shampoo, diapers, sheets, pillowcases.”
She said though she found the scene “overwhelming,” people are pulling together to try and help. “I’m really pleased to have so many people supporting… bringing what they can and doing what they can,” she said.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather is also helping out, TMZ reported: The outlet says that he paid to evacuate 68 families from the island, and that he’s helping provide clothing and other essentials to them. Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, will be making donations, she posted on her Instagram stories.
Former president Barack Obama, who was born in Honolulu, shared on social media that it was “tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawai’i,” and included a link for donations.
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Maui wildfires death toll at 55 as warning sirens’ silence questioned
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Maui residents who made desperate escapes from oncoming flames, some on foot, asked why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning system didn’t alert them as fires raced toward their homes.
Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens were triggered before a devastating wildfire killed at least 55 people and wiped out most of the historic town of Lahaina, officials confirmed Thursday.
The toll is expected to rise as crews search scorched areas for survivors and those who lost their lives.
Tiffany Kidder Winn / AP
Lahaina business owner J.D. Hessemer said he decided to evacuate early in the morning before the fires reached the town, without ever hearing an emergency alert.
“The winds were just getting out of control. Power lines were down everywhere and we had to reroute,” Hessemer told “CBS Mornings” on Friday. “…We just decided it was not safe to stay around for the day.”
He said he received no official warning or instructions to evacuate.
“I received nothing — at no point in time. I got nothing on my phone,” he said.
The blaze is already the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people on the Big Island and deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise.
“Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,” Gov. Josh Green said during a Thursday news conference after walking the ruins of the town with Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. “Without a doubt, it feels like a bomb was dropped on Lahaina.”
Green said “hundreds of homes” have been burned and estimated over 1,000 buildings have been destroyed.
“It’s a heartbreaking day,” Green said. “Without a doubt, what we saw is catastrophic.”
He described it as “likely the largest natural disaster” ever in Hawaii.
According to CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV, Green went on to say, “When you see the full extent of the destruction in Lahaina, it will shock you. … All of the buildings virtually are gonna have to be rebuilt. It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image, with its own values.”
“What we’re telling you is we will rebuild,” he added.
Officials were unable to provide an estimate on the number of people missing. “Honestly, we don’t know,” Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier told reporters.
KGMB, citing authorities, said three large fires on Maui, including the one in Lahaina, were still active, but firefighters appeared to be focusing mostly on hotspots after airdrops conducted for the first time on Wednesday, when winds began to die down, were finally able to beat down flames. On Thursday morning, Maui County said the Lahaina wildfire was 80% contained.
Almost 11,000 homes and businesses across Maui had no power as of 12:45 a.m. Hawaii time Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. The local utility, Hawaiian Electric, said it was “asking West Maui customers without power to prepare for extended outages that could last several weeks in some areas.”
PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images
Silent warning system
Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain to alert people to various natural disasters and other threats. But many of Lahaina’s survivors said in interviews at evacuation centers that they didn’t hear any sirens and only realized they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.
Dustin Kaleiopu fled Lahaina with his grandfather. He told CBS News on Thursday that there wasn’t any warning about the fire and they left with only what 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.
William Bugle, 76, told CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti he was burned on his arm when the roof blew off his house and he was hit by red-hot shingles. “It went from like nothing to, like, I felt this heat, this tremendous heat,” Bugle said.
Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman from Lahaina, didn’t know about the fire until he smelled smoke. Power and cell phone service had both gone out earlier that day, leaving the town with no real-time information about the danger.
He tried to leave in his Jeep but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a seawall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him.
Firefighters eventually arrived and escorted Leonard and other survivors through the flames to safety.
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press on Thursday that the department’s records don’t show that Maui’s warning sirens were triggered on Tuesday. Instead, the county used emergency alerts sent to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, Weintraub said.
It’s not clear if those alerts were sent before widespread power and cellular outages cut off most communication to Lahaina.
