DFA: Elderly Filipino among Hawaii wildfire dead

A 79-year-old Filipino was among the over 100 fatalities in the wildfires that struck Maui in Hawaii, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed Friday.

In a Viber message to GMA News Online, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said the Filipino was identified as Alfredo Galinato.

“The DFA confirms the death of a Filipino national in the Hawaii wildfires. He was a naturalized US citizen originally from Ilocos,” De Vega said.

“The Philippine Consulate in Honolulu is assisting the family who are all based in Hawaii,” he added.

The Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce earlier said hundreds of Filipinos were among the more than 1,000 missing in the wildfires that started last week.

On Monday, the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu said it was receiving a rising number of calls and e-mails inquiring about the status of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans missing due to the wildfires.

"Queries received by the Consulate requesting assistance in locating missing individuals and family members have increased," Consul General Emilio Hernandez told GMA Integrated News earlier.

According to the DFA, there are 200,000 pure Filipinos living in Hawaii, 60% them American citizens.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier said he is monitoring the situation of Filipinos who were affected by the deadly wildfires in Hawaii.

Marcos ensured that the Philippine government, through the DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), has been determining the number of Filipinos possibly affected by the massive wildfires.

He also said the Consulate in Honolulu is ready to assist the Filipino victims.

Fueled by winds gusting up to 80 mph (128 kph), an inferno burning at temperatures that Hawaii Governor Josh Green said reached 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees C) raced from the dry grasslands outside town into the historic resort town of Lahaina last Tuesday, turning block after block into ash.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and many survivors have said they went unwarned before the inferno rapidly swept through town. Some people were forced to flee into the Pacific Ocean to escape the flames.

The embattled head of Maui's emergency management agency, who has come under fire for sirens not being sounded as a wildfire tore through Lahaina, resigned on Thursday, a statement said.

"Today Mayor Richard Bissen accepted the resignation of Maui Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Administrator Herman Andaya," a Maui County release said.

"Citing health reasons, Andaya submitted his resignation effective immediately."

Andaya on Wednesday told a news conference he did not regret the decision to not activate an island-wide network of 121-decibel sirens as the deadly wildfire bore down on Lahaina and its more-than 12,000 residents.

That decision, along with other perceived missteps before, during and after the disaster, which left at least 111 people dead, has sparked fury among survivors, who say more lives could have been saved.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii next week to survey the devastation left in the wake of the deadly wildfires.

With more than 100 fatalities, the fire is one of the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century. As officials work to identify the deceased, stories about those who perished have emerged from loved ones. —with Reuters and Agence France-Presse/KBK, GMA News