Maui Fire Moves From Shelters To Hotels Where They Can Live For Months – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

He said the contracts with the hotels would last at least seven months but could easily be extended. The properties will be equipped by service providers who will provide meals, Counselingfinancial assistance and more Disaster aid.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green said at least 1,000 hotel rooms will be allocated to those who have lost their homes. In addition, the company said that the nonprofit wing of AirBnB will provide properties for 1,000 people.

The governor has also vowed to protect local landowners from “falling victim” to opportunistic buyers when Maui rebuilds. Green said Wednesday that he has instructed the state’s attorney general to work to stop land transactions in Lahaina, even as he acknowledges that the move will likely face legal challenges.

“My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no victim is ever made of the land grab,” Green said at a news conference. “Don’t approach their family and say they’d be better off if they made a deal. Because we won’t allow that.”

Since much of Lahaina was consumed by fire just over a week ago, locals fear the rebuilt city could become even more so. Geared toward affluent visitorsAccording to Lahaina resident Richie Palalai.

Hotels and condos “that we can’t live in – that’s what we’re afraid of,” he said Saturday at a shelter for evacuees.

Hawaii Attorney General Ann Lopez said Thursday that an outside organization will conduct an “impartial and independent” review of the government’s response to the fires.

“We intend to look into this serious incident to facilitate any necessary corrective action and to enhance future emergency preparedness,” Lopez said in a statement. She said the investigation would likely take months.

like The death toll rose to 111 The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday defended the failure to sound sirens The flames broke out. Hawaii has what it considers to be the largest outdoor siren system in the world.

“We were afraid that people would go to Mauka,” said agency director Hermann Andaya, using a navigational term that can mean heading up the mountains or inland in Hawaii. “If that was the case, they would have entered the fire.”

The system has been created After the tsunami of 1946 which has killed more than 150 people on the Big Island, and its website says it may be used to alert about fires.

Afri Dagoubion, whose family home was destroyed, said he was angry that residents were not given early warning to move out.

He pointed to Maui Mayor Richard Besen’s August 8 announcement that the fire was contained. He said this calmed people down and made them feel safe and left him distrustful of officials.

At the press conference, Green and Bessen fretted when asked about such criticism.

“I can’t answer why people don’t trust people,” Pessen said. The people who were trying to put out these fires lived in those homes – 25 firefighters lost their homes. Do you think they were doing half way? “

The cause of forest fires, and deadliest in the United States In more than a century, under investigation. But Hawaii is increasingly at risk of disasters, with wildfires escalating faster, according to the Associated Press analysis of FEMA records.

The local power utility has faced criticism for leaving power in the form of strong winds from a Hurricane passes folded a Thirsty area Last week, one video shows a A cable dangles in a charred patch of grasssurrounded by flames, in the first moments of the conflagration.

“The facts about this event will continue to evolve,” Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura wrote in an email to utility customers Thursday. “And while we may not have answers for some time, we are committed, working with many others, to find out what happened as we continue to focus urgently on efforts to restore and rebuild Maui.”

Meanwhile, signs of recovery are emerging with public schools reopening across Maui, welcoming displaced students from Lahaina, and traffic resuming on a major road.

Tracing has moved beyond Lahaina to other peripheral communities that have been devastated. The governor said researchers had covered about 45% of the burned area by Thursday.

Corinne Hosey Nobrega, whose home survived, watched as crews searched through the ashes and debris for human remains. And while some of her neighbors raised questions about the lack of sirens and insufficient evacuation routes, Nobrega said it was hard to blame a tragedy that took everyone by surprise.

“One minute we saw fire up there,” she said, pointing to distant hills, “and the next minute it was consuming all these houses.”

The ongoing search has been marred by spotty mobile phone service and misinformation on social media. There have also been challenges finding people who may be in hospitals, holed up in friends’ homes or in informal shelters that have popped up. Many people made flyers and went door to door looking for their loved ones.

Jodi Riley, who has been working with families looking for relatives, said false leads and a sense that “no one is responsible for missing persons” contributed to the desperation.

“If you’re tracing, it’s easy for people to slip through the cracks,” she said.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Nobriga’s name in one instance.

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Keeler reports from Honolulu and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report. Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island; Seth Bornstein in Washington, D.C.; and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri.

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