Communications have been spotty across Maui, with 911, landline and cellular service failing at times. Power was also out in parts of the island.
Mengshin Lin for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched brush covering the island and then flattening homes and anything else in its path.
Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the fire moved so quickly from brush to neighborhood that it was impossible to get messages to the emergency management agencies responsible for emergency alerts.
Lahaina was at high risk
Lahaina’s wildfire risk was well known. Maui County’s hazard mitigation plan, last updated in 2020, identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfire ignitions and a large number of buildings at risk of wildfire damage.
The report also noted that West Maui had the island’s highest population of people living in multi-unit housing, the second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers.
“This may limit the population’s ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events,” the plan noted.
Maui’s firefighting efforts may also have been hampered by a small staff, said Bobby Lee, the president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association. There are 65 firefighters at most working at any given time in Maui County, and they’re responsible for fighting fires on three islands – Maui, Molokai and Lanai – he said.
Those crews have about 13 fire engines and two ladder trucks, but they’re all designed for on-road use. The department doesn’t have any off-road vehicles, he said.
That means fire crews can’t attack brush fires thoroughly before they reach roads or populated areas, Lee explained. The high winds caused by Dora made that extremely difficult, he said.
“You’re basically dealing with trying to fight a blowtorch,” Lee said. “You’ve got to be careful – you don’t want to get caught downwind from that because you’re going to get run over in a wind-driven fire of that magnitude.”
Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for Lahaina residents, Bissen noted, while tourists in hotels were told to shelter in place so emergency vehicles could get into the area.
Mengshin Lin for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The mayor said downed power poles added to the chaos as people attempted to flee Lahaina by cutting off two important roads out of town. Speaking at the Thursday news conference, Bissen said 29 poles fell with live wires still attached, and leaving only the narrow highway toward Kahakuloa.
Tourists were advised to stay away, and thousands of people have crowded airports to leave the island. Officials turned the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu into an assistance center, stocking it with water, food, and volunteers who help visitors arrange travel home.
KGMB reports that Oprah Winfrey, a part-time Maui resident, visited evacuees Thursday at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Maui. The station says she’s one of Maui’s biggest private landowners, with more than 1,000 acres in Kula and Hana. It was unclear whether any of her land was damaged from the wildfires.
President Biden declared a major disaster on Maui. Traveling in Utah on Thursday, he pledged that the federal response will ensure that “anyone who’s lost a loved one, or whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately.” Mr. Biden promised to streamline requests for assistance and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was “surging emergency personnel” on the island.
Mayor Bissen previously said officials hadn’t yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires, but officials did point to the combination of dry conditions, low humidity and high winds.
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Golfer With Hawaii Ties Vows To Donate To Maui Fire Recovery Efforts In A Big Way
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Collin Morikawa is pledging $1,000 for every birdie he makes the next three PGA Tour events to help with relief for the deadly wildfires in Hawaii. For him, it’s personal.
His grandparents were born in Lahaina, the historic town on Maui where Front Street and all its restaurants and shops have been obliterated by the wind-swept fires that have claimed at least 36 lives. He still has relatives on Maui, though most have moved to Oahu.
“I think they’re all right, but just to hear … woke up this morning, just checking the news, and to see how many people have passed away from that, yeah. I’m at a loss for words,” Morikawa said.
Morikawa, who won the PGA Championship and the British Open within two years after graduating from California-Berkeley, began his bid Thursday with six birdies in his opening round of 65 in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
He posted his plans on Instagram on Thursday morning, and by the end of the day had decided to send the money raised to Maui United Way and World Central Kitchen to help survivors on Maui and elsewhere in Hawaii.
Morikawa grew up in the Los Angeles area, but he said his father used to spend summers in Lahaina because his grandparents were there. The Morikawa Restaurant closed several years ago, though a local man happened to find a matchbook from the restaurant on eBay a few years back and worked through the PGA Tour and Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua to get it to him.
