A team from the State Historic Preservation Division on Friday offered a preliminary assessment of some of Lahaina’s most significant historic structures, and the outlook for restoration appears to be good.

“Based on our initial observations, I think these buildings can be restored,” SHPD Administrator Alan Downer said in a statement. “They will need structural assessments done by engineers with experience working with historic buildings before we’ll know for sure. Right now, I think they can be.”

Downer said the team found that many of the stone or masonry commercial buildings on Front Street likely can be restored to the condition they were in before the disaster.

The team was accompanied on its tour of Lahaina’s historic district by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s lead environmental planning and historic preservation adviser for the Lahaina disaster.

Chelsea Klein said she was impressed by the fact that the stone, masonry and concrete buildings appear to have a lot of structural integrity.

Klein said it was highly likely that historic structures like the Old Lahaina Courthouse, the Baldwin House, Master’s Reading Room and the Seamen’s House and Hospital will be able to be rehabilitated.

“The historic fabric is still there and should continue to endure for the community,” Klein told the state Department of Land and Natural Resources communications office.

“That’s fantastic news,” said Theo Morrison, executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which owns or manages many of the town’s historic buildings.

Morrison said the buildings — some dating back to the Hawaiian kingdom era — are significant landmarks that help define Lahaina’s historic district.

The former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom — designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 — can be divided into six separate but sometimes overlapping eras: pre-contact, monarchy, missionary, whaling, plantation and tourism.

Each era contributed to a mosaic of history, artifacts and landmarks scattered throughout the town. But on Aug. 8 a wind-whipped inferno engulfed most of Lahaina, leaving at least 97 dead, more than 2,000 structures destroyed and an estimated $5.6 billion in damage.

Morrison said she and her staff have been unable to enter the burn zone to get a closer look at the buildings.

“It’s a fabulous determination,” she said of the SHPD team assessment. “Now we need to make sure we get them stabilized and, hopefully, some money to restore them.”

Stabilization is important, she said, because the rainy season is coming and the damaged structures will be vulnerable to further deterioration. The coral block and stone buildings, for example, don’t have the modern bracing that modern structures rely on.

“They are braced by their roofs and floors, but the roofs and floors are gone,” she said.

Downer agreed that the buildings need to be shored up so they don’t deteriorate any further.

In the meantime, Maui County has placed signs in front of at least 12 buildings, noting that the structures have been identified for “the highest level of care” under an agreement with FEMA and that “access without a cultural monitor is prohibited.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is about two-thirds of the way through the process of removing hazardous materials from affected Lahaina properties.

“We know the long rich and historic cultural significance of Lahaina,” EPA incident commander Steve Calanog told reporters in August. “We have 25 cultural observers on our team to ensure that we proceed with respect.”

The next phase of the recovery plan is cleanup and debris removal.

Downer, making his first visit to Lahaina since the fire, said personnel from the State Historic Preservation Division will be involved along with cultural observers and experts in monitoring the cleanup activities and debris removal.

Downer said the ultimate fate of each historic building will depend on what the county and the community want, with property owners making the final decisions.

“We’re a long way from making decisions about that,” he said. “We’ll certainly advocate for preservation.”

Downer said that since Lahaina has been occupied for 1,000 years, there is certainly archaeological material, burials and more in the area.

“We’ll work to the extent we can to preserve all of that,” he said.

Coming up, FEMA is expected to help identify rehab projects that are eligible for public assistance. It will also work to ensure compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and help bring in the right expertise to restore structures properly.

Additional financial assistance, such as state and federal historic preservation tax credits or grant programs, may be available to owners of historic properties to assist with their rehabilitation and restoration through the State Historic Preservation Division.