Search teams are counting deaths from Hawaii wildfires, expecting an increase in the death toll.
Deadly Wildfire Devastates Maui
LAHAINA, Hawaii—The grim work of tallying the dead after a ferocious wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui came into sharp focus Saturday as crews picked through the devastation, marking homes with a bright orange X to signal they had searched for bodies and HR when they found human remains.
The inferno swept through the centuries-old town of Lahaina on Maui’s west coast, reducing hundreds of homes to ash. The state’s chief executive said he expects more bodies to be found.
“There are already 80 fatalities. It’s going to rise,” Gov. Josh Green remarked Saturday as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. “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.”
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Those who escaped were counting their blessings, thankful to be alive as they mourned those who didn’t make it.
Retired fire captain Geoff Bogar and his friend of 35 years, Franklin Trejos, initially stayed behind to help others in Lahaina and save Mr. Bogar’s house. But as the flames moved closer and closer Tuesday afternoon, they knew they had to get out. Each escaped to his own car. When Mr. Bogar’s wouldn’t start, he broke through a window to get out, then crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and brought him to a hospital.
Mr. Trejos wasn’t as lucky. When Mr. Bogar returned the next day, he found the bones of his 68-year-old friend in the back seat of his car, lying on top of the remains of the Mr. Bogars’ beloved 3-year-old golden retriever Sam, whom he had tried to protect.
Mr. Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Mr. Bogar and his wife, Shannon Weber-Bogar, helping her with her seizures when her husband couldn’t. He filled their lives with love and laughter.
Bill Wyland, who lives on the island of Oahu but owns an art gallery on Lahaina’s historic Front Street, fled on his Harley Davidson, whipping the motorcycle onto empty sidewalks Tuesday to avoid traffic-jammed roads as embers burned the hair off the back of his neck.
Riding in winds he estimated to be at least 70 miles per hour, he passed a man on a bicycle who was madly pedaling for his life.
“It’s something you’d see in a Twilight Zone, horror movie or something,” Mr. Wyland said.
Mr. Wyland realized just how lucky he had been when he returned to downtown Lahaina on Thursday.
“It was devastating to see all the burned-out cars. There was nothing that was standing,” he said.
His gallery was destroyed, along with the works of 30 artists.
Emergency managers in Maui were searching for places to house people displaced from their homes. As many as 4,500 people are in need of shelter, county officials said on Facebook early Saturday, citing figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pacific Disaster Center.
Flyovers by the Civil Air Patrol found 1,692 structures destroyed—almost all of them residential. Nine boats sank in Lahaina Harbor, officials determined using sonar.
The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency system with sirens that are tested monthly.
Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate warning sirens sounded before people had to run for their lives. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions, and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.
Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the wildfires on Maui raced through parched brush covering the island.
The most serious blaze 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.
Front Street, the heart of the historic downtown and the economic hub of Maui, was nearly empty of life Saturday morning. An Associated Press journalist encountered one barefoot resident carrying a laptop and passport who asked where the nearest shelter was. Another, riding his bicycle, took stock of the damage at the harbor, where he said his boat caught fire and sank.
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