“It’s devastating what we’ve been seeing. The before-and-after photos are just heartbreaking, knowing that my entire dad’s side of the family grew up there,” he said. “My grandparents were born in Lahaina. We had the restaurant out there. That’s what the photo was. We went there as kids. It’s a special place.
“It’s amazing how many things you take for granted really in life, and when you see that, it’s just heartbreaking.”
Morikawa is hopeful other people would join in on his pledge by contributing for his birdies. He still has 11 rounds left, and said that one friend texted him that maybe he could reach $100,000.
“Look, it’s one of the best places in the world we travel to year in and year out to go to Kapalua, play golf there,” he said. “I know I’m going to ask my sponsors, I’m going to ask people that I know just to help out. Anything helps — per birdie I make, whatever you can afford, whatever you want to put in. I’m going to be pushing hard to make those birdies, and hopefully everyone else can reach out and help out as much as they can.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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$1,850 a day? What it costs to visit the 10 most expensive vacation destinations in the world
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Looking to splurge on your next vacation?
The travel website FloridaPanhandle.com analyzed costs in 100 popular vacation spots, looking into average prices for accommodations, transportation, food and attractions.
Here are 10 destinations that certainly call for big budgets.
According to the analysis, the most expensive vacation destinations, excluding flight costs, are:
- Gustavia, St. Barts
- Gstaad, Switzerland
- Aspen, Colorado
- Park City, Utah
- Maui, Hawaii
- London, England
- Cocoa Island, Maldives
- Maun, Botswana
- Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
- Monte Carlo, Monaco
The 10 most expensive vacation destinations around the globe.
Source: CNBC
The list was dominated by islands and ritzy ski towns, though the draw of eco-tourism safaris in Botswana and Europe’s financial capital, London, rounded out the ranking.
Where hotels average $1,000 per night
The Caribbean island of St. Barts is the most expensive vacation destination in the world, largely because of its high accommodation costs, which average $1,770 per night, according to the analysis.
Average hotel rates in Switzerland’s Gstaad (No. 2) are $1,360, according to the research. The town in the Swiss Alps also has the highest average food costs on the list, at $177 per day.
Accommodations at the third priciest spot — Aspen, Colorado — average $1,385 for one person, but a family of four can expect to pay $2,274, according to the analysis.
A street in downtown Aspen, Colorado.
Nik Wheeler | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
To find those prices, FloridaPanhandle.com researched average rates for four- and five-star hotels for stays during Christmas (Dec. 21-27) and the spring (May 19-25), but did not include taxes.
Attractions: from $0 to $333 per day
To estimate the price of activities, FloridaPanhandle.com calculated the average cost for each location’s three most-reviewed attractions on TripAdvisor.
The ski town of Park City, Utah, averaged $333 for daily attractions — the highest on the list.
Attractions in Maun, Botswana, Africa’s lone destination on the list, averaged more than $100 per day for activities like a one-day visit to the Okavango Delta.
Despite having higher overall average costs, St. Barts and the Maldives’ attractions were valued at $0. Vacationers may have to pay top dollar for hotels in those locations, but their beaches are free.
Monaco, Monte Carlo.
Ostill | Istock | Getty Images
Monte Carlo had one of the lowest average rates for attractions on the list, a surprising result for a vibrant gambling hot spot.
While “Monte Carlo is known for its casinos, it is also not the most popular thing to do in town,” said a representative from FloridaPanhandle.com.
According to the company, the three most popular attractions in Monte Carlo are the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, an outdoor area called Casino Square, and the Casino of Monte Carlo, which has an entrance fee of 18 euros ($20).
Gambling losses, however, are not included in Monte Carlo’s average attraction costs.
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These factors are making it hard to combat the deadly Maui wildfires | CNN
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CNN
—
The wind-whipped fires in Maui spread swiftly and created a deadly tinderbox, overwhelming residents and local officials in one of the nation’s deadliest wildfires.
