Many residents who ignored orders survived Maui fires, but over 1,000 remain missing.
Residents Who Defied Orders Escaped Maui Wildfires
Multiple witness accounts reveal that many Maui residents who refused to follow official orders and recommendations during the wildfires managed to escape the disaster.
The wildfires, which have claimed the lives of 115 people as of Aug. 22, according to data from the County of Maui, created chaos in the region. With roads closed due to downed power lines and wildfires, residents faced a dangerous situation. However, a report by the Associated Press suggests that those who defied barricades and official instructions may have found a way to safety while others were trapped in traffic, engulfed by blazing flames.
On Aug. 8, before 4 p.m., Hawaiian Electric notified Maui residents about extended power outages caused by downed power poles. At the same time, the fire department closed the Lahaina Bypass road due to the spreading blazes, effectively blocking the only route out of Lahaina to the south.
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One resident, Nate Baird, encountered traffic cones and crews working on the downed electric poles when he tried to evacuate his family. Instead of complying with the instructions to turn back, Baird made a daring move, swerving past the cones and heading south to safety.
“Nobody realized how little time we really had,” Baird said. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn. We would all be dead right now.”
Another family avoided the standstill traffic by taking a dirt road all the way to Napili, successfully escaping the fire.
Kim Cuevas-Reyes made a life-saving decision by ignoring instructions to turn right toward Lahaina’s Civic Center, which had been turned into a shelter. Instead, she drove in the wrong lane to get out of the area and save her two children.
“The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,” Cuevas-Reyes said. “I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.”
While Maui continues to recover from the tragedy, hundreds of people are still missing. According to The Hill, around 1,000 to 1,100 names remain on the FBI’s unaccounted list.
In an interview with CBS, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green expressed concern that many children are likely among the unaccounted population.
DNA Collection From Hawaii Families
During a press conference, Julie French, the senior vice president of Ande Rapid DNA, urged families to come forward and donate their DNA samples. These samples will be compared with DNA profiles generated from the collected human remains to aid in identification efforts.
“DNA is passed through families. So, the DNA can be used to link family members together. Parents, children, siblings share the amount of DNA. And that sharing allows us to make comparisons that can ultimately identify someone and allow the DNA to bring the answer about who that individual is,” French explained.
So far, only 104 families have provided DNA samples.
French emphasized that the collected samples are not being entered into any government-run databases and will only be used for comparing DNA in the context of the disaster.
In an Aug. 17 press release, the FBI’s Honolulu Division announced its assistance to the Maui police in collecting DNA samples from family members.
Recovering from the Disaster
According to an Aug. 22 update by the County of Maui, the Lahaina fire, which has burned through an estimated 2,170 acres, is now 90 percent contained. The Olinda and Kula fires are 85 percent contained.
A large-scale search effort involving 341 emergency personnel and 50 canine units is underway, focusing on multi-story residential and commercial properties. All single-story residential properties in the affected area have been searched.
Over 2,400 individuals have been sheltered at 10 hotel locations, and organizations like the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross have distributed over 146,000 meals to those affected.
Maui County continues to urge caution and preparedness as the recovery process continues.
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