On-the-ground search for fire victims nearly over | News, Sports, Jobs
Red Cross staffers walk on Lahaina’s Hotel Street Monday afternoon. While the physical search for victims is 99 percent complete, the FEMA official heading the Maui fire response says the quest to find loved ones is far from over. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
LAHAINA — While the physical search for victims is 99 percent complete, the FEMA official heading the Maui fire response says the quest to find loved ones is far from over.
“It’s really an investigation now for the Maui Police Department,” said Bob Fenton, the FEMA Region 9 administrator who is the federal government’s chief response coordinator for Maui.
“There is not much more our dogs or search and rescue teams can do but for the anthropologist, mortuary teams, the teams looking at the remains we recovered, it’s really for them to take it to the next step,” Fenton said in an interview with The Maui News at the Family Assistance Center at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa.
As of Monday, the death toll remained at 115 people. So far 45 individuals have been identified with families notified. Another six individuals have been identified but their families have not been located or notified, according to Maui police.
“We’ve done everything that we could to our technical capability and found everything that the dogs hit on and now giving it to Maui Police Department,” Fenton said. “They have the maps. They have all the information.”
Divers from the U.S. Navy’s Mobile Diving Salvage Unit walk along Lahaina Harbor Monday after completing their search of all the boats in the harbor for human remains.
Fenton said some of the areas police could do additional checks on include locations “where we had a double dog hit yet nothing was recovered.”
“That’s not a whole bunch of areas,” Fenton said. “Most of them we found something at. But it allows that to happen and allows the anthropologist to do more work.”
FEMA officials said earlier this month that they rely on an initial cadaver dog to alert search teams to possible human remains, and a second dog to help verify.
Gov. Josh Green, who also paid a visit to the Family Assistance Center on Monday, told reporters at a media briefing a search of the waters off Lahaina is still ongoing. While there will be no survivors in the water, “we will find possibly…remains of some individuals on the boats that were out there,” Green said.
“There are couple other sensitive spots that were under that had to be investigated,” he added.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green addresses U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas at Lahaina Harbor Monday.
Green said search crews were able to scour 5 1/2 square miles of the damaged areas on land in an accelerated fashion.
This was done by large search crews and more than 40 dogs.
As the search moved from single-story structures to multifamily and multilevel buildings, Green said, “We didn’t find large amounts of people. We were very worried about that.”
He said the numbers of missing people have declined from around 1,200 in the early days after the fire to about 800, due in part to duplication of names. Officials are currently working off a validated list of 388 unaccounted for individuals, although Green said there may end up being 100 less.
The governor said he is trying to accelerate the time when people will able to go back to their damaged or destroyed homes. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency first has to help with the removal of hazardous materials — until then it is not safe for residents to return.
FEMA Region 9 Administrator Robert Fenton provides an update Monday at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa.
Green said they will establish “zones” that have been cleared for residents to go back to so they do not have to wait for the entire town to be cleared by the EPA.
On Monday, Green also met with members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, including Chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas. The bipartisan group toured the Front Street area and also visited the assistance center.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat from New Mexico and a member of the committee, said in a brief interview that residents in her home state also had to deal with crippling wildfires and worked with FEMA in the aftermath. The state had the largest wildlife in its history last year.
As for what they could do for Maui, Stansbury said, “I think we will follow the lead of the community and the state. Certainly many of us in Congress are deeply concerned about the people of Maui and the people of Hawaii and want to make sure that we can support everyone as best as we can.”
She said this could include getting additional funding for relief and recovery.
Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the state’s adjutant general, answers a question Monday as Hawaii Gov. Josh Green looks on.
The delegation was making its way back to the Mainland after visiting the Federated States of Micronesia, according to a news release.
“We need help now, we really do,” Green told the Congressional delegation.
“This is just shocking to the whole state,” he added during the visit to Lahaina town, where the smell of fuel still hung in the air near Lahaina Harbor.
Westerman said that “from the rest of the country, our heart goes out to you.”
“This devastation, until you walk though it and see it, you really don’t get a grasp for it and your delegation here from Hawaii have been phenomenal,” Westerman said.
Melted and deformed scuba dive tanks are seen along a walkway at Lahaina Harbor Monday.
Hawaii U.S. Rep. Ed Case is also part of the committee and was in attendance. Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz also joined in the visit.
“This is a high priority and we want to be here to help,” Westerman said. “We don’t want to get in the way but we want to have that line of communication, to go back to D.C. and advocate with the Hawaii delegation.”
* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.
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