Anthony Garcia surveyed the devastation as he stood under the iconic Lahaina fig tree, now charred, sweeping the twisted branches to a nearby pile of dead animals: cats, roosters and other birds that perished from the smoke and flames. Somehow, this made sense in a world turned upside down.
“If I don’t do something, I’m going to go crazy,” said Garcia, who has lost everything he had. “I’m losing my faith in God.”
Garcia and other residents faced widespread destruction as they took stock of their homes and shattered lives Friday, as authorities raised to 80 the number of confirmed deaths in fires that tore through parts of Maui this week and were still not contained.
At night, a new fire caused the evacuation of Kaanapali, in West Maui, a community northeast of an area that had already burned before, the island’s Police Department announced on social networks, without offering further details of the operation.
Attorney General Anne Lopez announced a comprehensive review of ongoing policies and decision-making affecting the response to the deadly wildfires.
“My department is committed to understanding the decisions that were made before and during the fires and to sharing the results of this review with the public,” Lopez said in a statement.
The fires are the deadliest natural disaster to hit the state in decades, surpassing the tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960. An even deadlier tsunami, which left more than 150 dead on the island of Hawaii — the so-called Big Island — in 1946, promoted the development of an emergency system throughout the territory that includes sirens whose operation is checked every month.
But many fire survivors said they hadn’t heard any sirens or received enough advance warning to prepare, realizing they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.
“There was no warning,” said Lynn Robinson, who lost her home in the fire.
Hawaii’s emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens sounded before residents had to flee. Authorities sent alerts to cell phones, television and radio stations, but widespread blackouts in power and mobile phone networks may have limited their reach.
The death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continue, state Governor Josh Green warned.
The authorities have established a curfew between 10:00 p.m. and 06:00 a.m. on Saturday.
“The recovery is going to be extraordinarily difficult, but we want people to go back to their homes and do what they can to test them safely, because it’s pretty dangerous,” Green told Hawaii News Now.
Dogs specializing in detecting dead bodies were added to the search operation Friday, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said.
Fanned by a dry summer and hearing strong winds from a nearby hurricane, Maui this week saw at least three wildfires spread rapidly through the parched brush that blankets the island.
The most serious entered Lahaina on Tuesday, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green hillsides. Associated Press journalists witnessed the devastation: Nearly all buildings were reduced to rubble on Front Street, the heart of the Lahaina community and the economic center of the island of Maui.
The fire is expected to be the second costliest disaster in Hawaiian history, trailing only 1992 Hurricane Iniki, according to estimates by forecasting firm Karen Clark & Company. In addition, it is the deadliest fire in the United States since the Camp Fire, registered in 2018 in California, which caused at least 85 deaths and devastated the city of Paradise.
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Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Chris Megerian in Salt Lake City; Audrey McAvoy in Wailuku, Hawaii; Adam Beam in Sacramento, Calif., and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’s climate and environmental coverage is supported by several private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
