August 11, 2023 Maui wildfire news

Our live coverage of the Maui wildfires has moved here.

At least 2,207 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the Lahaina fire in western Maui, according to an updated damage assessment from the Pacific Disaster Center and FEMA.

An estimated 86% of buildings exposed to the fire were classified as residential, the update said. The report also said 2,170 acres had burned in the blaze as of Friday.

Maui County shared a graphic on Facebook this morning that listed the estimated cost of rebuilding from the fire at $5.52 billion, citing FEMA and the Pacific Disaster Center as the source.

But a FEMA spokesperson issued a statement later Saturday saying the $5.5 billion figure “is not a dollar amount from FEMA and does not reflect any damage estimations from our agency.” 

“FEMA has not done any estimates of costs, we are still in active response and initial recovery phases, and it is too early to do so. Once all life saving and life sustaining needs are met, we will begin to assess the damage and formulate preliminary estimates,” the statement reads.

CNN has reached out to the Pacific Disaster Center for clarification.

This post has been updated with comments from a FEMA spokesperson regarding a reported damage estimate for the Lahaina fire.

Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2022.

Speaking with CNN’s Amara Walker on CNN This Morning on Saturday, Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) said the state “underestimated the lethality, the quickness of fire,” and failed to plan for redundancies in its emergency alert system.

Tokuda said these days, emergency alerts are received on cell phones, but that there was no cell phone coverage in the area at the time.

“It’s not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions. We saw this before in (Hurricane) Lane. We did not learn our lesson from Lane (in 2018) – that brush fires could erupt as a result of churning hurricane winds below us to the south,” Tokuda said. “We have got to make sure that we do better.”

In 2018, as Hurricane Lane approached Hawaii, bush fires scorched a total of 2,330 acres in Maui. The following year, fires in Maui burned around 25,000 acres and yet, in a report last year, Hawaii’s emergency management agency described the risk of wildfires to human life as “low.”

As officials await FEMA searches inside buildings for any additional victims, Tokuda said the oceans around Lahaina will also have to be dredged, “to make sure that every individual that is lost is found.”

The Congresswoman said she understands residents expect actions from lawmakers, saying “we need to be there to help them as they rebuild back. It’s going to take years, generations.”

A fire in West Maui that prompted an evacuation in the Kaanapali area is now 100% contained, according to Facebook posts and an email to CNN from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.  

 A Facebook post from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency around 7:44 p.m. HST (1:44 a.m. ET) said evacuations in the Kaanapali area were “NO LONGER taking place.”  

At 9:50 p.m. HST (3:50 a.m. EST) the County of Maui said, “Kaanapali fire now 100% contained.” 

People walk along Main Street past wildfire damage on August 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.

The fire in West Maui that prompted evacuations in the Kaanapali area is now 80% controlled, the Maui Police Department said Friday night at just after 9 p.m. HST (3 a.m. EST).  

“Per MFD, fire is 80% controlled. No further evacuations are being conducted,” an updated Facebook post said.  

No other details were provided.  

Meanwhile, police are restricting access into West Maui, according to an update from Maui County Government on Friday night.

It added that additional cellphone service was becoming available in the region, but reminded users to text instead of call due to limited resources.

The confirmed death toll from this week’s wildfires in Maui has now reached 80, the Maui County government announced Friday at 9 p.m. HST (3 a.m. ET). 

“Firefighters continue working to extinguish flare-ups and contain fires in Lahaina, Pulehu/Kihei and Upcountry Maui,” the release said. “The number of fatalities is at 80.”

A fire in West Maui has prompted an evacuation of the Kaanapali area, the Maui Police Department said in a Facebook post.    

“No unauthorized personnel is allowed in the burnt-out disaster zone. Violators will be removed from the area and may face arrest,” the post added.    

The police said there were currently no restrictions barring exit from the west and they would allow people to enter the area “once it is safe to do so.”

Latest updates on Maui wildfires: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/hawaii-maui-wildfires-08-11-23 

In an aerial view, cars back up for miles on the Honoapiilani highway as residents are allowed back into areas affected by the recent wildfire on August 11, 2023 in Wailuku, Hawaii.

After allowing Lahaina residents to briefly return to the devastated town Friday, Maui Police abruptly shut down the main road into Lahaina just before 4 p.m. local time. 

The Maui Police Department said the closure was “effective immediately,” according to a Facebook post. 

CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now reported residents disregarded access rules within Lahaina, leading law enforcement to shut down entry. Local media reports showed the roadway congested, as officers redirected vehicles. 

Law enforcement began allowing members of the public past road blocks to check on property only hours earlier. It remains unclear when public traffic will be restored.

Wildfire wreckage is seen from an aerial view in Lahaina on Thursday.

At least 67 people have died in the wildfires that torched the Hawaiian island of Maui. This officially makes the Lahaina fire Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster in state history, surpassing the 61 confirmed deaths from a tsunami in Hilo in 1960.

Crews have not yet searched the inside of most of the burned buildings, specifically structures in the hard-hit city of Lahaina, officials said. The fire in Lahaina is now 85% contained, the county said Friday.

Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez will spearhead a “comprehensive review” of decisions made by officials in response to the fires, her office announced. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who authorized the review, said an organized response was hampered by power outages and damage to the phone network.

Here’s where things stand Friday:

The Lahaina fire that has claimed the lives of at least 67 people is now 85% contained, the County of Maui said.

Additionally, the Pulehu/Kihei fire is 80% contained and the Upcountry Maui fire is 50% contained, the county said in a Facebook post at about 3 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET).

“Firefighters continue battling flare-ups in all three fires,” the post read.

“Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Team, with expertise in human remains, are being deployed to Maui from Arizona and Nevada. Five dogs are being utilized,” it added.

Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez will spearhead a “comprehensive review” of decisions made by officials in response to the fast-moving wildfires that killed at least 67 people in Maui, her office announced Friday afternoon.

Gov. Josh Green told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer earlier Friday that he had authorized a review of the state’s response, but added that an organized response was hampered by power outages and damage to the phone network.

“The telecommunications were destroyed very rapidly,” the governor said.

Maui’s warning sirens were not activated as fires spread, according to state emergency management.

More than 300 people, many of them tourists, that were flown out of Maui to escape the fires, have so far been connected to resources at a shelter in Honolulu.

The Honolulu Convention Center is currently operating as a support location for people evacuated from Maui, according to a Red Cross official who spoke with CNN Friday. 

John Miller, who handles shelter operations in Oahu and is currently leading the Red Cross efforts at the Honolulu Convention Center, said approximately four of the 320 people that have gone through the center were Maui residents.  

The convention center is providing evacuees with three meals a day and resources are available to help people find hotel and flight reservations. Representatives from Hawaiian Airlines and the Hawaii Tourism Authority are also on site. 

Miller said the convention center will be open through Sunday and that they’re prepared to handle any influx of evacuees that may happen between now and Sunday. 

As far as operations on Maui, Miller said the Red Cross is bringing approximately 100 staffers from the mainland to join shelter operations there. 

As of Friday afternoon, there were approximately 60 people still in the convention center. 

CNN witnessed a handful of families departing the convention center, many with small children and strollers in tow.  

Staff members at Hospice Maui, a non-profit that typically provides end-of-life care to dying patients on the Maui, Lanai and Molokai, are using their skills to help survivors of Tuesday’s devastating fires.

The organization has 90 employees, including nurses and social workers, who’ve been providing medical treatment and counseling services to people at emergency shelters, Hospice Maui Advancement Director Kathleen Hogarty told CNN.

She said non-clinical workers have also been delivering much-needed medical supplies to different parts of the island and helping stranded visitors get home.

Hogarty said they evacuated their patients from the west side of the island when they got word that the area was going to be hit with 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Because of that, they were safe in central Maui when the fire started.

She said that their teams have heard harrowing stories from survivors, some of whom described seeing horrible things as they ran for their lives.

Hogarty said there are a number of organizations on the island doing what they can to help after the fire. She said transportation and communications are big needs for them as they work to provide support.

David Hoaglin, seen in an undated handout photo.

A Lahaina man who had been missing since much of the community was destroyed by a wildfire has been found unharmed, his mother told CNN on Saturday. David Hoaglin is a maintenance worker at a local apartment building.

“I am one grateful and happy mom,” Hoaglin’s mother, Myrtle Markgraf, told CNN after speaking to Hoaglin by phone. Markgraf said she only got to talk to her son briefly because of communications that remain spotty on the island. 

With her own son found, Markgraf said she is now turning her concerns to other people still searching for their friends and family members. “I can only imagine the broken hearts of the families who lost their loved ones,” she said.

This story was updated Saturday, August 12, after news that Hoaglin was safe.

Th US Coast Guard rescued 17 people who fled into the Pacific Ocean to escape the wildfire flames that destroyed the town of Lahaina in Maui, a top officer said Friday.

“They encountered victims that were in the water and also on the seawall,” said Capt. Aja Kirksey, the commander of Section Honolulu. There have been no additional rescues since early Wednesday, she said.

Coast Guard resources — including three cutters and two small boat crews — patrolled the harbor searching for survivors for more than 15 hours covering about 500 square miles, Kirksey said.

“Coast Guard Sector Honolulu command center issued an urgent marine information broadcast to all mariners indicating what we thought would be a mass rescue, which resulted in a response by eight Good Samaritan vessels,” Kirksey said. 

All of the survivors rescued by the Coast Guard were reported to be a stable condition, according to Kirksey. At least one victim was unable to be saved, the commander said, noting they were seen unresponsive by a Coast Guard helicopter.

“Our crews responded really heroically,” she said.

A public health emergency has been declared for the state of Hawaii “to address the health impacts of the wildfires,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced.

The move gives healthcare providers and suppliers more flexibility in caring for people on Medicare and Medicaid.

The agency’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response “deployed an initial team of 13 responders to support emergency response efforts in Hawaii,” according to an HHS announcement Friday.

This includes an assessment team from the National Disaster Medical System’s Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. The team will coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local authorities to determine whether additional federal public health or medical resources are needed in Hawaii.

