67 now dead in Maui wildfire, ‘don’t know’ how many missing

The death toll from a devastating wildfire in Maui has risen to 67, Hawaiian officials said Friday.

The fire, which has destroyed the tourist town of Lahaina on Maui’s west coast, remains uncontained. 

“This is something that we’ve never seen in Hawaii and I think it’s the worst disaster many have seen throughout the country,” said Yuki Lei Sugimura, Vice Chair of the Maui County Council in an interview with The Hill on NewsNation on Friday.

She said authorities “don’t know” how many people are missing as emergency service workers continue to put out the blaze and search through the rubble.

“[Lahaina] does look like a war zone. That was my first reaction when I saw it,” she said. “Residents have not been able to go back in after the devastation and after many of the residents were asked to be evacuated because of the blaring, raging fires.”

Locals are being let into the town for the first time today, she said. Residents who show local IDs will be allowed in the town until 10 p.m. local time tonight.

The fires caught locals off guard due to abnormally high winds. Hawaiian emergency services said that warning sirens — intended for tsunamis — were not set off as the fire approached the town, sparking some criticism.

Residents were able to receive alerts on their cell phones and via radio and tv messages, according to NBC News reports.

“This was an anomaly of the worst of everything coming before us,” Sugimura said. “I think our whole state was surprised by the magnitude of the winds, which were 50 to 80 mile per hour winds, which blew the wildfire at speeds that were uncontrollable.”

President Biden signed a disaster declaration for Hawaii on Friday, allowing federal disaster aid to flow onto the island.