“It’s very strange to hear about severe wildfires in Hawaii – a wet, tropical island – but strange events are becoming more common with climate change,” Jennifer Marlon, a research scientist and lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, told CNN.
Fueled by a combination of strong winds and dry conditions – and complicated by the island’s geography – the fires have killed at least 36 people.
“For those of us who’ve been working on this problem, it just makes us feel sick,” said Clay Trauernicht, an assistant specialist who studies tropical fire at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Maui’s wildfire appears to be one of the deadliest in modern US history. The fire already ranks as the second deadliest in the past 100 years, trailing California’s Camp fire, which killed 85 people in November 2018, according to CalFire.
Trauernicht said it was by far the deadliest wildfire in Hawaii’s history.
These are some factors making it difficult to combat the fires that have plunged a state known for its stunning natural beauty into an unprecedented crisis:
Drought worsened in Hawaii over the past week, leading to fire spread, according to the US Drought Monitor released Thursday. Severe level drought conditions in Maui County ticked up to 16% from 5% last week, while statewide moderate drought levels jumped to 14% from 6%.
Dried-out land and vegetation can provide fuel for wildfires, which then can swiftly turn deadly if strong winds help fan the flames toward communities.
“It’s more a fuels problem than a climate problem – which means that it’s a problem we can tackle,” Trauernicht said in a phone interview.
“There are tangible actions that we could be taking that would reduce the risk of something like this happening in the future,” he added, referring to measures such as the creation of fuelbreaks to reduce fire-prone vegetation and support for agricultural land use.
“It’s a priority when the fires are burning. But at that point, it’s too late.”
While scientists try to fully understand how the climate crisis will affect Hawaii, they have said drought will get worse as global temperatures rise: Warmer temperatures increase the amount of water the atmosphere can absorb – which then dries out the landscape.
Drought conditions are becoming more extreme and common in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, according to the Fourth US National Climate Assessment, released in 2018. Rainfall has generally been decreasing in Hawaii over time, with the number of consecutive dry days increasing, scientists noted in the report.
And the climate crisis has caused droughts that previously may have occurred only once every decade to now happen 70% more frequently, global scientists reported in 2021.
“Combining abundant fuels with heat, drought, and strong wind gusts is a perfect recipe for out-of-control fires,” Marlon said by email.
“But this is what climate change is doing – it’s super-charging extreme weather. This is yet another example of what human-caused climate change increasingly looks like.”
Evacuation orders in parts of Hawaii as wildfires grow
Hurricane Dora, a fast-moving and powerful Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 mph, isn’t helping matters.
As the storm roared south of Hawaii, a strong high-pressure system stayed in place to the north, with the two forces combining to produce “very strong and damaging winds,” according to the National Weather Service.
“These strong winds coupled with low humidity levels are producing dangerous fire weather conditions” through Wednesday afternoon, the weather service said.
The high winds, ongoing drought conditions and dry relative humidity are “ingredients to spark those fires and to fan the flames,” CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
“The problem is that this wind – similar to, let’s say, Santa Ana winds in Southern California – is that it dries out and it warms up as it (travels down) the mountains, and it creates these very dry, timber-like conditions,” he said.
Hurricane Lane in 2018 was also associated with large fires on Maui and Oahu, noted Abby Frazier, a climatologist and geographer at Clark University in Massachusetts.
“Wildfire is a bigger issue in Hawaii than many people may realize,” Frazier said via email from Hawaii, where she has been working on a research project in Oahu.
“During the wet season, fuels are built up and then dry out over the dry season,” she added. “When you combine these dry fuels with the high winds and low humidity we have right now from Hurricane Dora, we have extremely dangerous fire weather.”
Another compounding factor is El Niño, Frazier said. The climate pattern originates in the Pacific Ocean along the equator and impacts weather all over the world.
