August 13, 2023 Maui wildfire news

CNN’s live coverage of the Maui wildfires has moved. Follow the link for the latest updates on the fires.

An aerial image taken on August 10 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.

The death toll from the Maui wildfires is now at 96 as of Sunday at 9:45 p.m. local time (3:45 a.m. ET) according to a news release from Maui County.  

“Maui Police Department around 9 p.m. said there are 96 confirmed fatalities,” the release said. 

Ryan Valliere speaks via Skype during an interview with CNN.

Lahaina resident Ryan Valliere told CNN that his community will be able to rebuild following the devastating fires but it will take a long time and require the right people and resources. 

Valliere said he lost his house in the fire and hasn’t been able to get back to see what remains as authorities have the area “closed down.”

“My house was the last house on Front Street which is on the very front of Lahaina and so we were the last house to burn down in that section that burned on Tuesday,” he said. 

Valliere said residents are in need of “crisis counseling and prayer, and love and support.”

A tropical depression has formed in the far west of the East Pacific and will potentially pass south of Hawaii as a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The depression is expected to strengthen in the next few hours, taking the name Tropical Storm Greg, before heading west and potentially passing south of Hawaii on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Even though the storm is forecast to pass south of Hawaii like Hurricane Dora, the situation will be much less severe, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Honolulu.

“Breezy winds”: The high pressure north of Hawaii is much further north compared to the high pressure that was present when Dora passed south of the islands. Also, the tropical storm is only expected to pass south of the islands, at a much weaker strength than Dora. These factors will lead to only breezy winds Tuesday through Thursday, according to CNN meteorologists.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has issued his fifth proclamation for wildfires in the state, a release from his office said Sunday.

The proclamation, “allows pharmacists to refill prescriptions for people directly affected by the wildfire emergency with up to a 30-day supply, even when the pharmacist is unable to obtain refill authorization from the prescriber.”

It also “lifts the $10 million cap on expenditures from the Major Disaster Fund to respond to this emergency,” the release said.  

The proclamation extends the disaster emergency relief period to the end of the month, the release said.  

Destroyed homes and cars are seen in Lahaina, Hawaii on August 13.

Crews in West Maui are continuing the heart-wrenching work of sifting through the ashes of what used to be homes and beloved landmarks wiped out by the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years.

So far, at least 93 deaths have been confirmed and there’s still people unaccounted for as search teams look for remains in decimated neighborhoods.

The devastation is what’s left behind after multiple, simultaneous wildfires began spreading erratically Tuesday, suddenly jumping onto and engulfing homes, forcing harrowing escapes and displacing thousands.

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Saturday said it was premature to assign even an approximate dollar amount to the damage done on Maui, the governor estimated “the losses approach $6 billion.”

Even as authorities take stock of the losses and work gets underway to identify lost loved ones, the firefight hasn’t stopped.

Read more here.

Power has been restored to more than 60% of Hawaiian Electric customers, the company said in a news release Sunday.  

Hawaiian Electric warned customers to expect some intermittent outages once the power comes back on.

At height of the outage, more than 14,000 customers were without power, CNN previously reported.  

School buses used as emergency shuttles are seen at the Maui airport in Kahului, Hawaii, on August 10.

Staff at most of Maui’s public schools will return to campus Monday for the first time since wildfires devastated the island.

Hawaii’s Department of Education is beginning phased reopenings but schools in West Maui and the King Kekaulike High in Upcountry will remain closed.

Staff at public schools in Upcountry, South and Central Maui will report to campus on Monday with students returning Wednesday.

“This staggered schedule will allow school teams time to assess damage and staffing capacity to ensure a safe reopening,” the education department said in a news release Friday.

Hayashi said one school on Front Street in Lahaina was “damaged beyond repair.”

“While assessments are being made about the closed campuses, we are looking at other options for our students who remain in West Maui including our King Kamehameha III Elementary students,” Hayashi said.

With West Maui schools closed, Hawaii’s education department and Hayashi encouraged displaced families to reenroll their students in the nearest school, even temporarily.

Burned houses and buildings are pictured in the aftermath of a wildfire, in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 12.

The official death toll from the wildfires on Maui remains at 93, but there are warnings it could rise further. The blaze that devastated the historic town of Lahaina is now the deadliest US wildfire in over 100 years, officials said.

