Latest Fire Recovery News

Council Vice-Chair Yuki Lei K. Sugimura is hosting a community meeting at the Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani at 6 p.m. on Sept. 20, to provide updates on water safety, wildfire-debris management and disaster recovery.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen has formed a 5-member Lahaina Advisory Team, announced two public meetings about relief efforts and is in the midst of creating a new Office of Recovery.

The next “Pathways to Recovery” webinar on Sept. 21 will focus on topics such as price freeze, landlord-tenant matters and other items related to consumer protection.

More than 250 Lahaina students from King Kamehameha III Elementary, Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary and Lahaina Intermediate attended the opening of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s distance learning hub at Citizen Church in Kahana.

The University of Hawaiʻi is offering full one-year scholarships to every Lahainaluna High School senior to attend any of its 10 campuses.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing a new $7.3 million grant to aid with the state’s and county’s ongoing recovery effort from the Maui fires.

Kapalua Golf will reopen its Bay Course on Wednesday, Sept. 20 and its Plantation Course on Oct. 18, 2023.

This brings the total number of victims publicly identified to 74 of the estimated 97 fatalities, which is down from the death toll of 115 that had been reported for more than two weeks.

More than 30 club outrigger canoes plus stand-up paddle boards and small canoes gathered on Maui Canoe Club Beach as the sun rose to honor Lahaina fire victims.

Maui United Way has opened the nonprofit grant application process for Phase 2 of its Maui Fire Disaster Relief program.

Arborists who are volunteering their time and expertise to save a 150-year-old Banyan tree burned during the Lahaina fire indicate the growth is a positive sign for its long-term recovery.

Maui wildfire survivors must act quickly to apply for financial assistance through the American Red Cross, with the registration deadline of Monday, Sept. 18. There is no late registration option.

The Maui Police Department released the names of two more victims from the Aug. 8 Lahaina fire on Sunday: Janet St. Clair, 75, and Douglas Matsuda-Boucher, 65, both of Lahaina.

The lack of available rental units has hindered the Maui Fires Relief Transitional Housing Program, which pays for six months of rent and the security deposit.

An Upcountry Resource Fair is being held on Sept. 18 at the Kula Community Center to provide fire disaster relief information from different agencies.

Community members affected by the Maui fires now can retrieve food, supplies and other necessities at the Westside Distribution Center at Kahana Gateway.

The two latest victims to be officially identified are 68-year-old Michael Gordon and 60-year-old Carole Hartley, both of Lahaina. A total of 67 victims have now been named.

The first 60 students of a free Maui workforce development program began classes on Friday to learn skills that will help them land fire recovery jobs.

To measure the longterm affects of the Lahaina fire on nearby ocean waters, scientists are using three sophisticated sampling instruments that are on loan from the US Geological Survey.

Unified Command has completed the search for sunken, derelict or displaced vessels, along with associated marine debris from the Aug. 8 Lahaina fire, and has identified 78 “targets.”