'No place to live': Why rebuilding Maui won't be easy after deadly fires
Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023
Things had started to look up for Maui after the COVID-19 shutdown that had doused its thriving tourist industry several years ago. Then came the trauma of last week’s deadly wildfires.
“We were just starting to rebound,” said Debbie Cabebe, CEO of Maui Economic Opportunity, a nonprofit agency based on the island. “Things were looking promising. The really sad part is there are still people missing and we don’t know what their status is. But we’re going to stick together and make it through this.”
Tuesday’s catastrophic blaze, fueled by hot, dry conditions and fanned by peripheral winds kicked up from a hurricane 500 miles to the south, is expected to become the worst disaster of Hawaii’s statehood, with at least 55 confirmed deaths and close to 1,000 people still missing.
With the fires largely contained and the scope of the devastation starting to become clear, island residents are beginning to comprehend the economic challenges that lie ahead with thousands displaced and more than 1,800 structures destroyed. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he expected recovery costs to run into the billions of dollars with damage that will take years to repair.
Volunteers with King's Cathedral Maui unload donations of blankets and supplies on Aug. 10, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. King's Cathedral Maui is providing food and shelter for displaced families.
“With this situation, the challenge is going to be that there are many people without homes,” Cabebe said. “Many of them are low-income, and there’s not enough homes and places to house them. That’s the biggest challenge facing our community now: Where are we going to put them? It’s going to take a long time to rebuild.”
Many homeless after fires, affordable housing crisis
Maui Economic Opportunity is reaching out to real estate agents and hotel managers, hoping to identify available units and unoccupied homes used seasonally by mainland owners that could temporarily house evacuees. Maui’s worst damage was in the areas of Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry.
Much of the county has been struggling with affordable housing even before disaster struck. “Homes are extremely expensive and inventory is limited,” Cabebe said. “Now that we’ve lost thousands of homes and rental units, that’s just going to add to the problem. That’s something we’re going to have to figure out.”
A young boy walks through wildfire wreckage Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday 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.
Joe Kent, executive vice president for Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a nonprofit policy research organization based in Honolulu, said the effect of the wildfires on the state’s economy will be immense, particularly given the destruction of much of the historic town of Lahaina, which was among the island’s primary engines of tourism.
“Maui’s west side was the main economic driver for the county,” said Kent, who once taught at Lahaina’s King Kamehameha III Elementary School, which according to reports was leveled by the blaze. “Now, thousands of people will be thrown out of work on the island with no place to live. This is billions of dollars in economic destruction.”
Cabebe described Maui, with a population of about 165,000, as an island community with a small-town feel, where everyone knows everyone.
“You go to Costco and see 15 or 20 people you know,” she said. “It’s somebody’s grandma or auntie or neighbor. There’s a lot of connectedness, and that’s what makes it a special place. The Maui community is very strong and supportive of one another. That’s what’s going to get us through this.”
Many were left struggling when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. Authorities shut down Hawaii’s tourism industry by requiring all incoming passengers to quarantine, and before long, state unemployment rates soared to 34%, among the highest in the nation.
Helping victims with small boats and jet skis
In the aftermath of the fires, Leonard Nakoa, of Lahaina, has been stuck in Honolulu, where he had been visiting his brother. He had hoped to return over the weekend until the wildfires threw everything into question.
Instead, Nakoa, a prominent community activist and sometime consultant driven by the fight for Native Hawaiian rights, has been constantly on the phone, doing what he can from afar. The main road into town has been shut down, so Nakoa said he has been busy negotiating for supplies like gasoline and essentials to be delivered to Lahaina via an old fishing boat ramp in a narrow bay.
“Some of the boats are so big they can’t come to shore,” he said. “So I’ve got jet skis and small boats going in and out of the bay to pick stuff up and bring it in. Then I’ve got three distribution centers where they can go drop off supplies.”
In an aerial view, search and rescue crews walk through a neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire on August 11, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. Crews are continuing to search for missing people.
It has been maddening to be away, knowing his beloved hometown has been largely razed, especially given Lahaina’s place as the seat of the Hawaiian kingdom overseen by King Kamehameha III before the capital was moved to Honolulu in the 1840s.
Now, much of what was left of that heritage has turned to ash. Gone, too, is his daughter’s home, although she and her family are all accounted for, he said, now sheltered at his countryside home at Lahaina’s outskirts.
'The hotels are going to be empty'
Lahaina is unique even on Maui; nearly a third of its population is foreign-born, compared with just 18% for the island as a whole. Situated in West Maui, which has the highest rate of non-English speakers and the second-highest rate of households without a vehicle, the community Nakoa knows is harmonious and multicultural, a mix of Native Hawaiians, Filipinos, Tongans, Mexicans, Japanese and Chinese.
“We live among each other with no hatred,” Nakoa said.
