Heartbreak and Hope in Hawaii

Ninety-three people have been confirmed killed in the Maui fire that razed the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. fire in modern history.   The number of victims could rise "significantly", Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned, as forensic work continues to identify the victims.  Hundreds remain unaccounted for while hundreds of others fill shelters across Maui after fleeing the flames.

The fire will "certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced", he said.  "We can only wait and support those who are living.  Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding."

While the wildfires are now largely under control, efforts to fully extinguish them are continuing in parts of the island, including around Lahaina, which has been devastated.  Authorities have focused efforts on combing through what is left of the coastal area of the island, using sniffer dogs trained to detect bodies to look for signs of corpses under the rubble. 

Helicopter pilot Richard Olsten, who has flown over western Maui, said that most of the boats in the harbor were burnt and had sunk.  "The historic buildings, the church, the missionary building and so forth - all gone," he said.  "The main tourist area where all the shops and restaurants are, the historic front street - everything burnt to the ground."   Lahaina resident Anthony Garcia said the fire had gutted the apartment he was renting and destroyed all his belongings and memories.  "It took everything, everything! It's heartbreaking," the 80-year-old California native, who has lived in Lahaina for three decades, said. "It's a lot to take in."

In the emergency shelter at Maui's War Memorial Complex on Saturday, hundreds of evacuees continued to gather, receiving food, toiletries and medical aid from a still-growing number of volunteers.  Large whiteboards noted the most pressing needs - batteries, water, and generators - and an all-caps note that no more clothing was needed. Keapo Bissen, a member of the War Memorial shelter team, said the list of the missing was fluctuating hour to hour as more people reported absent loved ones, and others were found.  "We've had a lot of great reunions happen in this parking lot," she said. "That's really been the bright side in all of this."

It is thought that more than 2,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed since the fires broke out, with the majority of those in the Lahaina area.  The main road to Lahaina, the Honoapiilani highway, was briefly re-opened to residents on Saturday, before quickly being closed again. Hundreds of Lahaina residents have stayed in line on the highway anyway, hoping to be be allowed through.  Liz Germansky, who lost her home in the fire, is angry about the response. "The government's getting in the way of people helping," she says, sitting in that same traffic queue.  Another route, the Kahekili Highway, is open, but locals say it's far too dangerous to attempt that drive. The road - known simply here as "the backroad" to Lahaina - is barely wide enough for one car, has many hair-pin turns, and a steep drop-off.  "We can't drive this truck there. It's a cliff," said resident Ruth Lee who was stuck in traffic trying to bring supplies to her family that stayed behind.  Many of the docks in the Lahaina area are too badly damaged or destroyed to bring in supplies by boat. People who have made the journey by boat have had to swim the supplies to the shore. Some of the young men helping organize supplies blame government mismanagement and bureaucracy.  "Too many chiefs, not enough warriors," said 25-year-old Bradah Young.

For some of those who made it back into Lahaina, there was a momentary sense of elation when they tearfully reconnected with neighbors they feared might not have gotten out alive.  "You made it!" cried Chyna Cho, as she embraced Amber Langdon amid the ruins. "I was trying to find you."   Others who made it back to Lahaina wandered in stunned silence trying to take in the enormity of the destruction.   44-year-old Anthony La Puente said the shock of finding his home burned to nothing was profound.  "It sucks not being able to find the things you grew up with, or the things you remember," he told AFP.

Hawaii's Attorney General Anne Lopez said her office would examine "critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during and after the wildfires on Maui and Hawaii islands this week."  "We underestimated the lethality, the quickness of fire," Hawaii Congresswoman Jill Tokuda said.  Maui suffered numerous power outages during the crisis, preventing many residents from receiving emergency alerts on their cellphones -- something, Tokuda said, officials should have prepared for.  

For several days leading up to the wildfires, weather forecasters warned authorities that powerful wind gusts would trigger dangerous fire conditions across much of the island and Hawaii. The state’s electric utility responded with some preemptive steps but did not use what is widely regarded as the most aggressive but effective safety measure: shutting down the power. 

Hawaiian Electric, the utility that oversees Maui Electric and provides service to 95 percent of the state’s residents, did not deploy what’s known as a “public power shutoff plan,” which involves intentionally cutting off electricity to areas where big wind events could spark fires. A number of states, including California, have increasingly adopted this safety strategy after deadly and destructive wildfires in 2018..

Hawaiian Electric was aware that a power shut-off was an effective strategy, documents show, but had not adopted it as part of its fire mitigation plans, according to the company and two former power and energy officials interviewed by the Washington Post.The decision to avoid shutting off power is reflective of the utility’s struggles to bolster its aging and vulnerable infrastructure against wildfires, said Jennifer Potter, who lives in Lahaina and was a member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission until just nine months ago.  “They were not as proactive as they should have been,” Potter said about Hawaiian Electric’s fire-prevention planning, adding that there had not been any real meaningful action to “address some of those inadequacies in terms of wildfire.”  Doug McLeod, a former energy commissioner for Maui County, also said the utility was aware of the need for a regular shut-down system and to bury lines, especially given the “number of close calls in the past.” 

There are also growing concerns that any homes rebuilt in Lahaina will be targeted at affluent outsiders seeking a tropical haven. That would turbo-charge what is already one of Hawaii’s gravest and biggest challenges: the exodus and displacement of Native Hawaiian and local-born residents who can no longer afford to live in their homeland.  "I’m more concerned of big land developers coming in and seeing this charred land as an opportunity to rebuild,” 25-year-old Richy Palalay said in an interview at a shelter for evacuees.   Hotels and condos “that we can’t afford, that we can’t afford to live in — that’s what we’re afraid of,” he added.  

Palalay was born and raised in Lahaina. He started working at an oceanfront seafood restaurant in town when he was 16 and worked his way up to be kitchen supervisor. He was training to be a sous chef.  The blaze torched Palalay’s restaurant, his neighborhood, his friends’ homes and possibly even the four-bedroom house where he pays $1,000 monthly to rent one room. He and his housemates haven’t had an opportunity to return to examine it themselves, though they’ve seen images showing their neighborhood in ruins.  He said the town, which was once the capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom in the 1800s, made him the man he is today. “Lahaina is my home. Lahaina is my pride. My life. My joy,” he said in a text message, adding that the town has taught him “lessons of love, struggle, discrimination, passion, division and unity you could not fathom.”

The cause of the Maui blazes — now the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history — remains under investigation. That probe may take weeks or even months to produce official findings, and on Friday, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez (D) announced a “comprehensive review” of the decisions and policies surrounding the fires.  

In the meantime, Maui residents are well aware of the hard lessons from Kauai, when Hurricane Iniki slammed into the island in 1992.  In the wake of that disaster, many spent years fighting for insurance payments.  Locals have much-justified fears that even though residents with insurance or government aid may get funds to rebuild, those payouts could take years and recipients may find it won’t be enough to pay rent or buy an alternate property in the interim.

Sterling Higa, the executive director of Housing Hawaii’s Future, a nonprofit organization that advocates for more housing in Hawaii, said “As they deal with this — the frustration of fighting insurance companies or fighting (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) — many of them may well leave because there are no other options.”   But Richy Palalay vows to stay.  “I don’t have any money to help rebuild. I’ll put on a construction hat and help get this ship going. I’m not going to leave this place,” he said. “Where am I going to go?”