ASPR and other HHS offices such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration are also offering specialized support, the announcement said.

In an aerial view, cars are back up on the Honoapiilani highway as residents are allowed back into areas affected by the recent wildfire in Wailuku, Hawaii on Friday.

Hawaiian authorities began allowing access to parts of West Maui’s Lahaina area Friday despite limited power, water and cell service.

Residents with identification showing proof of residency, and visitors with proof of hotel reservations, trickled back into the hard-hit area.

Access to historic Lahaina town remains restricted. 

“The area will be protected so that search crews looking for victims can continue to work in the area, and because the fire has caused unsafe conditions,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a radio broadcast.

Officials said Friday that the current official death toll of 67 only accounts for people found outside buildings.

Officials have opened six emergency shelters around Maui, with authorities collecting donations of nonperishable food, water, blankets and hygiene items.   

Water, supply items and clothing are being distributed to residents from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time (4 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Kapalua, on the far northwestern tip of the island. 

Authorities say the Lahaina brush fire is roughly 80% contained and the Pulehu brush fire — burning to the southeast near Kihei — is between 70 and 80% contained.

Firefighters were still not able to provide a figure for the fire in the island’s Upcountry area, which makes up the center of the island and is full of hills and ravines that have made access difficult for firefighters.

An aerial image shows a burned building after the wildfires destroyed parts of Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday.

The devastating Maui wildfires, which have killed dozens of people and displaced thousands more, have cost at least $1.3 billion in damage to at least 3,088 residences, according to a recent preliminary estimate from a research firm.

CoreLogic, which assesses property data, found that most property damage is in Lahaina, a tourist and economic hub where at least 9,000 people live. The company expects more than 2,808 homes will need to be reconstructed, costing $1.1 billion in reconstruction cost value.

Other areas have millions in damage as well. Pulehu has about $147 million in damage and Pukalani has about $4.2 million in damage, CoreLogic forecasts. 

The fires also destroyed countless businesses on Maui, which the estimate from CoreLogic didn’t include. 

The structure of the Lahaina properties, combined with the hurricane-force winds and deadly gusts, allowed the firestorm to decimate many of the area’s buildings.

The full extent of the damage is still unknown. It will take “some time” to figure that out, CoreLogic emphasized. The firm created preliminary wildfire perimeters for its study that could change, it said.

Volunteers attend to evacuees from the West Maui wildfires at a shelter set up at the Maui War Memorial in Wailuku, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

Hundreds of displaced Maui residents have taken shelter at the War Memorial Gymnasium, where the Red Cross, Maui County and other organizations are providing aid and supplies.

The fires have killed at least 67 people on Maui and left many more displaced. 

Many of the residents at the War Memorial Gymnasium came from the historic town of Lahaina and fled with only the clothes on their backs. Some say they have been unable to locate their loved ones.

A grassroots effort to reconnect families has launched in front of the gymnasium, where Post-It notes containing contact information and names are pinned to a board.

Inside the shelter, scores of people have camped out on mattresses on the ground. 

Kathleen Dukes, 46, was born and raised in Lahaina and said it was surreal to see her community in flames.

Dukes had to leave her elderly mother behind when she fled the fire. She said was first able to speak to her mother on Friday. The home they share is still standing, though an aunt and sister’s home was burnt down, Dukes said.

Lynn Robison, 66, lived in the heart of Lahaina, next to the Wharf Cinema Center.

After hearing about the fire, Robison and her friends went to the shoreline near the ocean, in case they needed to jump into the water. The group spent the night sleeping in a grassy patch next to the beach. 

Robison returned to her apartment complex to find it burned to the ground. 

Nelen Cesar, 58, with her husband and three kids, told CNN they arrived at the shelter on Thursday after fleeing their home in Lahaina, where she had lived for more than 30 years. 

Cesar and her family grabbed what they could as they evacuated but were distraught to lose family photographs and mementos from her childhood in the Philippines.

Her daughter returned to the location of the house and sent her pictures showing that it had been razed to the ground. Cesar said the loss is difficult to comprehend. 

“I just want to see the evidence. I’m still hoping and praying it’s still there,” Cesar said.

There are now 67 confirmed deaths from the wildfires in Hawaii, the Maui County government announced Friday afternoon.

This officially makes the Lahaina fire Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster in state history, surpassing the 61 confirmed deaths from a tsunami in Hilo in 1960.

“The Lahaina fire is not yet contained,” the government added in a statement.

Some context: Hawaii became a state in 1959, but in 1946 the islands experienced a devastating tsunami that killed 158 people.

Hawaii’s governor has ordered a comprehensive review of the state’s actions in the hours after devastating wildfires broke out on the islands earlier this week, including why warning sirens were not used to alert residents on Maui.

Green said emergency officials were particularly challenged by the fact that the flames burning near Lahaina — which ultimately built into a firestorm that razed nearly all of the historic town — had died down for a period of time before suddenly reigniting, and firefighters had shifted their focus to other areas on the island.