But tourists and mainlanders with getaway homes on the island have torn at the fabric of that existence, he said, with land once dedicated to growing pineapple and sugarcane now overrun with sprawling mansions.
Burnt out cars line the sea walk after the wildfire on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.
The relationship between Maui locals and tourists is a complicated one, he said; residents are both resentful of and reliant on the business visitors bring. About 1 in 6 residents of Lahaina work in food preparation and service-oriented jobs, according to Data USA.
“I live it every day,” he said. “I hate it. “But we need the tourism for our living.”
Before, he said, you could drive from one end of the town and sense the difference, with stretches of dry, brown land peppered with the homes of Lahaina’s waiters, bellhops, cooks and housekeepers giving way to lush, green, tourist-populated areas flourishing under sprinklers and fountains. Now, much of it has turned to ash.
Though the tourist industry has offered plenty of job opportunities, Nakoa said, keeping up with living expenses has been increasingly difficult when gas costs $5 a gallon and a jug of milk runs near $10. From 2017 to 2021, the average price of a home on the island was $677,000, according to U.S. Census data.
Now, with so much of the town destroyed, from the high-end homes near historic Front Street to the more affordable residences and low-income housing complexes beyond, he wonders where the income will come from.
“Front Street is all gone,” he said. “The hotels are going to be empty and tourists aren’t going to come. But we still have each other, and we’re going to make it.”
Meals, shelter, care needed for Maui residents
With the focus now on emergency relief, Stephanie Fox, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said it’s too early to speculate about the housing and recovery complications that lie down the road.
“Things are still evolving and fluctuating by the hour,” Fox said. “We continue to provide safe shelter, meals, comfort and care for those impacted by this terribly tragic event and stand ready to navigate the coming days, weeks and months alongside the people of Hawaii.”
Volunteers with King's Cathedral Maui help unload a donation of supplies on Aug. 10, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. King's Cathedral Maui is providing food and shelter for displaced families.
But the immediate need is clear. State officials are seeking as many as 2,000 rooms for temporary shelter, and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated to shelters on Maui and beyond. Meanwhile, friends and relatives have launched verified GoFundMe pages seeking relief for residents whose homes and businesses were incinerated by the blaze, such as the charter boat first mate who fled with only what they were wearing, a pair of expectant parents who lost two family homes, and a family of six forced to abandon their guinea pigs and rabbits.
Another page sought relief for a Lahaina bar employee who had gone door to door warning neighbors about the approaching blaze rather than spending time rounding up his valuables. The fire destroyed his home and the bar where he worked.
Cabebe, of Maui Economic Opportunity, said she has heard of many residents opening their homes to those displaced by the fires.
“They’re saying ‘I’ve got a bed’ or ‘I’ve got a couch,’” she said. “I saw a lady putting up a pup tent in her front yard and handing out food in Upcountry.
"But that’s the short term. Those of us who work in social services have to think about what the long term will look like.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023
Things had started to look up for Maui after the COVID-19 shutdown that had doused its thriving tourist industry several years ago. Then came the trauma of last week’s deadly wildfires.
“We were just starting to rebound,” said Debbie Cabebe, CEO of Maui Economic Opportunity, a nonprofit agency based on the island. “Things were looking promising. The really sad part is there are still people missing and we don’t know what their status is. But we’re going to stick together and make it through this.”
Tuesday’s catastrophic blaze, fueled by hot, dry conditions and fanned by peripheral winds kicked up from a hurricane 500 miles to the south, is expected to become the worst disaster of Hawaii’s statehood, with at least 55 confirmed deaths and close to 1,000 people still missing.
With the fires largely contained and the scope of the devastation starting to become clear, island residents are beginning to comprehend the economic challenges that lie ahead with thousands displaced and more than 1,800 structures destroyed. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he expected recovery costs to run into the billions of dollars with damage that will take years to repair.
Volunteers with King's Cathedral Maui unload donations of blankets and supplies on Aug. 10, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. King's Cathedral Maui is providing food and shelter for displaced families.
“With this situation, the challenge is going to be that there are many people without homes,” Cabebe said. “Many of them are low-income, and there’s not enough homes and places to house them. That’s the biggest challenge facing our community now: Where are we going to put them? It’s going to take a long time to rebuild.”
Many homeless after fires, affordable housing crisis
Maui Economic Opportunity is reaching out to real estate agents and hotel managers, hoping to identify available units and unoccupied homes used seasonally by mainland owners that could temporarily house evacuees. Maui’s worst damage was in the areas of Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry.
Much of the county has been struggling with affordable housing even before disaster struck. “Homes are extremely expensive and inventory is limited,” Cabebe said. “Now that we’ve lost thousands of homes and rental units, that’s just going to add to the problem. That’s something we’re going to have to figure out.”
A young boy walks through wildfire wreckage Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday 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.
