Earth Protect Blog

By Audrey McAvoy, Claire Rush and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

The Associated Press

LAHAINA, Hawaii>> Two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century swept through the Maui community of Lahaina, authorities say anywhere between 500 and 1,000 people remain unaccounted for — a staggering number for officials facing huge challenges to determine how many of those perished and how many may have made it to safety but haven’t checked in.

As of Monday, there were 115 people confirmed dead, according to Maui police. All single-story, residential properties in the disaster area had been searched, and teams were transitioning to searching multistory residential and commercial properties, Maui County officials said late Monday.

There are widely varying accounts of the tally of the missing.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Sunday that more than 1,000 remained unaccounted for. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a video on Instagram that the number was 850. And during President Joe Biden’s tour of the devastation on Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall put it between 500 and 800.

Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran, representing central Maui, said he’s not aware of any rules that prevent officials from making the list public. But as someone with several members of his extended family still unaccounted for, he understands why some may not want the list released.

“I’m not going to second-guess the approach by the mayor and his people right now,” he said.

Questions are also emerging about how quickly the names of the dead are being publicly released. Maui residents are growing frustrated as the search for their loved ones drags on.