“This means higher than usual hurricane activity in the central Pacific this summer,” she wrote.
“While we tend to see wetter conditions during El Nino summers (which builds up fire fuels), Hawaii should expect drought conditions likely this winter, which will dry out the fuels and usually leads to an earlier start to our fire season for next year.”
A hurricane is fueling wildfires in Hawaii. Meteorologist explains how
Nonnative species now cover nearly a quarter of Hawaii’s total land area, and invasive grasses and shrubs become highly flammable in the dry season, Trauernicht said.
Hawaii also has lost large plantations and ranches, with fire-prone grasses overtaking fallow lands, he said.
“When plantations were active, firefighters would show up on scene … people would be there opening the gates, all the roads were maintained, there was water infrastructure and equipment. And they would have support from the people working on these plantations,” Trauernicht said.
“As that has changed, and land use has changed. It’s all on the firefighters right now.”
Hawaii also has suffered from dramatic shifts in rainfall patterns.
The area burned each year in Hawaii is now about 1% of the state’s total land area – comparable to and often exceeding the 12 Western states on the mainland where fires are most common, according to Trauernicht and the Pacific Fire Exchange.
The geography of Hawaii – an island chain in the Pacific – and limited firefighting resources also complicate efforts.
Personnel at the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife are primarily natural resource managers, foresters, biologists and technicians – not full-time wildland firefighters, according to the agency website.
“West Maui is kind of a perfect example – one highway through the whole place,” Trauernicht told CNN. “Our resources are limited to what’s on island. The resources … are going to be spread thin.”
Fewer than 300 firefighting personnel responded to the state’s second-largest fire, on the Big Island in 2021, Trauernicht said.
“If you compare that to the mainland, there would have been probably a couple of thousand firefighters,” he said.
“That gives you a sense of the kind of … limitations that we have here. This fire right now, I guarantee it, anyone who’s available to respond is responding. We don’t really have the ability to definitely bring in resources from other states. That’s not happening.”
By Thursday, meanwhile, the wildfires had killed at least 36 people on the island, compared to six deaths reported just a day earlier.
“I think this is going to be far worse than anything we’ve ever seen, unfortunately,” Trauernicht said.
Despite warnings it seems many were taken by surprise.
“The National Weather Service issued a kind of heads up. We had a few days lead time about the weather conditions,” Trauernicht said.
“We anticipated the high winds and dry conditions. But managing fuels at the scale in which we need to, those are actions that need to be taken at minimum months in advance of these fires and these conditions.”
Longer-term planning and prevention efforts are needed to fight the growth of invasive grasses and shrubs, Trauernicht said.
“This is something that we’ve been saying for decades,” he said. “We can create landscapes that are far less likely to burn, far less sensitive to these fluctuations in climate or in weather that create such dangerous conditions.
“We sort of owe it to these guys that are fighting this thing right now.”
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Traveling to Hawaii? Here’s what to know about the Maui fire.
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Hawaii is a noted tourist destination, but with deadly wildfires wreaking havoc on Maui and other islands, it has declared a state of emergency in all counties. Hawaiian officials are discouraging nonessential travel to Maui amidst the fire’s destruction on that island.
Major airlines are assisting in efforts to evacuate residents and visitors already located in danger zones. People with trips planned to the second-largest Hawaiian island are being asked to postpone them, with airlines and accommodation providers offering travelers flexibility to rebook.
Here’s what to know if you had a vacation in Hawaii scheduled.
What parts of Hawaii are experiencing fires?
According to local news outlet Hawaii News Now, there are “several out-of-control wildfires on Maui and Hawaii Island.”
On Maui, the deadly wildfires are currently ablaze in Lahaina, Kihei and Upcountry Maui. The northwest part of the Island of Hawaii, between Hapuna and Kawaihae, is also affected.
Can I still go to Maui?
