WAILUKU >> Specialized recovery teams from Washington state and California are being deployed to Maui to intensify the search for additional fatalities from this week’s Lahaina wildfire, with the official death toll so far at 55 and still hundreds of people unaccounted for.
County officials at a news conference Thursday at the Kalana O Maui county building in Wailuku said the process of recovering victims from the wildfire that destroyed the historic town has been proceeding cautiously due to ongoing firefighting efforts and safety issues.
“The message is, we are going to try our very best to identify those who perished so that the families can have that closure and have that understanding,” said Mayor Richard Bissen.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier asked for residents’ patience in reentering Lahaina to check on their homes and retrieve belongings so that authorities can respectfully search for and remove the dead.
“Understand this: Lahaina town is hallowed, sacred ground right now because our iwi are in that ground,” he said. “We have to get them out. We will get them out as as fast as we can. But I need your patience while we do this.”
Although Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and Maui officials warned the death toll could rise considerably, they were unable to provide estimates of how many residents and visitors remain missing, due to the massive extent of the still-unfolding disaster.
Prolonged power and cellphone outages in West Maui have made it difficult for people to contact relatives to let them know they are safe.
An unofficial Maui Fires People Locator spreadsheet, created by Kihei resident Ellie Erickson and updated daily, on Thursday listed the names of well over 1,500 people who might have been affected by the fire and couldn’t be located.
The county also announced it had opened a Family Assistance Center at the Kahului Community Center for family members looking for information about missing loved ones. The center at 275 Uhu St. will open again today from 10 a.m. to
8 p.m.
The American Red Cross already set up a hotline at 800-733-2767 for people trying to locate loved ones.
In the meantime, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has activated its National Urban Search &Rescue Response System, which integrates federal, state and local resources into federal emergency response task forces, to assist county efforts.
FEMA Region IX Administrator Bob Fenton said an Urban Search &Rescue Team from Washington state would be arriving on Maui today to help recover those who died in the fast-moving wildfire, with a team from California also on its way.
Fenton said the teams will be conducting grid searches looking for human remains with the help of cadaver dogs and other special tools. The teams also are capable of collecting DNA samples from relatives of possible victims to assist in identifying remains.
Additionally, Fenton said mortuary assistants from the federal Department of Health and Human Services are being dispatched to Maui along with disaster mortuary experts to assess space, equipment and supply needs.
The Maui Police Department and other county officials did not respond to Honolulu Star-Advertiser emails Thursday about the handling of the remains recovered so far and whether any had been identified and families notified.
Two refrigerated shipping containers were installed outside MPD’s Forensic Facility in Wailuku on Thursday afternoon but no information was provided on whether they contained remains or where the 55 victims already recovered were being held.
Also Thursday, in coordination with FEMA’s efforts, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the deployment of 11 members of his state’s Urban Search &Rescue Task Forces, including firefighting personnel from Oakland, Sacramento and Riverside counties, to aid
in the Lahaina recovery
operations.
Noting in a news release that he had been in contact with Green, Newsom said he also is sending personnel from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services specializing in urban search and rescue and mass fatality management.
“California stands with the people of Maui and all Hawaiians amid these horrific wildfires that have claimed lives and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina,” Newsom said in the release. “Californians know firsthand the devastating toll of catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change, capable of wiping out entire communities and centuries of irreplaceable history and heritage. Our state is sending resources to support our Pacific neighbors during their time of need.”
The Lahaina wildfire is the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.
