#wildfire maui

FEMA specialists will be available June 17-22, at Foodland in Pukalani from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday, except for Wednesday due to the observance of Juneteenth on June 19. Specialists will answer questions and offer home-improvement tips and proven methods to help reduce damage from disasters. Most information is aimed at general contractors or those who do the work on their own.

US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) announced that the US Forest Service is awarding more than $5.6 million to help plan for and prevent wildfires in Hawaiʻi. The funding, made available through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program, will be allocated to nine projects across the state to help at-risk communities plan for and reduce the risk of wildfires.

Hawai’i’s Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC) Director of Global Operations Dr. Erin Hughey will appear as a guest speaker at Kihei Community Association’s general community meeting on Tuesday, May 21 at ProArts Playhouse in Azeka Plaza Makai at 6:30 p.m.

Since the Aug. 8, 2023 wildfires, nearly 2,000 individuals are still being housed in hotels on Maui. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that currently, 1,969 survivors are sheltered in nine hotels and other sites. The agency provided an update on housing, spending and resources as wildfire recovery nears the nine month mark.

Maui County Council members have referred a bill to the Maui Planning Commission for a conditional change of zoning from residential to public/quasi-public for Grace Baptist Church, which was destroyed Aug. 8 in the Lahaina wildfire.

The Hawaiʻi Workers Center, a grassroots organization focused on the well-being of workers held a press conference in Lahaina last week in the hopes of tackling housing issues impacting wildfire survivors.

During their meeting, Kouchi and Hashimoto urged Ambassador Tai to recognize the unique situation that West Maui is in as it attempts to recover from the wildfire, and to advocate for the construction of 1,000 permanent FEMA-built housing units to house wildfire survivors.

The US Small Business Administration’s deadline for Federal Disaster Loan applications related to the Maui wildfires is Jan. 25, 2024.

A groundbreaking new 30-meter Maui Forest Height Map reveals that trees on the Valley Isle are taller than previously thought. UH researchers say the findings provide critical information needed to accurately evaluate the upstream freshwater yield, a crucial consideration for town planning in watersheds like Lahaina.

Even though the federal deadline to apply for wildfire damage or losses has passed, Hawaiʻi residents and businesses have been granted a 45-day grace period, until Thursday, Jan. 25, to submit SBA loan applications for physical property damage caused by the wildfires. The last day for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private nonprofit organizations to apply for an SBA economic injury disaster loan is Friday, May 10, 2024.

In response to the wildfires, the Hawaiʻi Insurance Division has been on Maui since August to help the community with its insurance questions.  A representative will continue to be available for in-person assistance at the Lahaina Disaster Recovery Center at the Lahaina Civic Center Gymnasium, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. 

Thursday mornings are particularly busy—and rewarding—for the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College’s culinary arts program purchasing class. Instructor Natasha Joslin and her seven students, along with some campus and community volunteers, pack up 200 boxes of local produce that are distributed later in the day to UH Maui College students and community members affected by the August wildfires. 

The nonprofit Hawaiʻi Land Trust has received a more than $1.1 million grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund to create temporary workforce opportunities in partnership with KUPU for 48 Maui residents who have been affected by the recent wildfires. Applications are open through Nov. 17, 2023.

The funds allow the Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to provide people with temporary jobs focused on cleaning up debris and repairing damage caused by the fires, and providing humanitarian assistance to the wildfire survivors.

Walk-ins will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for those affected by the Maui wild fires.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations today announced the availability of a disaster recovery jobs portal for Maui to help workers and businesses impacted by the wildfires. The portal provides access to all currently available jobs on Maui as maintained by the DLIR. 

The Central Pacific Bank Foundation is donating $50,000 to the Hawaiʻi Red Cross to help victims of the devastating fires on Maui.

Due to the fires, some Hawaiian Telcom customers on Maui are experiencing intermittent phone and internet service outages. Affected areas include Lahaina, Nāpili, Kāʻanapali, Kula, and Makawao.

Update: 5:33 p.m., Aug. 9, 2023. Honoapiʻilani Highway is open for South Bound Traffic ONLY exiting Lahaina. Honoapiʻilani Highways is open from Kāʻanapali Parkway, up Keawe and onto the Lahaina bypass exiting Lahaina.

Severe drought conditions are now impacting the southern and western coastal areas of Maui. According to the US Drought Monitor weekly reporting, this is the first time the severe drought designation has been noted in Hawaiʻi this summer.