Maui Fires

Early in the month of August a giant wildfire struck the island of Maui, part of the Hawaiian Islands. The fire quickly grew and covered the island, many were lost and injured. The fires killed 97 people and leaving 31 missing, almost 2,200 buildings were destroyed during the fire. More extreme winds blew the fire more across the island, most of the people had to be evacuated immediately. The destruction from the fire estimated in $6 billion dollars in damage and left most. Much of the wildlife on the island was destroyed and only a little remains of Maui; some wildlife survived the fires on the far side of Maui.  

The cause of the fire was from a downed power line on the edge of town, sparking on some very dry grass. The grass immediately caught fire and spread towards Lahaina, the town quickly grew into flames and soon became ashes. According to recent reports you still can travel to Maui but only on the east side. The west side is currently still being worked on and cleaning up remains of buildings. According to the workers, west Maui won’t be accessible by the public until 0ctober 17, 2023.   

The other Hawaiian Islands are still available for people to visit and stay. Many residents of Maui are extremely furious with how the government responded and didn’t send them the proper help to deal with the issue and lack of serious communication with the residents and representatives. “Troubling questions and anger have emerged as well about the role of Hawaii’s biggest power utility, the response by local and state government, and a lack of critical communication when residents most needed it.” Geoff Bennet. The residents of Maui are very upset with Joe Biden not taking proper response to the fires and of how the people who were injured and lost their homes and not eligible for IHP to help with losing their homes.   

Many people were devasted to see this event happen and lost so much from this fire. “I think that they should go out and talk to every elected official, from the mayors to the governors to the United States Senators to the congresspersons. I welcome and once they go out and see it, then I’m sure they’ll provide the money.” Joe Biden. Troubling questions and anger have emerged as well about the role of Hawaii’s biggest power utility, the response by local and state government, and a lack of critical communication when residents most needed it. “It would be easy enough to speak of our pain and grief. The hands I’ve held, and the stories I’ve heard.” Jill Toduka. “The Lahaina that everybody remembers is now gone. It won’t have all those historical sights, you know, it’s irreplaceable.” Joe Balaz   

Sources: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-maui-reopen-tourists-thousands-displaced-hawaii-wildfires/  

https://www.nytimes.com/article/maui-wildfires-hawaii.html  

https://www.epa.gov/maui-wildfires   

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-whole-of-government-response-and-recovery-e