Important Takeaways:
- The Aug. 8, 2023, fire claimed at least 102 lives and destroyed over 2,000 structures in the historic town of Lahaina — making it one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history.
- The blaze, fueled by high winds and dry vegetation, rapidly spread as chaos overtook the town, sending some residents fleeing into the ocean and trapping others in their vehicles.
- In a nearly 300-page report released Wednesday from the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety (MFD) and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), officials said the devastation was caused by a single fire that was believed to be extinguished but later reignited.
- “In sum, the origin and cause of the Lahaina fire is clear: the re-energization of broken power lines caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation in the area,” MFD Chief Brad Ventura said during a news conference Wednesday.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- New satellite images show the scale of damage almost one year after deadly wildfires ripped through the historic West Maui town Lahaina — but also show signs of a community gradually recovering.
- The wildfires on Aug. 8, 2023, were the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history, destroying more than 3,900 properties and killing more than 100 people, according to Hawaii officials.
- A CBS News analysis of satellite imagery shows signs of recovery but widespread damage remains.
- The first truck full of residential debris left Lahaina in January and headed toward a temporary debris storage site in West Maui, according to Col. Eric Swenson, recovery field office commander with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since then, 98% of debris from residential properties has been cleared.
- Around 12,000 Maui residents were displaced by the wildfires, according to Hawaii officials.
- Col. Eric Swenson, recovery field office commander with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said he thinks the rebuilding efforts are creating a “sense of hope and encouragement.”
- “Whenever we get a lot cleared and I meet the resident out there, the dynamic has changed,” Swenson said. “The sorrow, the hopelessness, sometimes it fades away. And what they see on that vacant lot is, they see an opportunity. They see their future in front of them.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Maui’s death toll reaches 111 as searchers – many coping with their own losses – comb the wildfire zone
- “No one has ever seen this that is alive today – not this size, not this number, not this volume,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said Wednesday. “And we’re not done.”
- A genetics team will help identify remains, “so that we can make sure that we’re finding who our loved ones are, and that we make the notifications with dignity and honor,” Pelletier said, urging patience.
- Searches through the burn areas have expanded over the past week, with 40 canines from 15 states deployed, the Hawaii Department of Defense’s Jeff Hickman told CNN.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- In President Biden’s response to the devastating wildfires in Maui, we can see the reemergence of a familiar habit: to ignore, dance around and/or gaslight the public about a difficult situation — whether it’s self-inflicted or not — and respond to it only when the critiques become so deafening, they drown out all else. And the coup de grâce: to sing his own praises afterwards.
- In June 2021, Biden dismissed consumers’ concerns about the early warning signs of inflation. A few months later, Biden said it was the “difficult challenges and complications caused by COVID-19” that were “driving up costs for American families.” Those challenges and complications were in no small part driven by an ill-advised $1.9 trillion spending jubilee Biden championed and signed at the outset of his presidency.
- Biden’s roadmap for this kind of obfuscation was modeled by his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. He called the evacuation an “extraordinary success.”
- Last week, Biden promised the federal government would give Maui “everything it needs.” But then Sunday — whilst enjoying one of his many days at the beach — Biden was apparently too busy to comment on the devastation.
- Don’t be surprised when — not if — he eschews taking responsibility for his callousness in favor of unearned self-congratulations.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Why Is There Such A Frenzy To Buy Up The Properties That Were Just Burned Down During The Fires In Hawaii?
- Lahaina was hit harder than anywhere else by the fires, and it turns out that property owners in the area have been getting pressured to sell for a long time.
- So now that disaster has struck, those that wish to get their hands on these prime properties are in a feeding frenzy. One local resident made headlines all over the world after she posted a video about this…
- Filming herself in the recent video, the Hawaii resident said: ‘I am so frustrated with investors and realtors calling the families who lost their home, offering to buy their land.
- ‘How dare you do that to our community right now. If you are a victim and they are calling you, please get their business name so we can put them on blast,’ she added.
- She claims in the clip that she ‘personally’ knows ‘multiple families’ that were ‘offered money from investors and realtors’.