“The telecommunications were destroyed very rapidly” at that point, Green said, meaning that the tight-knit community was unable to alert one another by phone, as they typically do when there is an emergency. “That communication was cut off,” the governor said.

Green said he isn’t going to “make any excuse for anyone,” but that multiple fires burning at once had created a “very fluid situation across the islands.”

Despite those challenges, “we will do all that we can to find out how to protect our people more going forward,” Green said.

Some context: Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said Friday that Maui’s warning sirens were not activated.

The statewide public safety warning system has about 400 sirens to alert residents to tsunamis and other natural disasters, according to an agency spokesperson, but “nobody at the state and nobody at the county attempted to activate those sirens based on our records,” he said.  

Other layers of the emergency warning system were triggered, however, including mobile phone alerts and messages on televisions and radio stations.

A CNN review of state and local emergency planning documents has also revealed that Hawaii officials had underestimated the deadly threat of wildfires, as recent reports warned officials that funding and preparation for the natural disaster was insufficient.

There are now 59 confirmed deaths from the devastating wildfires in Maui, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

The new number is up from the previous confirmed toll of 55 deaths.

All of those deaths occurred out in the open, not inside buildings, “as people were trying to escape the fire,” Green told CNN on Friday.

He said that number is expected to climb as search efforts are being conducted. 

A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii, on Wednesday, August 9.

The federal government has gone into disaster response mode after wildfires destroyed Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii earlier this week.

President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration on Thursday and promised to send whatever is needed to help the recovery.

“We’re working as quickly as possible to fight those fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii, but not just our prayers: every asset that we have will be available to them,” Biden said as he began remarks at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Here’s what we know the federal government has deployed to Hawaii in response to the wildfires so far:

Some of Hawaii’s congressional delegation will travel to Maui tomorrow with Small Business Administrator Isabella Guzman and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

The delegation, according to a source familiar with the matter, tells CNN that the focus is twofold: Ensuring that the immediate emergency is dealt with while also helping educate the Biden administration on the long-term support that will be needed not only to rebuild, but to also protect local businesses as the tourism industry takes a serious hit. 

Tourism accounts for about 40% of the Maui economy, the source said, and many of the businesses have just recovered from the effects of Covid, which at least was bolstered by federal support programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program. 

The source told CNN that the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team is now on site in Maui – and it will deal with the immediate search and rescue operation.

Maui’s warning sirens were not activated when the Lahaina fire began on Tuesday, records show, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

But other layers of the emergency warning system were triggered, including mobile phone alerts and messages on televisions and radio stations, spokesperson Adam Weintraub told CNN on Friday.

The statewide public safety warning system has about 400 sirens to alert residents to tsunamis and other natural disasters, he said. 

On Maui, the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, there are 80 sirens, according to the county website. 

“It was largely a function of how fast the flames were moving,” he said of the failure to trigger the vaunted all-hazard emergency siren system. “They were trying to coordinate response on the ground, and they had already issued these other alert systems.” 

Hawaii Army National Guard helicopters perform aerial water bucket drops in Maui on Thursday.

When Hawaii officials released a report last year ranking the natural disasters most likely to threaten state residents, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic hazards featured prominently. Near the bottom of a color-coded chart, the state emergency management agency described the risk of wildfires to human life with a single word: “low.”

A year and a half later, the catastrophic fires that engulfed Maui and the historic town of Lahaina this week have already become the state’s deadliest natural disaster in more than six decades, with a fatality count of 55 that is expected to rise. 

Hawaii officials underestimated the deadly threat of wildfires even as they acknowledged a lack of necessary resources to mitigate them, according to a CNN review of state and local emergency planning documents that show how ill-prepared the state was for the disaster. 

One Maui County report on wildfire prevention from 2021 stated that while the number of acres consumed by wildfires had spiked, funds to prevent and mitigate them were “inadequate.” The report also stated that the county fire department’s strategic plan included “nothing about what can and should be done to prevent fires” — in what it called a “significant oversight.”

The report recommended a thorough risk assessment of fire hazards, but it’s not clear whether officials heeded the recommendation. 

Other reports over the past five years show authorities knew the risk of fires was increasing and could be exacerbated by hurricane-force winds — like the Lahaina blaze was.

The state emergency management agency’s public resources webpage also lays out clear, bullet-point recommendations of what residents should do in the event of a hurricane, tsunami, flash flood or earthquake. At the bottom of the page, the agency includes two short paragraphs about wildfires — with no similar advice on ways to stay safe.

Hawaii and Maui County officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday as disaster response efforts continued.

 Read the full investigation

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée are pledging $100 million to recovery efforts in Maui, Lauren Sánchez announced on her Instagram account Friday.

Bezos and Sánchez have been together since 2019 and were engaged earlier this year, a source told CNN in May.

Bezos is the executive chair of the Amazon board of directors and owns the Washington Post.

Twenty-five school buses are being used to transport visitors out of western Maui to Kahului Airport on the island, the County of Maui said in a video post of the convoy.

On Thursday, more than 1,200 visitors took advantage of the shuttles from Ka’anapali hotel areas to Kahului Airport, the county said. 