Joe Kent, executive vice president for Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a nonprofit policy research organization based in Honolulu, said the effect of the wildfires on the state’s economy will be immense, particularly given the destruction of much of the historic town of Lahaina, which was among the island’s primary engines of tourism.
“Maui’s west side was the main economic driver for the county,” said Kent, who once taught at Lahaina’s King Kamehameha III Elementary School, which according to reports was leveled by the blaze. “Now, thousands of people will be thrown out of work on the island with no place to live. This is billions of dollars in economic destruction.”
Cabebe described Maui, with a population of about 165,000, as an island community with a small-town feel, where everyone knows everyone.
“You go to Costco and see 15 or 20 people you know,” she said. “It’s somebody’s grandma or auntie or neighbor. There’s a lot of connectedness, and that’s what makes it a special place. The Maui community is very strong and supportive of one another. That’s what’s going to get us through this.”
Many were left struggling when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. Authorities shut down Hawaii’s tourism industry by requiring all incoming passengers to quarantine, and before long, state unemployment rates soared to 34%, among the highest in the nation.
Helping victims with small boats and jet skis
In the aftermath of the fires, Leonard Nakoa, of Lahaina, has been stuck in Honolulu, where he had been visiting his brother. He had hoped to return over the weekend until the wildfires threw everything into question.
Instead, Nakoa, a prominent community activist and sometime consultant driven by the fight for Native Hawaiian rights, has been constantly on the phone, doing what he can from afar. The main road into town has been shut down, so Nakoa said he has been busy negotiating for supplies like gasoline and essentials to be delivered to Lahaina via an old fishing boat ramp in a narrow bay.
“Some of the boats are so big they can’t come to shore,” he said. “So I’ve got jet skis and small boats going in and out of the bay to pick stuff up and bring it in. Then I’ve got three distribution centers where they can go drop off supplies.”
In an aerial view, search and rescue crews walk through a neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire on August 11, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. Crews are continuing to search for missing people.
It has been maddening to be away, knowing his beloved hometown has been largely razed, especially given Lahaina’s place as the seat of the Hawaiian kingdom overseen by King Kamehameha III before the capital was moved to Honolulu in the 1840s.
Now, much of what was left of that heritage has turned to ash. Gone, too, is his daughter’s home, although she and her family are all accounted for, he said, now sheltered at his countryside home at Lahaina’s outskirts.
'The hotels are going to be empty'
Lahaina is unique even on Maui; nearly a third of its population is foreign-born, compared with just 18% for the island as a whole. Situated in West Maui, which has the highest rate of non-English speakers and the second-highest rate of households without a vehicle, the community Nakoa knows is harmonious and multicultural, a mix of Native Hawaiians, Filipinos, Tongans, Mexicans, Japanese and Chinese.
“We live among each other with no hatred,” Nakoa said.
But tourists and mainlanders with getaway homes on the island have torn at the fabric of that existence, he said, with land once dedicated to growing pineapple and sugarcane now overrun with sprawling mansions.
Burnt out cars line the sea walk after the wildfire on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.
The relationship between Maui locals and tourists is a complicated one, he said; residents are both resentful of and reliant on the business visitors bring. About 1 in 6 residents of Lahaina work in food preparation and service-oriented jobs, according to Data USA.
“I live it every day,” he said. “I hate it. “But we need the tourism for our living.”
Before, he said, you could drive from one end of the town and sense the difference, with stretches of dry, brown land peppered with the homes of Lahaina’s waiters, bellhops, cooks and housekeepers giving way to lush, green, tourist-populated areas flourishing under sprinklers and fountains. Now, much of it has turned to ash.
Though the tourist industry has offered plenty of job opportunities, Nakoa said, keeping up with living expenses has been increasingly difficult when gas costs $5 a gallon and a jug of milk runs near $10. From 2017 to 2021, the average price of a home on the island was $677,000, according to U.S. Census data.
Now, with so much of the town destroyed, from the high-end homes near historic Front Street to the more affordable residences and low-income housing complexes beyond, he wonders where the income will come from.
“Front Street is all gone,” he said. “The hotels are going to be empty and tourists aren’t going to come. But we still have each other, and we’re going to make it.”
Meals, shelter, care needed for Maui residents
With the focus now on emergency relief, Stephanie Fox, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said it’s too early to speculate about the housing and recovery complications that lie down the road.
“Things are still evolving and fluctuating by the hour,” Fox said. “We continue to provide safe shelter, meals, comfort and care for those impacted by this terribly tragic event and stand ready to navigate the coming days, weeks and months alongside the people of Hawaii.”
Volunteers with King's Cathedral Maui help unload a donation of supplies on Aug. 10, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Dozens of people were killed and thousands displaced after a wind-driven wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina on Tuesday. King's Cathedral Maui is providing food and shelter for displaced families.
