Hawaii Fires: Death Toll In Maui Rises To 93, Officials Fears Deaths To Rise Further As Rescue Pick Up

The death toll in Hawaii's historic Maui from the fires has reached 93, but officials fear it could rise as rescue and recovery efforts have started picking up.

The Hawaii fires that have razed the historic Maui town have become the deadliest wildfire in the United States in over a century. 

So far, crews with cadaver dogs have covered just 3 per cent of the search areas, said Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, as per AP.

"We've got an area that we have to contain that is at least 5 square miles and it is full of our loved ones," said Pelletier, noting that the death toll is likely to grow and "none of us really know the size of it yet". 

Federal emergency workers are picking up through the ashen moonscape left by the fire that razed the centuries-old town of Lahaina, reported AP, adding that teams marked the ruins of homes with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and HR when they found human remains.

Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging. Only two people have been identified so far.

He said, "We pick up the remains and they fall apart ..When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we're finding is through a fire that melted metal." 
Dogs worked the rubble, and their occasional bark — used to alert their handlers to a possible corpse — echoed over the hot and colourless landscape.

2,200 buildings destroyed, damage worth $6 billion

Governor Josh Green said, “It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced. We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding."

Green said at least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, of which 86 per cent were residential, reported AP. 

Across the island, damage was estimated at close to $6 billion and it would take "an incredible amount of time" to recover, said Green. 

At least two other fires have been burning on Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui's Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry, reported AP, adding that a fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community north of Lahaina, but the authorities said the crews were able to extinguish it.

Green said the Upcountry fire had affected 544 structures, of which 96% were residential, as per AP.

The Hawaii fire has emerged as the worst in over a century in the United States, with the death toll of 93 surpassing the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California in which 85 people killed. 

The Hawaii wildfires have brought back memories of the 1918 Cloquet Fire in Minnesota that destroyed thousands of homes in rural areas and killed hundreds. 

Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the wildfires on Maui raced through parched brush covering the island, reported AP.

The most serious fire swept into Lahaina on Tuesday and destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes, reported Ap.

Warning sirens didn't sound

After the tsunami of 1956, territory-wide emergency alert systems were installed which have been tested monthly, but sirens did not sound when the fires hit the region, according to a report.

"An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly. Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate the warning sirens sounded before fire hit the town," reported AP.

Instead, officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions, and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach, reported AP.