If you are just joining us, here’s the latest:

Access placards will be distributed Monday “to expedite travel” in West Maui, the police department said on Facebook Sunday.  

The placards will “ensure efficient traffic management and prioritize the safety of all road users,” the post said.

Police said by 5 p.m. local time Tuesday, “no entrance into West Maui will be allowed without a placard.”  

The Hawaiian Electric Industries logo is seen displayed on a smartphone.

A lawsuit filed against Hawaii’s main electric provider alleges that electrified power lines blown over by high winds during Hurricane Dora led to the spread of the deadly Lahaina wildfire.

The complaint was filed Saturday by three law firms on behalf of a couple living in Lahaina against Hawaiian Electric Industries and three subsidiaries, including the power utility that services Maui.

Attorneys are asking a judge to certify the case as a class action suit covering everyone who lost property or was physically hurt in the Lahaina fire. 

Wildfire cause remains unknown: Maui Mayor Richard Bissen acknowledged Thursday that power lines that were “still energized” had fallen on the roads, but the new lawsuit does not state exactly how the power lines allegedly ignited the wildfire. An official cause of the wildfire has not yet been determined.

The fires on Maui started spreading widely Tuesday — fueled in part by violent winds from Hurricane Dora, churning more than 800 miles away — decimating homes and businesses, launching urgent rescue missions, knocking out power and communication services, and even forcing some people into the ocean to avoid being burned.

The allegations: The suit alleges that Hawaiian Electric Industries “chose not to deenergize their power lines during the High Wind Watch and Red Flag Warning conditions for Maui before the Lahaina Fire started,” despite knowing the risks.

The company and subsidiaries “also chose not to deenergize their power lines after they knew some poles and lines had fallen and were in contact with the vegetation or the ground,” the suit alleges.

Utility’s response: Hawaiian Electric vice president Jim Kelly told CNN Sunday via email that, “as has always been our policy, we don’t comment on pending litigation.”

Government officials in Hawaii repeatedly declined to say last week what could have been done to prevent the wildfire spread, saying that will be determined by a “comprehensive review” ordered by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Gov. Josh Green speaks in a video statement in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 13, 2023.

The Lahaina wildfire that has killed at least 93 people on Maui traveled at an extraordinary speed, Hawaii’s governor said Sunday.

The governor said work is being ramped up to get displaced Lahaina residents into temporary residences, with more than 500 hotel rooms obtained with government subsidies.

“Some of the first individuals will go into hotels today, and then large numbers tomorrow and the days subsequent to that,” Green said.

The governor said rental homes will also be employed to help evacuees find temporary homes.

“Airbnb is going to offer us hundreds of typically short-term rentals in a longer term capacity, so we can put people into a place for months,” he said.

The Maui County government issued an update on the state of the wildfires on Maui, the deadliest the US has seen in more than 100 years.

The official death toll remains at 93, but there are warnings it could rise further.

Here’s where things stand as of 3 p.m. local time:

Some context: When a fire is 100% contained, it means firefighters have fully surrounded its perimeter. Only once a fire is declared “extinguished,” then it’s over, according to the Maui County government.

Deadly wildfires wiped out entire neighborhoods, burned historic landmarks to the ground and displaced thousands on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Here are some scenes from around Maui as residents start on the long road to recovery:

Fire damage is seen in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Saturday, August 12.

Volunteers unload supplies from trucks before loading them onto boats for people in need at Kihei Ramp on Maui on Saturday. 

Volunteers carry donated supplies to distribute to fire victims in Wailuku, Hawaii, on Saturday. 

Burned houses and buildings are seen in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Saturday.

Brook Cretton salvages a bowl he found while sifting through the rubble of a home destroyed by wildfire in Kula, Hawaii, on Saturday. 

Displaced Lahaina residents attend a memorial service at Maui Coffee Attic in Wailuku, Hawaii, on Saturday. The cafe hosted Grace Baptist Church's Sunday service after the church was destroyed in the fire.

 A Mercy Worldwide volunteer assesses the damage to an apartment complex in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Saturday.

See more photos here.

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono speaks with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

As the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years broke out and Maui lost power and communications, the largest siren system in the world remained silent. Some residents say they did not receive an official warning, and there have been complaints that officials were woefully unprepared for wildfires.