But the immediate need is clear. State officials are seeking as many as 2,000 rooms for temporary shelter, and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated to shelters on Maui and beyond. Meanwhile, friends and relatives have launched verified GoFundMe pages seeking relief for residents whose homes and businesses were incinerated by the blaze, such as the charter boat first mate who fled with only what they were wearing, a pair of expectant parents who lost two family homes, and a family of six forced to abandon their guinea pigs and rabbits.
Another page sought relief for a Lahaina bar employee who had gone door to door warning neighbors about the approaching blaze rather than spending time rounding up his valuables. The fire destroyed his home and the bar where he worked.
Cabebe, of Maui Economic Opportunity, said she has heard of many residents opening their homes to those displaced by the fires.
“They’re saying ‘I’ve got a bed’ or ‘I’ve got a couch,’” she said. “I saw a lady putting up a pup tent in her front yard and handing out food in Upcountry.
"But that’s the short term. Those of us who work in social services have to think about what the long term will look like.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
Rong-Gong Lin II, Richard Winton, Alexandra E. Petri, Jack Dolan, Robert Gauthier
Los Angeles Times
Sat, August 12, 2023
The iconic banyan tree stands among the rubble of burned buildings days after a catastrophic wildfire swept through Lahaina, Hawaii.
Sat, August 12, 2023
The iconic banyan tree stands among the rubble of burned buildings days after a catastrophic wildfire swept through Lahaina, Hawaii.
( Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Despite the horrific images of a community leveled by fire, the true scope of the Maui fire — the worst natural disaster in Hawaii in decades — has yet to come into full focus.
The official death count stands at 89. And officials expect it to rise. The Maui fires are now the deadliest in the U.S. in the last century, surpassing the 2018 Camp fire that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise, killing 85.
Authorities have yet to search for victims inside buildings. About 1,000 people are missing, according to federal sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the fires.
One woman said even the ocean could not save those fleeing the flames.
"They jumped in the ocean to escape that but then there were still people dying of smoke inhalation in the ocean,” said Brittany Harris, 37. “My friend, whose husband is a police officer, said there are bodies everywhere, there are bodies in trees.”
Officials estimated that as many as 2,200 buildings have been destroyed in the fires, hundreds of them in Lahaina. Even some of the vessels in Lahaina Harbor were burned.
Read more: Chaos and terror: Failed communications left Maui residents trapped by fire. Scores died
So how did the fire become such a disaster, leveling whole blocks of a historic city and destroying so many lives?
Here is what we know about the origin of the fire and how it so rapidly became an unstoppable force.
Search crews look for people among the wreckage of this week's devastating wildfires. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Despite the horrific images of a community leveled by fire, the true scope of the Maui fire — the worst natural disaster in Hawaii in decades — has yet to come into full focus.
The official death count stands at 89. And officials expect it to rise. The Maui fires are now the deadliest in the U.S. in the last century, surpassing the 2018 Camp fire that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise, killing 85.
Authorities have yet to search for victims inside buildings. About 1,000 people are missing, according to federal sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the fires.
One woman said even the ocean could not save those fleeing the flames.
"They jumped in the ocean to escape that but then there were still people dying of smoke inhalation in the ocean,” said Brittany Harris, 37. “My friend, whose husband is a police officer, said there are bodies everywhere, there are bodies in trees.”
Officials estimated that as many as 2,200 buildings have been destroyed in the fires, hundreds of them in Lahaina. Even some of the vessels in Lahaina Harbor were burned.
Read more: Chaos and terror: Failed communications left Maui residents trapped by fire. Scores died
So how did the fire become such a disaster, leveling whole blocks of a historic city and destroying so many lives?
Here is what we know about the origin of the fire and how it so rapidly became an unstoppable force.
Search crews look for people among the wreckage of this week's devastating wildfires. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Early confidence
Bulletins posted on Maui County’s Facebook page indicate that the first report of a brush fire in Lahaina came in at 6:37 a.m. Tuesday, and evacuations were ordered within three minutes around Lahaina Intermediate School on the town’s northeastern edge, at its highest elevations.
The blaze hit as fire crews were battling another wildfire farther east.
But the sense of alarm seemed to fade by around 10 a.m., when Maui County said it had declared the Lahaina brush fire “100% contained,” although it did warn of power outages limiting the ability to pump water and a report of a downed electric line in the area.
The Banyan tree stands among the rubble of burned buildings.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Disastrous turn
The Lahaina fire then flared up in the afternoon. Maui County said around 3:30 p.m. that the fire forced the closure of the Lahaina Bypass, a major road near the intermediate school also known as Highway 3000.
The message on Facebook said evacuations were occurring in that area.
Read more: Death toll in Maui fires rises to 67: 'We have not yet searched' buildings
The blaze began burning homes in that upper area, Maui County Fire Chief Brad Ventura said. It then moved downhill, southwest toward the coast, following prevailing winds and toward the Kahoma neighborhood.
