LAHAINA, Hawaii – The death toll from the catastrophic and historic wildfire that destroyed most of Lahaina, Hawaii, last week has risen to 93 with officials warning that the number will rise as crews continue to search through charred remains of buildings.
The fire in Lahaina is now the deadliest American wildfire in more than 100 years, with more than 5,000 structures being damaged or destroyed. In a Facebook post, officials said that of the affected buildings, nearly 90% have been reported as residential structures.
And according to the Pacific Disaster Center, at least 2,170 acres have been burned and the damage is estimated to be more than $5.5 billion.
State and local officials have been providing updates since the fire raged through Lahaina last week, and on Saturday they said fire crews were continuing to extinguish flare-ups in the Lahaina and Upcountry Maui fires. In the Upcountry Maui fire, three buildings in Olinda and 16 in Kula were destroyed.
The Pulehu/Kīhei fire was declared 100% contained on Saturday.
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Officials said the American Red Cross emergency evacuation shelter at Maui High School in Kahului is being moved on Sunday to the South Maui Gymnasium in Kihei. Activities at Kihei Regional Park have now been canceled due to the gym being used as the new evacuation shelter.
About 180 people staying in emergency evacuation shelters were able to obtain driver’s licenses and state identification cards, and fees to obtain those had been waived.
It’s still unknown how the fires started. But when they did ignite, extremely dry conditions combined with 70- to 80-mph wind gusts fueled the flames and they spread rapidly.
Hawaiian Electric has been working to restore power, and company officials have not addressed questions on whether a utility line contributed to any of the fires. Instead, company officials directed FOX Weather to a statement regarding ongoing outages, saying they have “all hands on deck in supporting and responding to Maui communities affected by the outages, active wildfires, and sustained high wind damage.”
Large Xs now mark mailboxes and cars to let rescue teams know if those places had been searched for bodies, and a significant number of remains were discovered in Lahaina, according to officials.
“This crisis is far from over,” said Hawaii’s former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. “There’s so much frustration. There’s so much suffering. The real mourning has not even been able to begin to start because of people really looking to, ‘How do I get me and my family to tomorrow?'”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced a new relief program to re-house the thousands who now have no home.
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“This means we will be able to get people into hotel rooms, Airbnbs and so on so that they are safe,” he said. “Look out for your neighbors. Love them. That’s what we will be defined by in the future. How we take care of our ohana (family).”
If you would like to help the people of Lahaina and Maui, check out this page.