The Hawaii fire is now the deadliest in the United States in more than a century

The death toll from the raging Hawaiian wildfires rose to 93 on Saturday, making them the deadliest in the United States in more than a century. The toll will rise as rescue teams search the charred remains of buildings, authorities warn. Only 3% of the affected area has been tracked, according to Hawaii Governor Josh Green, and 12 more dogs have been brought in to intensify the search. More than a thousand people are still missing. “This is the biggest natural disaster we’ve ever experienced,” Green said. “It’s also going to be a natural catastrophe that will take a very long time to recover from.”

The identity of only two of the 93 victims has been verified, according to authorities in Maui County, the epicenter of the disaster. John Pelletier, the local police chief, has warned that the process will take time, because a genetic or dental check is needed given the charred state of the corpses. Efforts to identify the dead are complicated by the ferocity of the flames, which melted metal and destroyed more than 80% of Lahaina, the ancient capital of the Hawaiian kingdom, and in whose ruins it is feared many bodies are hidden.

This is the deadliest fire since 1918, when 453 people died in Minnesota and Wisconsin, says the National Fire Protection Association. It is estimated that the losses are close to 6,000 million dollars (5,400 million euros), after the destruction of some 2,200 homes in West Maui in an extension of 2,170 hectares devastated by the flames. Local authorities estimate that more than 14,000 people were evacuated from the island during the day on Wednesday, while about 14,500 were transferred to other nearby islands throughout Friday. Six temporary shelters on Maui are hosting evacuees, while the march of tourists has made it possible to requisition a thousand hotel rooms, half of them for residents and the other for rescue workers. Volunteer psychologists help victims in makeshift stands around the city.

The cause of the terrible event is being investigated, but experts affirm that its rapid spread was favored by circumstances such as the abundance of non-native plants, the volcanic topography, which favored the flow of dry winds down the slope, an unusually arid winter and the tails of a hurricane, Doraa hundred kilometers to the southwest.

It is difficult to understand the dimension of the disaster if one takes into account that Hawaii is a State prone to natural catastrophes —earthquakes, active volcanoes, tsunamis and periodic tropical storms—, for which reason the lack of warnings by the authorities is considered by many of those affected as the main cause, in addition to the fire. The inhabitants did not receive an alert message on their mobile phones – the usual system in the US for any emergency – which contributed to worsen the situation and delayed the flight from the houses surrounded by the flames. Many neighbors declare that they were aware of the danger only when they saw them at the door of their homes. Like Vilma Reed, 63, who denounces the lack of warnings. “The mountain behind my house caught fire, and nobody warned us!” she told Agence France Presse. At the wheel of her car, with her daughter, grandchildren and cats, she made a desperate escape. “I sped through a fire front to save my family,” she added.

“We underestimated the danger and the speed of the fire,” Jill Tokuda, representative of the Hawaii Democratic Party, admitted on Saturday to CNN. “It’s not that hurricane force winds are unheard of in Hawaii, or dry brush, or red (high) alert conditions. We saw this before with the hurricane Lane. We did not learn the lesson of Lane (in 2018), that brush fires can break out as a result of hurricane-force winds,” Tokuda said.

The technical failures and the inaction of the authorities to warn of the danger are the main criticisms of the victims. Many attribute the tragedy to the silence of the Administration, a silence aggravated by the blackout and the loss of mobile connection. The fire left Lahaina residents without electricity, who have reported that they were left without a signal or the possibility of contacting the outside world. But the more powerful outdoor warning sirens did not sound, the local branch of the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed on Friday. “Neither (Maui County) nor the agency activated warning sirens on Maui during the wildfire,” the agency said, according to NBC News.

Like the identification of victims, determining the reasons for the disaster will take time. Asked if more could have been done to warn residents, Gov. Green deferred to the state attorney general’s inquiry into the turn of events and decisions made in the early hours, while urging caution. “The greatest force at play that night was the 130 km/h winds. That created some incredibly dangerous circumstances,” Green described. “Given those conditions, we doubt much more could have been done in the face of such a rapid fire.”

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