Number of missing in Maui wildfires, which was once over 3,000, drops to 66, Hawaii’s governor says
Lahaina was still smoldering in this photo taken a few days after last month's fire.
By Paradise Afshar and Michelle Watson, CNN
(CNN) — A total of 66 people remain unaccounted for after the deadly fires in Maui as officials continue to work to find the missing and identify the dead.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said at a Friday news conference that the number of missing people, which was once in the thousands, has continued to drop.
“This is the number that was initially over 3,000 and then dropped to 385 last week,” he said, adding the death toll remains at 115.
Police continue “to make daily progress” and encourage families to share information about any missing loved ones, Green said.
He added officials were planning to reopen west Maui to visitors and end all travel restrictions on October 8.
Green told CNN’s Jake Tapper previously that authorities have made a “great deal of progress” locating people, and predicted the number of missing would go down significantly, but it remained mostly unchanged.
“I think we’re going to hear a number in the lower double digits… hopefully under 50,” Green said. “And it’s not much consolation because our hearts are broken that we lost 115 people for sure, but it is something that we are grateful that it is not 800 or 1,000 like people were projecting earlier.”
Green has asked the attorney general to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the August 8 fires, as island authorities faced mounting scrutiny over whether more action could have been taken to warn residents as the flames wreaked havoc, devastating Lahaina.
Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen said in a statement last week he’s trying to clear up what happened in the early days of the wildfires when even top officials were caught off guard by the severity of the quickly escalating situation.
“The early hours of a disaster unfolded with our emergency responders facing conditions that were made extraordinarily difficult, with high wind, falling debris, including utility poles, and a rapidly advancing wildfire,” Bissen said. “The severe gravity of the impact was not clear in the initial hours, as our firefighters and police on the ground placed all of their efforts and actions towards helping people in the areas.”
“As the evening of the first day came, the horrific effects of the wildfire in Lahaina became apparent,” Bissen said.
The mayor said he first learned the morning of August 9 that people had died.
“The realization that we had lost lives was devastating,” he said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
