August 11, 2023 Maui wildfire news

Our live coverage of the Maui wildfires has moved here.

At least 2,207 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the Lahaina fire in western Maui, according to an updated damage assessment from the Pacific Disaster Center and FEMA.

An estimated 86% of buildings exposed to the fire were classified as residential, the update said. The report also said 2,170 acres had burned in the blaze as of Friday.

Maui County shared a graphic on Facebook this morning that listed the estimated cost of rebuilding from the fire at $5.52 billion, citing FEMA and the Pacific Disaster Center as the source.

But a FEMA spokesperson issued a statement later Saturday saying the $5.5 billion figure “is not a dollar amount from FEMA and does not reflect any damage estimations from our agency.” 

“FEMA has not done any estimates of costs, we are still in active response and initial recovery phases, and it is too early to do so. Once all life saving and life sustaining needs are met, we will begin to assess the damage and formulate preliminary estimates,” the statement reads.

CNN has reached out to the Pacific Disaster Center for clarification.

This post has been updated with comments from a FEMA spokesperson regarding a reported damage estimate for the Lahaina fire.

Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2022.

Speaking with CNN’s Amara Walker on CNN This Morning on Saturday, Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) said the state “underestimated the lethality, the quickness of fire,” and failed to plan for redundancies in its emergency alert system.

Tokuda said these days, emergency alerts are received on cell phones, but that there was no cell phone coverage in the area at the time.

“It’s not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions. We saw this before in (Hurricane) Lane. We did not learn our lesson from Lane (in 2018) – that brush fires could erupt as a result of churning hurricane winds below us to the south,” Tokuda said. “We have got to make sure that we do better.”

In 2018, as Hurricane Lane approached Hawaii, bush fires scorched a total of 2,330 acres in Maui. The following year, fires in Maui burned around 25,000 acres and yet, in a report last year, Hawaii’s emergency management agency described the risk of wildfires to human life as “low.”

As officials await FEMA searches inside buildings for any additional victims, Tokuda said the oceans around Lahaina will also have to be dredged, “to make sure that every individual that is lost is found.”

The Congresswoman said she understands residents expect actions from lawmakers, saying “we need to be there to help them as they rebuild back. It’s going to take years, generations.”