Death toll from Maui wildfires rises to 67 as survivors begin returning home to assess damage

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Death toll from Maui wildfires rises to 67 as survivors begin returning home to assess damage
Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens sounded before people ran for their lives from the Maui wildfires that have killed dozen. (August 11)

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BY TY O’NEIL, CLAIRE RUSH AND JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Updated 5:14 AM GMT+5, August 12, 2023
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LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The death toll in Maui rose to 67 on Friday as officials confirmed another 12 fatalities from a massive blaze that turned large swaths of a centuries-old town into a hellscape of ashen rubble.

Maui County officials said in an online statement that firefighters continued to battle the blaze, which was not yet fully contained. Meanwhile, residents of Lahaina were being allowed to return home for the first time to assess the damage.

Associated Press journalists witnessed the devastation, with nearly every building flattened to debris on Front Street, the heart of the Maui community and the economic hub of the island. The roosters known to roam Hawaii streets meandered through the ashes of what was left, including an eerie traffic jam of the charred remains of dozens of cars that didn’t make it out of the inferno.

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U.S. NEWS
Death toll from Maui wildfires rises to 67 as survivors begin returning home to assess damage
Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens sounded before people ran for their lives from the Maui wildfires that have killed dozen. (August 11)

Videos
3
Images
24
BY TY O’NEIL, CLAIRE RUSH AND JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Updated 5:14 AM GMT+5, August 12, 2023
Share
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The death toll in Maui rose to 67 on Friday as officials confirmed another 12 fatalities from a massive blaze that turned large swaths of a centuries-old town into a hellscape of ashen rubble.

Maui County officials said in an online statement that firefighters continued to battle the blaze, which was not yet fully contained. Meanwhile, residents of Lahaina were being allowed to return home for the first time to assess the damage.

Associated Press journalists witnessed the devastation, with nearly every building flattened to debris on Front Street, the heart of the Maui community and the economic hub of the island. The roosters known to roam Hawaii streets meandered through the ashes of what was left, including an eerie traffic jam of the charred remains of dozens of cars that didn’t make it out of the inferno.

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Incinerated cars crushed by downed telephone poles. Charred elevator shafts standing as testaments to the burned-down apartment buildings they once served. Pools filled with charcoal-colored water. Trampolines and children’s scooters mangled by the extreme heat.

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Wildfire wreckage is seen Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the deadliest blaze in the U.S. in recent years. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
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FILE - A wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities is left on Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii, following a stubborn blaze. Experts say the fires are likely to transform the landscape in unwanted ways, hasten erosion, send sediment into waterways and degrade coral that’s critically important to the islands, marine life and people who live near it. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
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Myrna Ah Hee reacts as she waits in front of an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Wailuku, Hawaii. The Ah Hees were there because they were looking for her husband's brother. Their own home in Lahaina was spared, but the homes of many of their relatives were destroyed by wildfires. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
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“It hit so quick, it was incredible,” Lahaina resident Kyle Scharnhorst said as he surveyed his apartment complex’s damage in the morning. “It was like a war zone.”

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 the development of the territory-wide emergency system that includes sirens, which are sounded monthly to test their readiness.

But many fire survivors said in interviews that they didn’t hear any sirens or receive a warning that gave them enough time to prepare, realizing they were in danger only when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.