The Hawaii Tourism Agency is strongly discouraging nonessential travel to Maui. Even tourists who are already there are encouraged to depart immediately, if they can.
“Visitors currently on Maui for nonessential travel reasons are being asked to leave the island as rescue and recovery efforts continue,” the Hawaii Tourism Agency said in a statement Wednesday.
Travel to the island of Hawaii remains unaffected, and the government said it remains to safe to visit other islands.
Are commercial airlines flying to Maui?
Some are and some aren’t. Many airlines are offering travel waivers that allow customers with immediate plans to travel to Maui to rebook their flights without fees, or to cancel them altogether for credit or, in some cases, a full refund.
“With the exception of basic economy tickets, almost all U.S. airlines allow you flexibility to either reschedule your trip or cancel and get the full amount you paid back for travel credit for future trip,” Scott Keyes, of travel site Going told CBS MoneyWatch. “So you automatically have a lot of flexibility to change your plans or save flight credit for a future trip. That was not really the case pre-pandemic.”
UNITED AIRLINES
United Airlines said it’s prioritizing the welfare of its employees on Maui and has scrapped commercial flights to the island. It is instead using empty passenger planes to carry Maui residents off the island.
“We’ve canceled today’s inbound flights to Kahului Airport so our planes can fly empty to Maui and be used as passenger flights back to the mainland,” the airline said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
The airline also has waivers in place for United passengers who had been scheduled to fly to or from Kahului airport on Maui, as well as Honolulu airport.
Customers may either rebook themselves on a flight that departs on or before August 16, or cancel the flight altogether for a full refund, the airline said on its website.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
For its part, American Airlines said on Thursday that it planned to operate all scheduled flights to and from Maui. The airline is also allowing customers whose travel is affected by the wildfires to rebook without fees or to cancel and receive a full refund.
ALASKA AIR
Alaska Air, has a “flexible travel policy” in place that allows customers to change their flights at no cost through August 31 or cancel them in exchange for a travel voucher worth the cost of the flight.
Some would-be visitors to Maui said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that they wanted outright refunds from airlines, as opposed to the option of rebooking within a short time frame. Given the extent of devastation the wildfires have caused, it may be some time before travelers may want to rebook.
Even if some flights are taking off, “We have nowhere to stay as our hotel was on the west Maui in Lahaina,” said one frustrated traveler.
Southwest Airlines said it had added flights between islands and back to the mainland U.S. “to keep people and supplies moving.” Some fares from Maui to the mainland U.S. are under $100.
Hawaiian Airlines also said it’s adding extra flights between Maui and Honolulu for as little as $19 “to facilitate urgent travel.”
The Hawaii Tourism Agency added that “airlines are being very supportive during this emergency crisis and providing additional flights to help visitors depart from Maui. Airlines are also adjusting their travel schedules to support those visitors who had planned to arrive this week.”
Will I be compensated for my hotel accommodations?
Many major hotels and resorts in vulnerable areas have lost power, halted service and stopped accepting guests altogether. Some are providing full refunds to scheduled guests, depending on the time of their planned stay.
The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa said the hotel is “closed to arrivals and not accepting guests” through August 13. It will issue refunds including for deposits and prepayments to guests who had been scheduled to stay at the property through the weekend.
Homesharing site Airbnb said its extenuating circumstances policy has gone into effect for parts of Hawaii, including all of Maui. It allows hosts and guests to cancel their stays without penalty and entitles guests to full refunds for reservations they don’t use.
Non-refundable reservations
In the case of non-refundable reservations, a travel insurance policy could help you recoup funds related to a trip you didn’t take.
For travelers already on Maui, some of these policies also come with medical evacuation options that can help visitors to the island get to safer ground.
Some credit card companies even build in protections related to travel without requiring that you sign up for additional protections.
“Many of them automatically include travel insurance, so check and see what you’re entitled to,” Keyes said.
—With reporting by Elizabeth Napolitano
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