In all, about 15,000 visitors left on flights departing Maui that day, according to the county.

Firefighters are still working to put out flareups and contain fires in several areas, according to the post. A search and rescue team and other personnel from the Honolulu Fire Department have also arrived, it said.

Satellite imagery from before and after a deadly wildfire gutted the Maui town of Lahaina.

Dozens of people have died in the raging wildfires that torched the Hawaiian island of Maui – and officials expect the toll to rise.

“We have not yet searched in the interior of the buildings,” Mayor Richard Bissen said Friday.

Much of Lahaina, a touristic and economic hub of 9,000 people, has been destroyed, and hundreds of families have been displaced. Hundreds of structures have also been impacted, including several historical sites that date to the 1800s.

See more satellite images taken on June 25 and August 9 that show an overview of Lahaina Square and outlets.

As the boat approaches Lahaina, the sun is strong, the waves crest into whitecaps and on the shore, so much is black.

“Puamana is gone!” a crew member shouts in shock, looking at one of the resort areas on Maui’s western coast that drew tourists and is now wrecked by wildfire.

The ruins stretch as far as the eye can see, 100-foot coconut trees charred all the way up their trunks.

It’s hard to even dock. Ferry boats have burned and sunk, just melted into the ocean to create underwater hazards. There’s a powerful stench from the pipes, plastic and fiberglass boats that have liquefied into an evil soup now floating in the harbor.

Finally, onshore, the quaint, historic and simply charming town of Lahaina is unrecognizable.

The two-story Pioneer Inn with its airy wraparound verandas is burned to the ground. First built in 1901, it was the oldest hotel in Hawaii. And it’s completely gone.

Even structures built out over pilings into the Pacific Ocean are reduced to cinders, showing how the flames from wildfires fanned by hurricane winds came not just down to the shore but engulfed anything they could reach there.

On the roads are burned-out shells of cars.

Survivors have told CNN how traffic stood at a standstill as the fire approached, forcing some people to run into the ocean to try to save themselves.

Read more here and watch Weir’s report from Lahaina:

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Hundreds of evacuees from Maui wildfire are sheltered at War Memorial Center in Kahului, Hawaii, on Friday.

Maui Food Bank Executive Director Richard Yust said that financial contributions are needed to help serve families who have lost everything from the wildfires.

“We’re having a mass influx of people needing food assistance,” he told CNN.

“It’s really sad so many people have lost everything. This is going to take a long time to, obviously either be rebuilt or — and that’s going to be months, years, who knows how long. So we are gearing up for the long haul,” he said.

Yust said Maui is resilient and very community-focused, but its location makes bringing in supplies a challenge.

“Even expedited ocean freight is two weeks out. And that’s if everything falls right into place. So, yeah, I mean, we have limited resources here that are currently on the island,” he said. But the harbors are in good shape, and containers are coming in, he added.

Here’s how to help victims of the wildfires in Hawaii.

An aerial image shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina on Friday.

Residents of the hard-hit town of Lahaina are expected to be allowed back into their homes today, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Friday.

The official announcement will come from Maui’s mayor later today, Green said in an interview on local station KHON.

Additionally, Green said a curfew will also likely be implemented, and a hotline will be established to connect displaced residents with available rooms in homes and hotels.

CNN has reached out to the mayor’s office for more details. Maui County plans to provide radio updates three times each day, at 3 p.m. ET (9 a.m. local), 6 p.m. ET (12 p.m. local) and 9 p.m. ET (3 p.m. local).

Search dogs have not been able to access every burned building yet, Green said, cautioning residents not to go into any charred structure that appears unsafe.

Green plans to return to Maui tomorrow, he said.

President Joe Biden spoke with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green again on Friday, “after Governor Green completed a survey of destruction across Maui,” the White House said.

It’s at least the second time Biden has spoken with Hawaii’s governor since wildfires began to ravage the state. Last night, the White House announced that Biden had “expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property,” during the call, before confirming that he had signed a disaster declaration for the state.

Green estimated on Thursday that about 80% of Maui’s Lahaina town – a tourism hub and historic whaling village — was destroyed.

Oprah Winfrey was spotted at Maui shelters visiting people displaced by the wildfires and bringing much-needed supplies. 

A spokesperson for Winfrey confirmed to CNN that the former talk show host and media mogul who owns property on the island has been volunteering at local shelters.

Hettrick said Winfrey plans to give more support “as it becomes clear which funds can be the most helpful for the short-term and long-term rebuilding.”

Senator Brian Schatz speaks during a press conference about wildfire destruction in Wailuku, Hawaii, on Friday.

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, told reporters Thursday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will push to include funding for Maui disaster relief in the supplemental funding bill. 

“Leader Schumer called and assured me that he was going to do everything he could in terms of disaster supplemental funding bill,” Schatz said at a news conference with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

Some context: Congress is headed for a spending showdown in the fall. The government has to be funded by September 30, and Congress is expected to need a short-term spending bill to give the House and Senate more time to negotiate.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Lauren Fox contributed to this report.

An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings on the waterfront burned to the ground in Lahaina, western Maui, on Thursday.

