A building destroyed by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Emergency workers were set to resume their search for victims in burned-out areas in western Maui on Friday, as the death toll from the deadliest wildfire in Hawaii’s history grew to 55 and was expected to climb.
Philip Cheung/NYT
Hawaii officials bumped the death toll in the Maui fires up to 80 on Friday. The number was 67 earlier in the day.
“I think it’s fair to say the mortality rate is going to rise,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said in a video posted on social media at 4:21 p.m. Friday.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator is expected to arrive in Maui Saturday along with a Disaster Mortuary Operational Response team who will start entering structures and continue to count fatalities.
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Wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. California, the state that has recently suffered some of the worst wildfires in American history, will lend its expertise to Hawaii.
Philip Cheung/NYT
“So we have not yet searched in the interior of the buildings,” Bissen said. “We’re waiting for FEMA to help with that search, as they are equipped to handle the hazmat conditions of the buildings that have been burned.”
The fire in Lahaina ignited Tuesday and exploded amid powerful hurricane-fueled winds, leveling homes, turning the historic town center into piles of ash and forcing people to jump into the water to escape flames. Initial estimates from the county indicated at least 270 structures were either damaged or destroyed, but on Friday the Pacific Disaster Center put the number at 2,207 with 86% of those structures residential. The center also estimated that 2,170 acres were burned.
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Schatz said the final damage assessment for the Lahaina area will not be done for about a month but added, “It’s likely to be in the billions of dollars.”
A swimming pool amid burned buildings in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Emergency workers were set to resume their search for victims in burned-out areas in western Maui on Friday.
Philip Cheung/NYT
Firefighters continued to battle flare-ups in the Lahaina area on Friday and a fire was reported in Kaanapali, a resort area near Lahaina, on Friday at 6:10 p.m. local time. By 8:30 p.m., the blaze was contained, county officials said.
“The fire is in the area where a county fueling station was positioned Friday to distribute an estimated 3,000 gallons of gas and 500 gallons of diesel for an estimated 400 vehicles that were lined up before the operation began,” the county said. “No fuel will be distributed Saturday.”
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