Santa Barbara–Born Maui Resident Among Volunteers Helping Those Displaced by Deadly Wildfires
As Death Toll Rises and Search Continues for Hundreds Still Missing, Residents of Hawaiian Island Deliver Supplies to Lahaina
With a death toll of 96 and rising and potentially 1,000 more people missing, the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina are the deadliest in more than a century of U.S. history. Countless homes and acres of the island (including conservation areas) have been reduced to ash, and numerous people are still searching for their loved ones.
“This is the largest natural disaster we’ve ever experienced,” Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green told journalists on Saturday, four days after the fires started on Tuesday, August 8. He later told the press that the flames were traveling at a mile a minute, due to high winds from Hurricane Dora and drought conditions. “It’s going to be a natural disaster that’s going to take an incredible amount of time to recover from.”
The fires began miles apart, at different times that morning. As of Monday morning, the Lahaina Fire is 85 percent contained, the Upcountry-Kula Fire, which ignited first, is 60 percent contained, and the Pulehu-Kihei Fire remains 100 percent contained but not yet extinguished. An official cause of the fires has not yet been determined, but a local couple filed a lawsuit against Hawai‘i’s main electric provider that alleges their active powerlines were blown over and ignited the flames.
