Wildfires: Maui Officials Continue Search For The Missing

A week after a ferocious wildfire ravaged the Maui resort town of Lahaina, search teams with cadaver dogs have combed through just a quarter of the disaster zone, as anxious people await news of hundreds of loved ones still believed to be missing.

Local, state and federal rescue workers were proceeding as fast as possible, Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier said, but there was a “reverence” that encumbered the task of finding more of the dead, which already number at least 99 people.

“It’s not just ash on your clothing when you take it off. It’s our loved ones,” Pelletier said, relating the instructions that a director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave rescue workers in a briefing.

“Patience, prayers, perseverance: That’s what we need,” he said at a Monday briefing, holding out hope that teams would get through 85% to 90% of the disaster zone by this weekend.

The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years destroyed or damaged more than 2,200 buildings, 86% of them residential, causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage, authorities said.

Even as Hawaii officials promised more help for the displaced, some Lahaina residents were taking matters into their own hands. Kanamu Balinbin, a local football coach, set up a relief camp where people who lost their homes and belongings can find water and food.

“I was devastated. I consider myself a strong leader, but it broke me,” Balindin said about his emotions after witnessing the destruction. “This is what keeps me going, helping people. A lot of us are at that stage.”

Maui County briefly relaxed rules allowing Lahaina residents back to their homes but suspended the visits on Monday after curiosity seekers clogged streets being used by rescue workers, officials said. They also feared human remains may be trampled on. One person was arrested for trespassing, Pelletier said.

Fueled by winds gusting up to 80 miles (128 km) per hour), the inferno was burning at temperatures that reached 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees Celsius) last Tuesday when it raced from the dry grasslands outside town into Lahaina, turning block after block into ash.