Many Maui residents who refused to follow official orders and recommendations during the wildfires succeeded in escaping the disaster, according to multiple witness accounts.
On Aug. 8, before 4 p.m., Hawaiian Electric informed Maui residents about extended power outages as more than 30 power poles snapped in high winds. At the same time, fire officials shut the Lahaina Bypass road because of the blazes, blocking the only route out of Lahaina to the south.
When resident Nate Baird tried to drive his family out of town on that day, he found that his path was being blocked by traffic cones and crews working on the downed electric poles. The crews were stationed to turn people back toward Lahaina. Instead of complying, Mr. Baird swerved his car past the cones and headed south to safety.
“Nobody realized how little time we really had,” he said. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn—we would all be dead right now.”
One family ditched the standstill traffic and turned their car onto a dirt road, driving all the way to Napili to escape the fire.
Kim Cuevas-Reyes ignored instructions to turn right on Front Street toward Lahaina’s Civic Center, which had been turned into a shelter for refugees. Instead, she turned left and drove in the wrong lane to get out and save her two children.
“The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,” Ms. Cuevas-Reyes said. “I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.”
DNA Collection From Families
During a news conference on Aug. 22, Julie French, the senior vice president of Ande Rapid DNA, which is assisting in the identification efforts, asked families to “come forward and donate samples” so that they can be compared with DNA profiles generated from the collected human remains.“This is a critical step in order to make an identification based on the DNA testing that’s already been done,” she said.
Only 104 families have provided DNA samples so far, she said.
Ms. French also insisted that the samples being collected “are not being entered into any sort of government-run databases” and are used only for comparing DNA in the context of the disaster.
Recovering From the Disaster
According to the Aug. 22 update by the County of Maui, the Lahaina fire, which has burned through an estimated 2,170 acres, is 90 percent contained. The Olinda and Kula fires have been 85 percent contained.About 341 emergency personnel and 50 canine units are conducting searches through multi-story residential and commercial properties. All single-story, residential properties in the disaster area have been searched.
Almost 2,400 individuals have been sheltered at 10 hotel locations, while more than 146,000 meals have been distributed by the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
Maui County has warned people to use only bottled or potable water from water tanks for drinking, food preparation, and brushing teeth.
“Residents in impacted areas are not able to treat the water in any way to make it safe to consume, with contaminants such as benzene and other volatile organic chemicals entering the water system,” the county stated.
“Residents are further advised to: limit their use of hot water, reduce shower times while using lukewarm water in a ventilated area, not take baths, use a dishwasher and the air dry setting, wash clothes in cold water, dry laundry outdoors, avoid hot tubs or swimming pools, and use proper ventilation when using water indoors.”
Potable water is being distributed through four locations in Lahaina and six locations in Upper Kula.
