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HONOLULU — Hawaii officials didn’t prepare for dangerous fire weather in the days before flames incinerated the historic Maui town of Lahaina even though they were warned by meteorologists, the state’s attorney general said Friday.
The finding came in a 518-page report drafted for the attorney general by the Fire Safety Research Institute. It’s the second of a three-part investigation aimed at understanding the tragedy and how best to avoid such disasters in the future.
The Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century.
Here’s what to know:
Many didn’t know the fire was threatening their seaside town. Powerful winds knocked out electricity, depriving people of internet, television and radio. Cell networks went down, so people couldn’t exchange calls and texts or receive emergency alerts. Police delivered warnings door to door, but Maui County officials failed to sound emergency sirens telling residents to flee.
Many decided to leave upon smelling smoke and seeing flames. But they soon found themselves stuck in traffic after police closed key routes to protect people from live power lines toppled by high winds.
One family made it out by swerving around a barricade blocking Honoapiilani Highway, the main coastal road leading in and out of Lahaina. Some jumped in the ocean to escape the flames. Others died in their cars.
Maui police said 102 people died. Victims ranged in age from 7 to 97, but more than two-thirds were in their 60s or older, according to the Maui police. Two people are missing.
The toll surpassed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise. A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.
The Maui Fire Department will release a report on the origin and cause of the fire, which will include the results of an investigation led by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A county spokesperson said the fire department hasn’t yet received the ATF’s findings.
Some queries have focused on a small, wind-whipped fire sparked by downed power lines early on Aug. 8. Firefighters declared it extinguished, but the blaze appears to have flared up hours later and turned into an inferno.
An Associated Press investigation found the answer may lie in an overgrown gully beneath Hawaiian Electric Co. power lines and something that harbored smoldering embers from the initial fire before rekindling.
Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged its downed lines caused the initial fire but has argued in court filings it couldn’t be responsible for the later flare-up because its lines had been turned off for hours by the time the fire reignited and spread through the town. The utility has instead blamed Maui fire officials for what it believes was their premature, false claim that they had extinguished the first fire. The county denies firefighters were negligent.
Thousands of Lahaina residents have sued various parties they believe to be at fault for the fire, including Hawaiian Electric, Maui County and the state of Hawaii.
Plaintiffs and defendants reached a $4 billion global settlement last month. It’s not final because some parties have asked the Hawaii Supreme Court to weigh in on how insurance companies might be allowed go after Hawaiian Electric and others to recoup money they’ve already paid to policyholders to satisfy insurance claims.
The fire displaced about 12,000 people, most of them renters, upending a housing market already squeezed by a severe supply shortage.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is helping 1,700 households pay rent. It’s building modular homes for hundreds more alongside the state and nonprofit organizations.
Maui’s mayor has proposed legislation that would force owners of 7,000 vacation rentals to rent to residents to free up housing for survivors. Some estimates say 1,500 households have left Maui as rents have soared.
The Army Corps of Engineers this month finished clearing debris from all 1,390 burned residential properties. Rebuilding has begun on 20 lots.