- Governor Josh Green is speaking out against it…
- Hawaiian officials are warning residents that unscrupulous investors are trying to take advantage of the fire disaster on Maui to take over properties.
- Josh Green reported that residents are being approached about selling fire-damaged home or land sites by people posing as real estate agents.
- He said those people may have “ill intent” and issued a warning to scammers.
- “You would be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here,” Green said in a press release Monday.
- Meanwhile, it is being reported that the police chief on Maui just happens to be the exact same guy that was “the incident commander” during the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017…
- Maui Police Chief John Pelletier is no stranger to responding to mass tragedy. Nearly six years before disaster struck in the form of wildfires that ripped through parts of the island and killed at least 99 people, he was on the ground in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
- Pelletier was named chief of the Maui Police Department in 2021 after more than two decades working in Las Vegas. On Oct. 1, 2017, Pelletier was the incident commander covering the Strip when a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets on a country music festival, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more.
- That is one heck of a coincidence.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Hawaii mourns the dead in ferocious wildfires while officials warn the full toll is not yet known
- With the toll at 96, this is already the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Two fires have not yet been completely contained, including the one that demolished the historic town of Lahaina, according to an update from Maui County late Sunday.
- The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina on Tuesday destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes. That fire has been 85% contained, according to the county, while the Upcountry fire has been 60% contained.
- “There’s very little left there,” Gov. Josh Green said, holding up a map of the area titled “Buildings Damaged in Maui Wildfires Lahaina Area.” He added that “an estimated value of $5.6 billion has gone away.”
- The cause of the wildfires is under investigation, and Green said authorities would also examine their response. One fire, for instance, was thought to be out but later flared again. Before a fire engulfed Lahaina, Maui County officials also failed to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population and instead relied on social media posts.
- Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the flames on Maui raced through parched brush — one moving as fast as 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) every minute, according to Green.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- New video shows Lahaina residents bobbing in choppy ocean after jumping into water to escape Maui fire that killed 55 and counting
- The fire began on Tuesday, spreading quickly and ferociously. The exact cause of it remains unclear but high winds, dry conditions and low humidity exacerbated the flames.
- Fifty-five people have been confirmed dead already and 1,000 remain missing three days on from the blaze.
- In an interview this morning, the Mayor of Maui County said the bodies found so far have all been discovered in the street, outside properties. Search teams have not yet begun pulling bodies from homes and businesses.
- An unknown number of people are also thought to have perished in their cars while trying to escape the hellish flames.
- ‘I think that number could go up. According to those doing the recovery – our police, Coast Guard and National Guard, that was the number they found of people outside of the buildings. We have not yet searched the interior of the buildings. We’re waiting for FEMA to help with that search.
- ‘They are equipped to handle the hazmat conditions of the buildings that have been burned,’ Mayor Richard Bissen told the TODAY show.
- The West side of the island remains without power, water and communications.
- ‘They have no internet, no cell phone. That’s the challenge. We’ve been sending crews out with water…but our focus is on finding any missing persons. We want to give people information.’
- ‘This was an impossible situation. The winds that hit us on that side of the island, the gusts were up to 80mph. Some sustained up to 45 and 60 mph. Everything happened so quickly.
- ‘I can’t comment on whether or not the sirens sounded or not but the fires came up so quickly and spread so fast. ‘
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Hawaii wildfires: Maui hospitals ‘overwhelmed’ and 911 services are disconnected due to downed cell towers as terrified residents try to flee
- Hospitals in Maui have become overwhelmed with patients as the wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and killed ‘multiple’ people rage on.
- Multiple people are feared dead and countless are fearing for their lives in Hawaii this morning after ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires set fire to the island paradise.
- The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have burned structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities.
- 911 services in most of Maui are disconnected due to downed cell towers, hampering the evacuation efforts.
- ‘What we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service.
- ‘We have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel have satellite phones.
- ‘That’s the only way you can make connection.
- Acting Governor Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of Gov. Josh Green, who is traveling, and activated the Hawaii National Guard.
- Fire crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region.
- Footage shot from a yacht in Lahaina Mooring Field in Maui shows the sky bruising as huge plumes of smoke rise from the fires.
Read the original article by clicking here.
