Sorry to interrupt all the Trump news.
Governor Newsom and the Federal government are coordinating a massive effort to help the city of Lahaina in West Maui. The town has been wiped off the map by a wildfire that burned exotic grasses, which overwhelmed Lahaina as flames quickly engulfed the city primarily built with wood.
As of this evening, fifty-three are confirmed dead, and “many” are missing, per Maui County officials. Unfortunately, California Search and Rescue has had to deal with the aftermath of historical firestorms in their state. It is best trained to assist devastated communities when disaster by-fire events overwhelm local officials.
There were 12,000 people in Lahaina when the firestorm arrived. The death count will likely shock the Country despite many that were able to reach safety. There are bodies everywhere, according to survivors that saw cremains in the many cars that people were attempting to escape the flames. I’ve seen bodies on social media which I won’t post here. The high winds from Dora are still present, which is hampering rescue work.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday the deployment of 11 members from California search-and-rescue task forces to assist the hardest hit areas from devastating wildfires in Maui that have killed at least 53 people this week in Hawaii.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency worked closely with Newsom as the California governor directed the Office of Emergency Services to also deploy state personnel specializing in urban search-and-rescue and mass fatality management to support Hawaii’s operations.
The specialized team includes local government firefighting personnel from Sacramento, Riverside and Oakland.
President Biden issues federal disaster declaration for Maui and the Big Island.
“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.
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.
The aid from the disaster declaration “will get aid into the hands of people who desperately need help,” Biden said, vowing that “anyone who’s lost a loved one or whose home has been damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately.”
He noted that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell travels to Maui on Friday, and he has “directed her to streamline any process, request for help, and survivors registered for needing federal assistance without delay.”
FEMA, he added, is “gonna help survivors get access to critical assistance,” urging those affected to visit disasterassistance.gov.
“We have expertise, as everyone knows, in wildfires. We have expertise in debris removal, which is something that Hawaii has done for hurricanes — fire’s a little bit different because you have possibly remains, possibly hazmat materials,” Ward said in a released statement. “We have sent two of our subject matter experts on fire resources to Hawaii already.”
Several hundred volunteers with the American Red Cross are flying to, if not already in, Maui to give their support. The Red Cross has a “deep pool” of volunteer roles from sheltering to nurses to mental health and spiritual care as they work with local governments and evacuees during the crisis, officials said.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has asked visitors to cancel plans to fly to Maui to fill those seats with the necessary volunteers, rescue teams, and hotel rooms to house survivors, crews, and volunteers.
“We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,” Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said Thursday. He said search and rescue teams still won’t be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they’re sure that they’re going to be able to get to those areas safely. “What we have here is a natural disaster,” Weintraub said. “There may have been questions that need to be examined about whether it was handled in the right way. But we still got people in danger. We still have people who don’t have homes. We still have people who can’t find their loved ones.”