It was around 3:30 p.m. that Dustin Kaleiopu said he noticed the smoke started to get thicker and make its way closer to his home, which was without power and communication, he told NBC's "Today" show. Then, he heard an explosion from a nearby gas station. "By 4:30, our neighbor's yard was on fire, and we had minutes to escape," Kaleiopu said.
As homes were burning, the only two exit routes out of Lahaina were closed or jammed. The route up to the north — a narrow road that is a one-lane highway in many places — was closed Tuesday afternoon. And at certain points around the same time, so was the main exit south out of town, where roads were blocked by fallen power poles, according to a review of Facebook posts by county officials.
Eventually, virtually all of central Lahaina was reduced to ash.
After nightfall, conditions had deteriorated so much that Maui County urged all West Maui residents to shelter in place unless they were “in an impacted area.”
Fire and smoke fill the sky at the intersection of Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui.
(Zeke Kalua / Associated Press)
Dangerous conditions
Experts said winds, drought and ground conditions all played roles in the disaster. Climate change could be one contributing factor, with hotter weather drying out vegetation, which can then fuel brush fires.
The spread of highly flammable, nonnative grasses — left after property owners abandoned sugar cane or pineapple farms and ranches — has long been a concern. Nonnative grasses were brought to Hawaii to feed cattle when people of European ancestry arrived on the islands. But as farms and ranches shut down in recent decades because they were no longer as profitable, the flammable brush has been spreading throughout Hawaii, raising the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Read more: How to help Maui residents displaced by the devastating wildfires
Meteorologists had also issued warnings about the dangerous weather conditions in place on Tuesday. With high pressure to the northeast and low pressure from Hurricane Dora far to the southwest — and because wind flows from areas of high to low pressure — Lahaina was arguably in the worst possible situation once a fire ignited, the target of swift winds that roared from the canyons above town right into residential subdivisions and then into the historic waterfront, leaving the ocean as the only exit path for many.
Experts said winds, drought and ground conditions all played roles in the disaster. Climate change could be one contributing factor, with hotter weather drying out vegetation, which can then fuel brush fires.
The spread of highly flammable, nonnative grasses — left after property owners abandoned sugar cane or pineapple farms and ranches — has long been a concern. Nonnative grasses were brought to Hawaii to feed cattle when people of European ancestry arrived on the islands. But as farms and ranches shut down in recent decades because they were no longer as profitable, the flammable brush has been spreading throughout Hawaii, raising the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Read more: How to help Maui residents displaced by the devastating wildfires
Meteorologists had also issued warnings about the dangerous weather conditions in place on Tuesday. With high pressure to the northeast and low pressure from Hurricane Dora far to the southwest — and because wind flows from areas of high to low pressure — Lahaina was arguably in the worst possible situation once a fire ignited, the target of swift winds that roared from the canyons above town right into residential subdivisions and then into the historic waterfront, leaving the ocean as the only exit path for many.
A person walks past a destroyed vehicle.
(Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
Chaotic evacuations
Many residents have said they did not get warnings to evacuate, though others said they did.
A communications breakdown left many to run for their lives, and some could not escape the flames.
Records indicate that neither the state nor the county activated sirens Tuesday, said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Weintraub described Hawaii’s integrated outdoor siren system as the largest in the world, with about 400 sirens spread across the state. It is traditionally used in disasters and other threats, such as hurricanes or coastal hazards, to advise people to seek more information — not to call for evacuations or advise that people seek shelter — Weintraub said.
Read more: How a perfect storm of climate and weather led to catastrophic Maui fire
Three other public warning systems were used, Weintraub said: wireless emergency alerts to cellphones, broadcasts through radio and television stations and alerts that residents can sign up to receive through a local emergency alert system. But, with the power out and communications systems down, many residents reported receiving no alerts.
Federal sources with knowledge of the fires but who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that a breakdown in emergency communications cost precious time, and a number of people in the historic town of Lahaina learned too late about the oncoming fire. Many of those killed were believed to have died in their vehicles, those sources said. Many of the deaths counted thus far are from the most urbanized areas, with some bodies recovered from the harbor, they said.
Brittany Harris delivers supplies she collected to help victims of the Lahaina firestorm.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Multiple red flags
The potential for high fire danger was well anticipated by the National Weather Service. Four days before multiple wildfires broke out Tuesday, the weather service in Honolulu warned of “high fire danger”; two days before the fire, the agency published an animation showing how damaging winds and fire weather were expected Monday through Wednesday.
Read more: Photos: Maui devastated by deadly wildfire
Lahaina was in the direct line of downslope winds moving from the northeast to the southwest. As the air is forced to descend down the mountain slope, it increases speed, warms up, and dries out further, and “you get that trifecta of hot, dry and windy and downslope winds,” said UC Merced climatologist John Abatzoglou.
