As the search continues for the estimated 1,000 people still missing from the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire, government and community efforts on Maui and throughout the islands are ongoing to provide relief to Valley Island residents.
The official death toll from the Lahaina disaster stood at 114 this morning with 10 identified, according to Maui County. The families of six victims have been notified. Another four victims have been identified but their families have not be located or informed, the county said.
The Maui Police Department said Friday night that 78% of the Lahaina burn area has been searched. The Maui Fire Department said the Olinda fire was 85% contained with an estimated 1,081 acres burned; the Kula fire was 85% contained with about 202 acres scorched; and the Lahaina fire was 90% contained after burning 2,168 acres and over 2,000 structures. There were no active fire threats, as of Friday night, MFD said.
Eleven days after the firestorm, federal, state and county officials still do not have a handle on how many people are missing and who they are. The FBI is now assisting with the efforts that include the collection of DNA samples of family members of the missing and analysis from cell phone data.
The Family Assistance Center, where DNA samples are being collected, has moved to the Hyatt Regency at 200 Nohea Kai Drive in Kaanapali. The center, set up a week ago in Kahului, is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily in the Hyatt Regency’s Monarchy Ballroom.
“FBI, MPD, and Maui Emergency Management Agency are asking all immediate family members – parents, siblings, and children – of those who are still missing to provide DNA samples to assist in this effort,” athe FBI said in a news release earlier this week.
Family members living on other islands or the mainland are asked to call the FBI at 808-566-4300, or reach out via email at HN-COMMAND-POST@ic.fbi.gov with their contact information. The FBI will provide further instructions on how you can provide your DNA samples.
Relief efforts today include an Oahu donation distribution site that opened in coordination with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
The site is a 30,000-square-foot warehouse provided by OHA in Hakuone at Kaka‘ako Makai, and will be used to receive, sort, inventory and store all of the donations collected for Maui residents.
On Maui, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda announced a federal resource fair today in Kihei. The fair will include “a collection of federal agencies to take immediate action on behalf of constituents who’ve lost personal documents in the fires,” her office said.
Her staff will also “provide ongoing direct support for everyone to ensure that their individual issues are fully resolved in an expedited manner,” according to a news release. Federal agencies that will have representatives at the fair include: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Social Security Administration, U.S. Postal Service, Veterans Administration, and the Small Business Administration
The fair, which runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Maui Economic Development Board’s Malcom Center at 1305 North Holopono Street, Suite 5, in Kihei.
Maui County, meanwhile, said this morning that the unsafe water advisory for Lahaina’s water system was expanded Friday to include the area from Kaniau Road to Leiali’i Parkway.
The county Department of Water Supply said the advisory remains in effect for Lahaina and Upper Kula.
Residents in these areas should only use bottled water for things like drinking, brushing teeth, ice making and food preparation, the department said. “At this time, residents in areas impacted by the unsafe water advisory are not able to treat the water in any way to make it safe to consume,” according to a news release.
Drinking water sites are set up in many areas of Lahaina and Kula, it said.
Residents in the affected areas can see updated maps of the unsafe water advisory ares on the department’s website, www.mauicounty.gov/water.
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