Latest Fire Recovery News

In the first round of the Lahaina HERO Awards program, 300 Lahaina teachers, staff members and administrators will receive a monetary award ranging from $2,500 for eligible full time salaried employees to around $1,000 for part time staff and casual employees. The governor also announced a $20M Lahaina workforce housing project to build a 47 unit rental complex at Lahainaluna High School.

The State Historic Preservation Division is considering developing sensitivity maps and one archaeological monitoring plan that all residential and commercial property owners can use so they don’t have to develop and pay for individual ones.

Hundreds gathered at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for the 2024 Piʻo Summit: Hulihia: Fire and Rain, a free series of forums focused on leveraging ancestral ʻike (knowledge) to support long-term recovery efforts for communities affected by the Lahaina wildfires and the 2018 Kauaʻi floods.

The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are updating Maui wildfire survivors on the rental assistance program, which has been extended beyond Feb. 10, 2025. As part of this extension, FEMA will begin collecting rent from Direct Housing Assistance participants beginning March 1, 2025, based on their ability to pay. FEMA has begun the process of notifying affected families of this change.

The Ho‘ōla iā Mauiakama Long Term Recovery Group and All Hands And Hearts are inviting the community to participate in the “Lahaina Clean-Up Kōkua” this holiday season to help Lahaina residents impacted by the August 2023 wildfire. This community-driven effort will organize teams of volunteers to clear ineligible debris from fire-damaged properties, supporting residents as they prepare to rebuild.

The first two completed homes under the Housing for Healthcare initiative were blessed in a private ceremony held with the two new tenants and their families, both Maui healthcare professionals who lost their homes and belongings in the devastating Lahaina fires last year. The families moved into their homes this month.

Motorists are advised of potential traffic delays as modular homes for wildfire survivors are transported from Kahului to the state’s Ka Laʻi Ola housing site in Lahaina on Friday and Saturday night. The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation reports that hauling will take place nightly on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23 beginning at 9 p.m. and is expected to end at 11:59 p.m.

Dedicated members of Rotary Maui Fires Relief Advisory Committee, alongside Rotary D5000 District Governor Ted Faigle, visited the University of Hawai’i Maui College to see how Rotary support for student vocational training was conducted at the college’s Food Innovation Center.

The Ah Hees are days away from their final inspection and plan to spend Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones more than a year after they were displaced by the August 2023 fire.

The County Department of Environmental Management will provide updates on three key areas of recovery: an update on areas that have had sewer service restored; a brief update on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Wahikuli sewer project; and information regarding the County’s recently announced agreement to acquire land from Nan, Inc., adjacent to the Central Maui Landfill, that would be used for the Permanent Disposal Site of Lahaina fire debris.

The County of Maui has entered into conditional agreements with a subsidiary of Nan, Inc., Hawai‘i’s largest, locally owned construction company, to purchase approximately 49 acres of previously quarried land and 30 acres of land currently being quarried adjacent to the Central Maui Landfill. The 30 acres of land would be available upon completion of quarrying activities. The $4 million agreements, pending approval by the Maui County Council, aim to secure a suitable, long-term disposal site for debris from the August 2023 Lahaina wildfires and address the island’s future landfill needs.

Schatz is set to press Administration officials on recovery efforts on Maui in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday. “We cannot leave town for the holidays next month without passing the long-term relief that survivors need and deserve. This is not optional. We need to get this done,” said Sen. Schatz.

This year, 23 businesses raised more than $8,800 and 1,761 pounds of food through the end of October, which combined will provide 50,710 meals to individuals and families across the Maui Food Bank’s network.  

Online feedback on the draft of the County of Maui’s Long-Term Recovery Plan for Lahaina is currently open on www.MauiRecovers.org/lahaina. The deadline to submit feedback is Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health is issuing Guidance for Existing Cesspool Use in Residential Kula, Maui. It was developed in an effort to support Kula residents affected by the wildfires, working to rebuild and reoccupy their homes.

Since launching its expanded wildfire safety strategy one year ago, Hawaiian Electric reports making significant improvements to reduce wildfire risk from its equipment. Actions include a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program, replacing and testing thousands of utility poles, upgrading miles of overhead power lines, clearing instrusive vegetation near electrical equipment, and installing weather stations and AI-assisted high definition […]

Lahainaluna Road will officially reopen for unrestricted public access at 6 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, according to an announcement from the County of Maui.

A joint informational briefing hosted by the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, and the Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism takes place at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. The purpose of this joint informational briefing is for Hawaiian Electric Company to present its Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which was ordered by the Public Utilities Commission.

The County of Maui Department of Environmental Management’s Wastewater Reclamation Division announced that it has amended the Sewer Service Status from “red” to “green,” meaning sewer service is now active for 15 properties including: one lot on Kaili Place, six lots near Kopili and Kuhua streets, and eight lots near Mall Place and Ainakea Road.

Residents are encouraged to attend the County of Maui’s Weekly Disaster Recovery Community Meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Lahaina Intermediate School cafeteria. The meeting will include a presentation by Keʻeaumoku Kapu on the work of Nā ʻAikāne of Maui and the cultural monitoring program in place for debris cleanup in Lahaina.