Maui County’s 1,044-page hazard mitigation plan lists coastal West Maui as having a high wildfire risk. A map on Page 503 shows all of Lahaina’s buildings as being in a wildfire risk area, and the document warns that “populations with limited access to information may not receive time-critical warning information to enable them to reach places of safety.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
How did the Maui fire start? What we know about the Lahaina blaze
Emily Mae Czachor
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023
Deadly wildfires burning in Hawaii have killed dozens and forced thousands to evacuate, fueled by a mix of land and atmospheric conditions that can create "fire weather." A massive blaze destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina, on Maui, and authorities said on Sunday that the death toll had climbed to over 90.
The U.S. Coast Guard said crews rescued 17 people who jumped into the Lahaina harbor in an effort to escape the flames. On Front Street, a popular tourist destination, business owner Alan Dickar described seeing buildings on both sides of the street "engulfed" in flames. "There were no fire trucks at that point; I think the fire department was overwhelmed," Dickar told CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV.
Speaking later to CBS News' Patrick Torphy, he added: "Maui can't handle this. ... A lot of people just lost their jobs because a lot of businesses burned. A lot of people lost their homes. ... This is going to be devastating for Maui."
How to help those affected by the Maui wildfiresWhat caused the Maui fire?
Much of Hawaii was under a red flag warning for fire risk when the wildfires broke out, but the exact cause of the blaze is still unknown.
"We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation — so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry," Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said at a briefing Wednesday. That, along with low humidity and high winds, "set the conditions for the wildfires," he said.
A wildfire is seen on the Hawaiian island of Maui, August 8, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. / Credit: Courtesy of Dominika Durisova via Reuters
"The winds were just getting out of control. Power lines were down everywhere.," Maui resident J.D. Hessemer, who owned a business in Lahaina, later told "CBS Mornings." "We just decided it was not safe to stay around for the day."
Echoing wildfire experts, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Friday that he believes a confluence of weather conditions contributed to the ignition and spread of the blazes.
"It is a product, in my estimation, of certainly global warming combined with drought, combined with a super storm, where we had a hurricane offshore several hundred miles, still generating large winds," Green told CNN.
The powerful winds fanning the flames were generated by Hurricane Dora, a storm that was moving across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of the Hawaiian islands, the National Weather Service said.
The hurricane, classified as a Category 4 by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center on Wednesday morning, contributed to heavy wind gusts above 60 miles per hour that tore through Maui, knocking out power lines and damaging homes.
Claims surfaced over the weekend that suggested the power company Hawaiian Electric, which operates Maui Electric and services 95% of the state overall, did not implement precautionary safety measures included in an emergency plan to reduce wildfire risks ahead of the storm. Citing documents, a Washington Post report published Saturday noted that the provider did not shut off electricity to areas where strong winds were expected and could spark flames.
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 last week.
"Hawaiian Electric has a robust wildfire mitigation and grid resiliency program that includes vegetation management, grid hardening investments and regular inspection of our assets," the statement read. "The company has protocols that may be used when high winds are expected, including not enabling the automatic reclosure of circuits that may open during a weather event. This was done before the onset of high winds this week. At this early stage, no cause for the fire has been determined."
National Guard helicopters activated as part of the state's emergency response to the wildfires were grounded as the wind gusts picked up on Tuesday evening.
Acting Hawaii Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation authorizing the deployment of National Guard troops, and extended the state of emergency on Wednesday.
President Biden approved a federal disaster declaration on Thursday.
The National Weather Service noted in tweet Sunday that significant differences in atmospheric pressure between the hurricane and the air north of Hawaii formed a pressure gradient over the islands which, when combined with dry conditions, posed a serious threat of fires as well as damaging winds.
"While Hurricane Dora passes well south with no direct impacts here, the strong pressure gradient between it & the high pressure to the north creates a threat of damaging winds & fire weather (due to ongoing dry conditions) from early Mon to Wed," the agency said at the time.
Meanwhile, 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.
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."
How do wildfires usually start?
Almost 85% of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans, according to the National Park Service. Fires that are sparked this way can result accidentally from leaving campfires unattended, burning debris, using various kinds of equipment and discarding cigarettes improperly. Intentional acts of arson are another source of human-caused wildfires, the agency says.
Lightning and volcanic activity are two natural causes of wildfires, although officials note that lightning strikes are a much more common catalyst.
Certain weather can ignite and help spread fires, with strong winds, low relative humidity, unstable atmospheric conditions and thunderstorms contributing to what meteorologists call "fire weather," said Nick Nauslar, a meteorologist and former weather forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, in a 2018 FAQ published by the agency.
Most often, lightning strikes a tree and ignites a fire, but strong winds can also spark power lines that go on to ignite wildfires when there is dry brush or grass in the area, according to NOAA, which says wildfires can spread quickly in hot, dry and windy conditions — especially when those conditions happen simultaneously. The wildfire season has been severe in Canada and across North America this year, as warm and dry conditions persist while various sections of the continent experience record heat and drought as a result of climate change.