The federal government has released enough food and water to support to 5,000 people for five days as part of the ongoing response to the devastating Hawaii wildfires, a White House spokesperson said Friday. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is continuing to work on providing more shelter supplies, such as water, food and blankets, for people impacted in the state, the spokesperson added. 

The Coast Guard, Navy National Guard and Army are all working to support response and rescue efforts.  

The United States Department of Agriculture has also established a Type 3 Incident Management Team and is supporting requests from the state for wildfire liaisons.

President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration on Thursday, promising to send whatever is needed to help the recovery. Assistance from the declaration can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help with recovery.

Hawaii County, known as the “Big Island,” has created a task force to support Maui with its needs, including helping people find housing, plus contributing police and animal control officers, Mayor Mitch Roth said.

Roth said that while it was known that the islands were under a red flag warning and there would likely be “some fires, we didn’t know we were going to have the extent that we did have.”

“When you have 70-mile-an-hour winds, it’s very difficult to keep those things under control,” he added. 

Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated Friday that she and President Joe Biden are closely monitoring the ongoing crisis in Hawaii as wildfires scorch parts of Maui and the death toll continues to climb.

Asked about potentially traveling to the state, Harris indicated she would like to go but that the administration needs to balance any potential travel with resources on the ground. 

“We don’t want to distract from the resources that need to go in to the victims of this tragedy, and of course the needs of the first responders have to be able to focus on that issue and not worry about focusing on us (because) we’re there,” Harris said.

On Thursday, Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for the islands.

The nearly 150-year-old, 60 feet tall banyan tree in the courthouse square in downtown Lahaina appears singed and smoldering, but remains mostly standing, according to reports at the scene. 

“Banyan Tree in Lahaina smoldering at the base, but still standing. Just about the only thing left, other than the Lighthouse,” US Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii posted along with video showing the sprawling tree mostly leafless and charred but nonetheless upright.

CNN’s Bill Weir saw the tree while reporting from Lahaina Thursday.

The tree has 46 major trunks and shades nearly two-thirds of an acre, according to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. 

While the tree remains standing, it is unclear how healthy the tree is after surviving the wildfires that all but destroyed Lahaina.

CNN has reached out to the Maui County Arborist Committee, which maintains the tree, for comment.

Some background: Imported from India and planted in front of the Lahaina Courthouse and Lahaina Harbor in 1873, the tree is one of the largest of its kind in the United States.

Note: VIIRS sensors detect thermal anomalies in 375 sq. meter areas, which was used to approximate the total fire perimeter. Data collected at 3:00 p.m. ET, Aug. 10, 2023.

Maui Rescue Mission is not able to access western Maui because it is “completely cut off from communication and power,” according to Lauren Henrie, a communications consultant for the hyperlocal nonprofit organization that organizes mobile outreach to the homeless.

“We as a local nonprofit are not able to even access anything west of Maalaea. West Maui is completely cut off from communication and power,” she told CNN, adding that there have been more than 1,000 names of those missing posted on local Facebook groups. “That’s very fluid, but that’s sort of what we’re seeing at a hyperlocal level.”

Churches and nonprofits “are sending materials via boat to west Maui and via air because the two ways to access the west side of Maui are closed off to everyone except emergency personnel right now,” she said.

Henrie said that it is hard to determine what is needed and the scale of the need, because the scope of the devastation is not clear. The organization is waiting for access approval, she added.

“We are waiting for the approval to be able to access the areas that we can drive our trailer that has showers and laundry and hygiene items, like we’re waiting to access those areas of greatest need,” she said, adding that anyone who comes into Maui to help or report should collaborate with the local leaders and organizations because they know Maui best.

Henrie also encouraged people to donate to a 501(c)(3) organization that is based in Maui.

For context: A 501(c)3 is an organization that is registered as a tax-exempt nonprofit. You can look up the organization in the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search. If the charity is a registered 501(c)3, you may want to save a record of your contribution since it’s tax deductible. For more information about what you can do, go to cnn.com/impact or text Hawaii to 707070 to donate.

Search and rescue teams with cadaver dogs from California and Washington are in Maui to assist in recovery efforts in the aftermath of wildfires in the area, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“The devastation I saw today is significant,” FEMA Region 9 director Robert Fenton said at a news conference Thursday.

Federal agencies would also provide assistance in cleanup and debris removal as well as financial assistance for those displaced by the fires, Fenton said.

Burned out homes and buildings in Lahaina, Hawaii, are seen on Thursday.

Actor Jason Momoa, one of Hawaii’s biggest stars, has been posting on his verified Instagram account about the lethal wildfires in Maui, which have resulted in the deaths of dozens of people and massive destruction on the island.

Momoa, who was born in in Honolulu, also shared information that included a locator list for those searching for their loved ones, a list of organizations that are aiding in the disaster, and he also advised people to not book hotel stays there at the moment.

The actor is a frequent booster of Hawaiian organizations that support its culture, environment and social activism.

Jason Momoa poses for photos in Los Angeles in August 2022.

Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr. speaks during a press conference in Wailuku, Hawaii, on Thursday.

