LAHAINA, Hawaii: Hawaii’s chief legal officer said she was opening a probe into the handling of devastating wildfires that killed at least 80 people in the state this week, as criticism grows of the official response.
The announcement and increased death toll came as residents of Lahaina were allowed back into the town for the first time — with most finding their homes reduced to ashes, and even the lucky few angry at a sense of abandonment.
“Where is the government? Where are they?” said a man who did not want to be named.
“We can’t move freely, we don’t get the support, now we’ve heard about looting.”
Hawaii’s Attorney General Anne Lopez said her office would examine “critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during and after the wildfires on Maui and Hawai’i islands this week.”
She added that her department would make the findings public.
Late Friday, Maui County officials revised the death toll to 80, adding that 1,418 people were in emergency evacuation shelters.
The fires follow other extreme weather events in North America this summer, with record-breaking wildfires still burning across Canada and a major heat wave baking the US southwest.
Europe and parts of Asia have also endured soaring temperatures, with major fires and floods wreaking havoc. Scientists have said global warming caused by carbon emissions is contributing to the extreme weather.
For some of those who made it back into Lahaina, there was elation as they tearfully reconnected with neighbors they feared might not have gotten out alive.
“You made it!” cried Chyna Cho, as she embraced Amber Langdon amid the ruins. “I was trying to find you.”
For some of the luckiest, there was joy — albeit tempered by the scale of the tragedy that counts among the worst natural disasters to hit the state of Hawaii.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Keith Todd said after finding his home intact.
“I’m so grateful, but at the same time it’s so devastating.”
Todd, 64, discovered his house and his neighbor’s house untouched, and his solar panels providing electricity to the fridge, which was still dispensing ice on demand.
But even those few whose homes still appeared habitable were being warned they might not be safe.
“Some structures in the Lahaina water system were destroyed by the fire ... These conditions may have caused harmful contaminants, including benzene and other volatile organic chemicals, to enter the water system,” said Maui’s water department.
“As a precaution...(we) are advising residents to not use the tap water for drinking and cooking until further notice.”
Fears of looting were also on residents’ minds.