A wildfire burns on the island of Maui near an intersection in Lahaina, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. / Credit: Zeke Kalua/County of Maui/Handout via Reuters
Maui Fire officials warned this week that "erratic wind, challenging terrain, steep slopes and dropping humidity, the direction and the location of the fire conditions make it difficult to predict path and speed of a wildfire," in an alert issued Tuesday by county officials. It noted that "fires can start at a far distance from their source" when wind pushes embers upward and sparks are ignited downwind.
"The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house," said Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea in a statement included in the alert. "Burning airborne materials can light fires a great distance away from the main body of fire."
Where are the fires in Maui?
Firefighters were continuing to fight flames Sunday in Lahaina, Pulehu/Kihei and Upcountry Maui, including ongoing fires and flare-ups, the County of Maui said.
Officials said Sunday that the fires around Lahaina were 85% contained and had burned an estimated 2,170 acres. Much of the town has been destroyed.
The fire in Upcountry had burned roughly 678 acres and was 60% contained as of Sunday. The county said the fire was hard to contain because of "hot spots in gulches and other hard-to-reach places" such as land divisions and fences.
The county noted that even when a fire is 100% contained, that does not mean it has been extinguished but that firefighters had it "fully surrounded by a perimeter."
Map shows the location of fires on the island of Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. / Credit: / AP
What about Hawaii's warning sirens?
Hawaii has a statewide outdoor warning siren system, which can be used to notify residents ahead of natural disasters or human-caused events, including tsunamis, hurricanes, dam breaches, flooding, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, terrorist threats and hazardous material incidents, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
But U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, whose district includes Maui, said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that the warning sirens "likely did not go off," suggesting the Lahaina fire was too fast-moving.
"Everybody who has ever lived in Hawaii knows the warning sirens. It goes off once a month, every month, at 12 noon and it blares. And if it doesn't, it gets fixed because that is our first line of defense," Tokuda said.
"Sadly, tragically, in this situation, those sirens likely did not go off," said the congresswoman. She also suggested that warning signals typically sent to mobile phones could have been affected by mass power outages reported on Maui when the wildfires broke out. Those outages likely prevented people from accessing key information.
"The reality is, with those warning signs, it tells all of us to turn on the television or look on our phones or turn on the radio," she said. "With how fast this burn was ... if you turned on your phone, if you turned on a radio, if you even could ... you would not know what the crisis was. You might think it's a tsunami, by the way, which is our first instinct. You would run towards land, which in this case would be towards fire."
Community comes together after Maui fire
Emily Mae Czachor
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023
Deadly wildfires burning in Hawaii have killed dozens and forced thousands to evacuate, fueled by a mix of land and atmospheric conditions that can create "fire weather." A massive blaze destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina, on Maui, and authorities said on Sunday that the death toll had climbed to over 90.
The U.S. Coast Guard said crews rescued 17 people who jumped into the Lahaina harbor in an effort to escape the flames. On Front Street, a popular tourist destination, business owner Alan Dickar described seeing buildings on both sides of the street "engulfed" in flames. "There were no fire trucks at that point; I think the fire department was overwhelmed," Dickar told CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV.
Speaking later to CBS News' Patrick Torphy, he added: "Maui can't handle this. ... A lot of people just lost their jobs because a lot of businesses burned. A lot of people lost their homes. ... This is going to be devastating for Maui."
How to help those affected by the Maui wildfiresWhat caused the Maui fire?
Much of Hawaii was under a red flag warning for fire risk when the wildfires broke out, but the exact cause of the blaze is still unknown.
"We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation — so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry," Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said at a briefing Wednesday. That, along with low humidity and high winds, "set the conditions for the wildfires," he said.
A wildfire is seen on the Hawaiian island of Maui, August 8, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. / Credit: Courtesy of Dominika Durisova via Reuters
"The winds were just getting out of control. Power lines were down everywhere.," Maui resident J.D. Hessemer, who owned a business in Lahaina, later told "CBS Mornings." "We just decided it was not safe to stay around for the day."
Echoing wildfire experts, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Friday that he believes a confluence of weather conditions contributed to the ignition and spread of the blazes.
"It is a product, in my estimation, of certainly global warming combined with drought, combined with a super storm, where we had a hurricane offshore several hundred miles, still generating large winds," Green told CNN.
The powerful winds fanning the flames were generated by Hurricane Dora, a storm that was moving across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of the Hawaiian islands, the National Weather Service said.
The hurricane, classified as a Category 4 by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center on Wednesday morning, contributed to heavy wind gusts above 60 miles per hour that tore through Maui, knocking out power lines and damaging homes.
Claims surfaced over the weekend that suggested the power company Hawaiian Electric, which operates Maui Electric and services 95% of the state overall, did not implement precautionary safety measures included in an emergency plan to reduce wildfire risks ahead of the storm. Citing documents, a Washington Post report published Saturday noted that the provider did not shut off electricity to areas where strong winds were expected and could spark flames.
