Maui Blaze Kills at Least 93, Highest Wildfire Death Toll in Over 100 Years

LAHAINA, Hawaii—The wildfire that reduced the historic center of this island town to an ashy rubble has left at least 93 people dead, officials said, making it America’s deadliest wildfire event in over a century.

Residents and tourists who were briefly allowed to re-enter West Maui found a blackened landscape of destroyed homes, burnt-out cars and smoldering embers. It will cost over $5 billion to rebuild from the Lahaina fire, officials estimated.

The center of Lahaina remained barricaded, officials said. People were warned to avoid the area because of toxic particles in the air and advised to wear masks and gloves. Firefighters continued to work to extinguish flare-ups and contain fires in Lahaina and two other places, Maui County officials said.

A family-assistance center opened Saturday at a community center to try to help people unable to find missing loved ones. Volunteers were also gathering at various places to distribute water, food, diapers, baby formula and other essentials.

Roughly 2,170 acres burned in the catastrophic blaze that broke out Tuesday and ravaged Lahaina, according to initial assessments from the Pacific Disaster Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

More than 150 FEMA personnel have been deployed to Maui, the agency said Saturday, with assistance from over a dozen other federal agencies and departments. The National Guard has activated 134 troops to help with firefighting.

Federal disaster assistance is available for Hawaii residents who apply, the agency said. Disaster Survivor Assistance teams are in Maui to help residents register and address critical needs in the affected neighborhoods.

Hawaiian Electric said it had restored power to one of three main transmission lines serving West Maui and restored service to some customers in nearby Napili, Puukolii and Mahinahina.

Hawaii fire researchers had warned officials in the past about the risk of extreme wildfires in and around Lahaina, The Wall Street Journal reported. The state’s electric utility had for years worried about wildfire risk in the area. It even flew drones to monitor conditions.

The cause of the Maui County wildfires has yet to be determined. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez on Friday announced a comprehensive review of the decision-making and standing policies of all agencies involved.

A large fault was detected on a power line in Maui about 20 minutes before reports of fire, according to Whisker Labs, a grid-monitoring firm whose sensors monitor for that activity. The exact location of the fault wasn’t clear, the firm said, but it was the first and among the largest of dozens of disruptions the firm’s sensors documented across Maui that night, including near Lahaina.

Bob Marshall, chief executive officer of Whisker Labs, said he didn’t know whether any of the faults caused the Lahaina fire. Faults can happen when tree limbs blow into lines, equipment malfunctions or wires are blown loose.

The company hasn’t yet shared its data with the local utility, Hawaiian Electric, but plans to do so, he said. Neither the utility nor local emergency officials could be immediately reached for comment.

Hawaiian Electric issued several notifications and updates on social media about power outages in the area early Tuesday, including some caused by downed poles and lines.

The hardest-hit parts of West Maui were still without power, and the utility advised customers to prepare for outages that could last several weeks. The utility urged people to watch for the many downed power lines in the region. Nearly 1,500 people were housed in emergency evacuation shelters as of Friday night.

The Lahaina wildfire was one of four that sprang up Tuesday in the region, officials said. It started as an early brush fire that firefighters thought they had under control by 9 a.m.

By afternoon, the Lahaina fire had flared again. It became a major blaze that destroyed or damaged thousands of structures, many of which were residential, officials said. Some residents were forced to plunge into the Pacific Ocean in a frantic bid to stay alive. The U.S. Coast Guard said it rescued 17 people from the water.

The 93 deaths in Maui were the most in a U.S. wildfire since 1918, when a blaze that engulfed parts of northern Minnesota killed hundreds, according to the National Fire Protection Association, a trade group. And it was the No. 5 deadliest ever in the U.S., according to the association, higher than the 2018 Camp Fire in California.

By Friday, a few local residents could be spotted riding bikes along the edges of the hardest-hit section of Lahaina.

Others made their way to a shopping center parking lot just north of the top of Front Street, where supplies were being offered to those who have opted to stay in the area.

To the north and south of Lahaina, hotels where most tourists in the region stay and condominium towers were largely unscathed in the midst of downed power lines.

On the outskirts of towns, some homes were destroyed while others remained standing, surrounded by charred lawns.

Rescue crews, sometimes accompanied by cadaver dogs, inched carefully through debris, leaving Xs on whatever they searched. 

Small summer wildfires are common in the subdivisions around the historic center of Lahaina, said Kimberly Flook, deputy executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, a 61-year-old nonprofit dedicated to protecting the area’s heritage. 

“We’ve got some old sugar-cane fields that are no longer active, and West Maui is on the dry side of the island, so just like California has its wildfire season, we have ours,” said Flook, who lives about 30 minutes outside of Lahaina, where she works.

She said many of the 14 historic sites Flook’s organization owned or managed are believed to have been destroyed or badly damaged. Some housed collections of important artifacts. In some places, only walls built from coral rock or lava rock remain, she said. 

“People gravitated to Lahaina for its sense of place,” Flook said. “That, along with people’s homes, is what is lost.”

—Jennifer Calfas contributed to this article.

Write to Alicia A. Caldwell at [email protected] and Jim Carlton at [email protected]