The current death toll of 55 in Maui wildfires is only the number of those found outside of buildings, Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr. told NBC Friday.

When asked if the thought the island’s siren warning system worked sufficiently, Bissen said it was “an impossible situation.”

“Everything happened so quickly. I can’t comment on whether or not the sirens sounded or not, but I know that the fires came up so quickly and they spread so fast,” he told NBC.

A man walks past wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Wednesday.

The wind-whipped fires in Maui spread swiftly and created a deadly tinderbox, overwhelming residents and local officials in one of the nation’s deadliest wildfires.

“It’s very strange to hear about severe wildfires in Hawaii – a wet, tropical island – but strange events are becoming more common with climate change,” Jennifer Marlon, a research scientist and lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, told CNN.

Fueled by a combination of strong winds and dry conditions – and complicated by the island’s geography – the fires have killed at least 36 people.

Maui’s wildfire appears to be one of the deadliest in modern US history. The fire already ranks as the second deadliest in the past 100 years, trailing California’s Camp fire, which killed 85 people in November 2018, according to CalFire.

While the wildfire that engulfed Lahaina, an economic hub in western Maui, is now 80% contained, crews are facing serious challenges.

Here are some factors that made it difficult to combat the fires that have plunged a state known for its stunning natural beauty into an unprecedented crisis:

Drought contributes to fire spread: Drought worsened in Hawaii over the past week, leading to fire spread, according to the US Drought Monitor released Thursday. Severe level drought conditions in Maui County ticked up to 16% from 5% last week, while statewide moderate drought levels jumped to 14% from 6%.

Dried-out land and vegetation can fuel wildfires, which can swiftly turn deadly if strong winds help fan the flames toward communities.

Hurricane-related winds fuel fire weather conditions: Hurricane Dora wasn’t helping matters. Even as the storm roared 500 miles south of Hawaii, a strong high-pressure system stayed in place to the north, with the two forces combining to produce “very strong and damaging winds,” according to the National Weather Service.

These winds coupled with low humidity levels produced “dangerous fire weather conditions” through Wednesday afternoon, the weather service said.

How the land is used has changed: Nonnative species now cover nearly a quarter of Hawaii’s total land area, and invasive grasses and shrubs become highly flammable in the dry season, said Clay Trauernicht, an assistant specialist who studies tropical fire at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Hawaii also has lost large plantations and ranches, with fire-prone grasses overtaking fallow lands, he said.

Geography and limited resources stymie firefighting: The geography of Hawaii – an island chain in the Pacific – and limited firefighting resources also complicate efforts.

Personnel at the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife are primarily natural resource managers, foresters, biologists and technicians – not full-time wildland firefighters, according to the agency website.

“West Maui is kind of a perfect example – one highway through the whole place,” Trauernicht told CNN. “Our resources are limited to what’s on island. The resources … are going to be spread thin.”

Fewer than 300 firefighting personnel responded to the state’s second-largest fire, on the Big Island in 2021, Trauernicht said.

Lahaina resident Cole Millington hadn’t received an evacuation notice as of about 4 p.m. local time Tuesday, but he says the “huge plume of black smoke” was looking serious enough that he and his roommates decided to pack his bags and leave.

“Within 15 minutes of talking about that and seeing the smoke, we were running down into our cars, anything we can grab — go bags — mostly nothing,” he added. “I got my passport and my dog and my truck, and we were peeling out of the driveway.”

As he was getting into his truck, he recalled getting one evacuation note “It pinged me as I was getting in my truck to leave. That warning was useless. We have tsunami warnings that I think should have been utilized. I think this could have been handled so much better in so many ways. So many of us residents felt like we had absolutely no warning.”

As he drove through the gusty winds, he said he saw telephone poles and trees on the road. “There’s people screaming in the streets. There’s no one saying this is where you should go, this is what you should do.”

The community now needs relief, he said.

Millington’s local business was also lost to the wildfire. But he said his goal is to use the reach of his business to collect funds through a fundraiser he has set up for rebuilding that will take months and years. “We need real support, this is a severe disaster.”

Maui County, Hawaii, will provide updates on the aftermath of wildfires in the area via radio stations on Friday starting 9 a.m. HST (3 p.m. ET), the county said in an update on Facebook. 

“Radio updates will supplement information posted on the county’s website, Facebook and Instagram pages,” the post added.

The radio stations where updates will be provided are as follows, according to the release: 

A waterfront view of buildings destroyed by the wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

Ravaging wildfires have caused widespread devastation in Maui — dozens of people have been killed, homes and businesses have been wiped out, and nearly 11,000 customers are grappling with power outages. The extent of the damage isn’t fully known. Rebuilding the island will likely take months or even years.

CNN Impact Your World is raising money to support relief efforts. Click here to help.

If you’re looking to donate money to help those affected by the wildfires in Hawaii — or looking to support any charitable cause close to your heart — here are some tips so you can ensure your money is going to the right place:

According to the FTC, there are some telltale signs that an organization soliciting donations isn’t legitimate. In general, be wary of callers soliciting contributions. While many legitimate organizations do call for donations, make sure you listen carefully to the name of the charity, write it down, and then research it before pledging a contribution, the FTC said.