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 last week.
"Hawaiian Electric has a robust wildfire mitigation and grid resiliency program that includes vegetation management, grid hardening investments and regular inspection of our assets," the statement read. "The company has protocols that may be used when high winds are expected, including not enabling the automatic reclosure of circuits that may open during a weather event. This was done before the onset of high winds this week. At this early stage, no cause for the fire has been determined."
National Guard helicopters activated as part of the state's emergency response to the wildfires were grounded as the wind gusts picked up on Tuesday evening.
Acting Hawaii Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation authorizing the deployment of National Guard troops, and extended the state of emergency on Wednesday.
President Biden approved a federal disaster declaration on Thursday.
The National Weather Service noted in tweet Sunday that significant differences in atmospheric pressure between the hurricane and the air north of Hawaii formed a pressure gradient over the islands which, when combined with dry conditions, posed a serious threat of fires as well as damaging winds.
"While Hurricane Dora passes well south with no direct impacts here, the strong pressure gradient between it & the high pressure to the north creates a threat of damaging winds & fire weather (due to ongoing dry conditions) from early Mon to Wed," the agency said at the time.
Meanwhile, 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.
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."
How do wildfires usually start?
Almost 85% of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans, according to the National Park Service. Fires that are sparked this way can result accidentally from leaving campfires unattended, burning debris, using various kinds of equipment and discarding cigarettes improperly. Intentional acts of arson are another source of human-caused wildfires, the agency says.
Lightning and volcanic activity are two natural causes of wildfires, although officials note that lightning strikes are a much more common catalyst.
Certain weather can ignite and help spread fires, with strong winds, low relative humidity, unstable atmospheric conditions and thunderstorms contributing to what meteorologists call "fire weather," said Nick Nauslar, a meteorologist and former weather forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, in a 2018 FAQ published by the agency.
Most often, lightning strikes a tree and ignites a fire, but strong winds can also spark power lines that go on to ignite wildfires when there is dry brush or grass in the area, according to NOAA, which says wildfires can spread quickly in hot, dry and windy conditions — especially when those conditions happen simultaneously. The wildfire season has been severe in Canada and across North America this year, as warm and dry conditions persist while various sections of the continent experience record heat and drought as a result of climate change.
A wildfire burns on the island of Maui near an intersection in Lahaina, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. / Credit: Zeke Kalua/County of Maui/Handout via Reuters
Maui Fire officials warned this week that "erratic wind, challenging terrain, steep slopes and dropping humidity, the direction and the location of the fire conditions make it difficult to predict path and speed of a wildfire," in an alert issued Tuesday by county officials. It noted that "fires can start at a far distance from their source" when wind pushes embers upward and sparks are ignited downwind.
"The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house," said Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea in a statement included in the alert. "Burning airborne materials can light fires a great distance away from the main body of fire."
Where are the fires in Maui?
Firefighters were continuing to fight flames Sunday in Lahaina, Pulehu/Kihei and Upcountry Maui, including ongoing fires and flare-ups, the County of Maui said.
Officials said Sunday that the fires around Lahaina were 85% contained and had burned an estimated 2,170 acres. Much of the town has been destroyed.
The fire in Upcountry had burned roughly 678 acres and was 60% contained as of Sunday. The county said the fire was hard to contain because of "hot spots in gulches and other hard-to-reach places" such as land divisions and fences.
The county noted that even when a fire is 100% contained, that does not mean it has been extinguished but that firefighters had it "fully surrounded by a perimeter."
Map shows the location of fires on the island of Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. / Credit: / AP
What about Hawaii's warning sirens?
Hawaii has a statewide outdoor warning siren system, which can be used to notify residents ahead of natural disasters or human-caused events, including tsunamis, hurricanes, dam breaches, flooding, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, terrorist threats and hazardous material incidents, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
But U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, whose district includes Maui, said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that the warning sirens "likely did not go off," suggesting the Lahaina fire was too fast-moving.
"Everybody who has ever lived in Hawaii knows the warning sirens. It goes off once a month, every month, at 12 noon and it blares. And if it doesn't, it gets fixed because that is our first line of defense," Tokuda said.
"Sadly, tragically, in this situation, those sirens likely did not go off," said the congresswoman. She also suggested that warning signals typically sent to mobile phones could have been affected by mass power outages reported on Maui when the wildfires broke out. Those outages likely prevented people from accessing key information.
"The reality is, with those warning signs, it tells all of us to turn on the television or look on our phones or turn on the radio," she said. "With how fast this burn was ... if you turned on your phone, if you turned on a radio, if you even could ... you would not know what the crisis was. You might think it's a tsunami, by the way, which is our first instinct. You would run towards land, which in this case would be towards fire."
Community comes together after Maui fire
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