“None of us really know the size of it yet,” he added.
While some have turned up in shelters, families are still desperately searching for loved ones.
“There are still people who are unaccounted for. They need to be identified,” US Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said. “There is a call for people to come in to provide DNA.”
Of the dozens found dead across the burn area, only two people had been identified as of Saturday, according to Maui County.
“The remains we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal. We have to do rapid DNA to identify everyone,” Pelletier said.
There have been some stories of hope: A grandfather finally reached his family three days after they last heard from him.
Brittany Talley and her family last heard from her grandfather, Timm “TK” Williams Sr., on Wednesday when the 66-year-old man sent a photo of a raging wildfire on Maui as he evacuated from Kaanapali.
On Saturday, Williams was able to get enough signal on his cell phone to text Talley’s mother, telling the family he was safe, Talley told CNN.
“Thousands of people are experiencing the worst moment of their lives right now, so receiving a text was a small gesture, but a huge blessing for my entire family,” Talley said.
Trejos, the 68-year-old victim, died trying to escape the Lahaina fire, his niece Kika Perez Grant told CNN.
After the fire, Perez Grant said the family received a call from Trejos’ roommate letting them know he wasn’t sure if Trejos had made it out alive.
“We kept hope alive but then his roommate called us again a few hours later to tell us he had found Uncle Frankie’s remains,” Perez Grant said. His remains were found on top of his roommate’s dog, who also died, she said.
Trejos, a Costa Rica native who moved to the United States at a young age, had lived in Lahaina for the last 30 years, according to his niece.
“Uncle Frankie was a kind man, a nature lover, an animal lover and he loved his friends and his families with this whole heart,” Perez Grant said. “He loved adventure and was a free spirit.”
Tasha Pagdilao, a Maui firefighter, said she lost her uncle to the fire. She said her experience battling the flames was surreal.
“It seemed like an apocalypse,” Pagdilao told “CNN This Morning” on Monday. “Everything seemed to be on fire.”
She urged people to give the community time to heal before traveling into affected areas. “I know a lot of people (are) eager to get back into Lahaina and see what’s left, but give our first responders time,” she said.
Carole Hartley was described by her sister Donna Gardner Hartley as “a free spirit” who “always looked for the good in people and always helped others.”
Hartley and her partner, Charles Paxton, were trying to evacuate when the smoke overwhelmed the couple and they got separated, Gardner Hartley told CNN.
Charles was eventually found by his friends and organized a search party to look for Hartley; the search group found her remains on the couple’s property over the weekend, Gardner Hartley said.
Warning sirens were not activated
As people fled for their lives, Hawaii’s network of about 400 alarms, meant to alert residents to tsunamis and other natural disasters, was never activated, according to Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub.
“There were multiple fires at the same time, and the circumstance was greatly complicated also by the heat and the speed with which the fire spread, destroying a great deal of infrastructure,” Green said Saturday when asked about why sirens weren’t activated.
“Over time, we’ll be able to figure out if we could have better protected people. That’s why we’re reviewing everything,” he added.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez is set to lead a comprehensive review of officials’ response to the catastrophic wildfires, her office announced Friday. The review will encompass “critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires,” the attorney general’s office said.
Meanwhile, Hawaii’s main electric provider is already facing a lawsuit claiming electrified power lines blown over by high winds helped to cause the Lahaina wildfire.
“By failing to shut off the power during these dangerous fire conditions, Defendants caused loss of life, serious injuries, destruction of hundreds of homes and businesses, displacement of thousands of people, and damage to many of Hawai’i’s historic and cultural sites,” says the complaint filed Saturday against Hawaiian Electric Industries and three subsidiaries, including the power servicing Maui.
“These power lines foreseeably ignited the fastmoving, deadly, and destructive Lahaina Fire, which destroyed homes, businesses, churches, schools, and historic cultural sites,” the lawsuit states.
Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr. acknowledged Thursday power lines that were “still energized” had fallen on the roads, but the new lawsuit does not state exactly how the power lines allegedly caused the wildfire. An official cause of the wildfire has not yet been determined.
In a statement to CNN on Sunday, Hawaiian Electric vice president Jim Kelly said, “As has always been our policy, we don’t comment on pending litigation.”
“Our immediate focus is on supporting emergency response efforts on Maui and restoring power for our customers and communities as quickly as possible. At this early stage, the cause of the fire has not been determined and we will work with the state and county as they conduct their review,” Kelly told CNN in an email.
Kelly also told The New York Times precautionary shut-offs have to be arranged with first responders. “Electricity powers the pumps that provide the water needed for firefighting,” he said.
Source: https://abc7ny.com/lahaina-wildfire-maui-wildfires-fire-in-hawaii-death-toll/13646352/