Don’t let anyone rush you into donating on the phone on the spot; take time to do the proper research. Also, if an organization insists on a donation using cryptocurrency, another hard-to-track form of payment, that should set off alarm bells. Avoid sending funds from payment apps like Venmo or Zelle. Those apps should only be used to send money to people you know, since it’s difficult to recoup funds once someone receives them.

You can report charity scams directly to the FTC or your state charity regulator.

CNN’s Scottie Andrew contributed reporting to this post.

Destroyed homes and buildings on the waterfront are seen in Lahaina in western Maui, Hawaii, on Thursday.

The wildfires ripping through Maui will likely be the largest natural disaster the state of Hawaii has ever seen, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday, as the blazes have killed dozens, displaced thousands of others and wiped out communities. 

At least 55 people have died in the fires, though that number is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue across the island, officials said. 

None of the fires burning in Maui have been completely contained, officials said Thursday.

Here are the latest developments: 

An aerial view shows the historic Banyan Tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground in the historic Lahaina town in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

Much of the western Maui community of Lahaina, home to about 12,000, has been destroyed, displacing hundreds of families, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

More than 270 structures have been impacted in Lahaina, county officials added, many of them near one of the largest and most storied banyan trees in the United States.

A top tourist attraction, Lahaina once was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, beloved by its kings and queens, as well as whaling ship crews and missionaries, according to the National Park Service. It’s been a National Historic Landmark for more than six decades.

With cell service down on the island and witness reports still coming in, here’s what we know so far about some of the important places affected by the wildfires:

Historic landmarks impacted by Maui fires

Keep reading

Building wreckage is seen in the aftermath of the fires that raged through Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

“It looks like a bomb went off in Lahaina town,” Bill Weir, CNN’s chief climate correspondent, reported from the scorched Maui town on Thursday.

“All the iconic buildings are either flattened or just scorched skeletons of their former self,” he said as he walked through the aftermath of a natural disaster that has claimed at least 53 lives, according to officials.

“Flames came so fast, entire structures went up in a matter of minutes,” Weir said that people told him.

The scene reminded him of the deadly 2018 Paradise wildfires, the deadliest and most destructive in California’s history.

There were emergency rescue and cleanup crews in the town.

Otherwise, Weir said, it was ” just lifeless, smoky, and sooty devastation where Lahaina town used to be.”

Some background: Lahaina Town is a historic whaling village and tourism center that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Front Street has been ranked as one of the “Top Ten Greatest Streets” by the American Planning Association.

Earlier Thursday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said as many as 1,700 buildings were probably destroyed in the fire and it looked like “about 80% of Lahaina is gone.”

Christina Lovitt, a boat captain on Maui, spends her time delivering food, medicine and other items to people on the neighboring island of Lanai, which doesn’t have the same resources as Maui, she told CNN on the phone Thursday.

But on Tuesday around sunset, as black smoke engulfed the sky around her, Lovitt watched as the boat she’d put “every penny” into burned on the water.

She, Lashawna Garnier and Lovitt’s wife, Emma Nelson, had been on a skiff, or a small, flat-bottomed boat, trying to help others get their own boats out of the harbor when a large wave flooded their motor, rendering it inoperable.

The consistent 70 to 80 mph wind gusts kept them from being able to anchor. Instead, they drifted and were eventually pulled onto a 120-foot boat Lovitt had actually captained in the past.

That boat had a generator, radio and water on board – but no food. Wind gusts had blown out the windows, so the women boarded them up with wood in an attempt to stall the smoke. That’s when the women, who are all captains, heard through the radio that the Coast Guard needed help finding survivors who’d had no choice but to jump into the ocean after being boxed out by flames.

When another passing boat lent them extra gas, the women were able to get back on the skiff and head out into the night to find survivors. They ended up rescuing a 5- and 6-year-old in the water and handing the children over to the Coast Guard.

Through extremely low visibility due to the heavy smoke, the women searched for survivors until about 4 a.m. local time. They watched every boat in the harbor burn up and knew others were on the brink of explosion. Lovitt called the scene “toxic.”

After returning on the skiff to the larger boat, the women still hadn’t had food. The Coast Guard eventually found them and gave them popcorn. Another woman, who had been riding out the fires on her own boat, gave them their first real meal. 

At around 4:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, the women arrived at Kaanapali Beach after deciding they would travel seven miles north in their skiff to safety. There, they were able to come ashore and helped another boat unload humanitarian aid supplies. 

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed reporting.

Volunteers attend to evacuees from the West Maui wildfires at a shelter set up at the Maui War Memorial in Wailuku, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii and “ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires,” according to the White House.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help with recovery from the fires.

He asserted that anyone who needs and is eligible for assistance will get help “immediately.”

A White House official told CNN that Hawaii has also asked for shelter supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including water, food, cots and blankets. FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton and his team are in Oahu, and he has deployed a specialized rapid-response team to help with federal relief efforts, the official added.