The senator added that there will be a time coming up for those kinds of reviews and investigations, but she is now focused on the need for rescue.

Hirono spoke with Tapper Sunday morning, a day after surveying the damage on Maui with the state’s governor and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The senator also discussed the people who are still missing, saying “we are in a period of mourning and loss.”

“Some of them have been accounted for, some of them have been found in the shelters,” she said. “I visited one with some 400 residents sleeping on cots, and we are going to need to provide them with short-term and long-term housing.”

Hirono also spoke about resources and government agency support while acknowledging the state is in a period of “shock and loss.”

On climate change, and if the senator would like President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency, Hirono said “we very much need to acknowledge that climate change is upon us,” adding that “more needs to be done.” 

As the Hawaiian island of Maui receives help from around the world in recovering from its deadly wildfires, some residents say the greatest need is something that can’t be shipped in from the mainland: a place to stay.

Hawaii officials have stressed in news briefings that the island is not closed to tourists, particularly the eastern side that was unaffected by wildfires. While one runway of Kahului Airport has been closed to general aviation in order to allow more cargo shipments in, the Department of Transportation said commercial flights onto Maui are unaffected. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the island to effectively shut down its largest economic engine for months, and officials are anxious not to discourage visitors again.

Cicchino said that is effectively forcing evacuated residents of West Maui to compete with tourists for housing.

“I hate to say it, but I think they should put a little hold on people coming to visit because we don’t have any places for locals to stay,” he said. “They’re going to need those hotel rooms. They’re going to need our Airbnbs, Vrbos.”

While there are mass shelters available for evacuees, Cicchino says he’s not sure how long that can be a viable solution.

President Joe Biden has been regularly briefed on the situation in Hawaii over the weekend, a White House official told CNN, as the death toll rises and the scope of the damage comes into view.

Biden, who’s in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the weekend, told reporters Sunday “we’re looking at it” in response to shouted questions about the wildfires that ripped through Maui.

The Biden administration has deployed various federal assets to the state to help with recovery. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, US Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell and US Small Business Administration Associate Administrator Francisco Sànchez Jr. surveyed the damage on Sunday, according to FEMA.

Over the weekend, White House officials were also regularly in touch with state officials as they assessed the damage, the official said.

It’s unclear whether Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Hawaii to see the devastation. Harris said Friday that she and the president were closely monitoring the ongoing crisis. Asked about potentially traveling to the state, Harris indicated she would like to go but that they need to balance any potential travel without taking away from resources on the ground.

Harris also continued to be briefed over the weekend, according to a second White House official.

Harris also continued to be briefed over the weekend, according to a second White House official.

Susan Slobodnjak speaks to CNN on Sunday, August 12.

Residents that have lived on Maui for decades say they will band together to rebuild their reeling community after wildfires tore through the area.

Susan Slobodnjak, who has lived on the Hawaiian island for 31 years, told CNN she lost a friend who went back to her home to get her animals during the fire. Slobodnjak said she lives just outside Lahaina, and while her house survived the fires, she has no power and water.

“I had no idea what was going on just two miles down the road,” she said. “We had no information.”

Slobodnjak explained that everything in the area is gone, and houses and buildings are completely flattened.

“When I drove through on Friday, I had no clue what I was going through. Everything’s gone,” she said.

Brian Maher moved out of Lahaina a year ago after living there for 32 years. Maher told CNN he works with a nonprofit that helps people recover from substance abuse and the entire building burned down.

Another Lahaina resident, Blake, has lived in the area for 10 years and lost his home during the fires.

The three explained how well the community is working together to help each other get through this tragedy.

“We’re going to rebuild and it’s going to be OK, but we just got to get through this tough period right now,” Blake said.

Timm “TK” Williams Sr.

Brittany Talley and her family last heard from her grandfather, Timm “TK” Williams Sr., on Wednesday when the 66-year-old man sent a photo of a raging wildfire on Maui as he evacuated the area of Kaanapali.

On Saturday, Williams was able to get enough signal on his cell phone to text Talley’s mother, telling them he was safe, Talley told CNN.

The Maui wildfires are now the deadliest the US has seen in more than 100 years.

“This is the largest natural disaster we’ve ever experienced,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Saturday. “It’s going to also be a natural disaster that’s going to take an incredible amount of time to recover from.”

If you are just joining us, here’s the latest: