Biden to survey Maui wildfire destruction, meet survivors

LAHAINA, Hawaii — 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 that ravaged the Maui resort town of Lahaina last week, the White House said on Wednesday.

Biden on Monday will meet with first responders and survivors, as well as with federal, state and local officials, the White House said in a statement.

"I remain committed to delivering everything the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this disaster," Biden said in a post on the social media platform X.

The inferno killed at least 106 people after racing from grasslands outside town into Lahaina last Tuesday and charring a 5-square-mile (13-square-km) area of town in hours. The fire, which caught residents by surprise, destroyed 2,200 buildings and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damage, officials said.

A week later, traumatized residents of the West Maui town have grown weary from living off relief supplies while many have been kept from inspecting their homes and still left awaiting news of their missing loved ones.

On Wednesday, authorities will allow residents and employees to travel on a highway into town for the first time in days. A brief relaxation of the road closures earlier in the week was suspended after onlookers jammed streets used by search teams, raising fears that the traffic would compromise efforts to recover human remains. The lack of access to homes and businesses has helped fuel frustrations in the community of 13,000 people.

Kiet Ma, who has worked as a taxi driver on the island for 20 years, is one of the few who has been able to return to his home to assess the damage. He and his wife Daisy are now staying indefinitely with family on the outskirts of Lahaina.

“So many years we put our hard work into that house. We have no chance to take anything out. No warning, no nothing. Thank God I have my husband and I still survive," Daisy Ma said.

Hundreds of people are still believed to be missing. Up to 20 cadaver dogs have led teams on a block-by-block search.

The teams have covered only 27% of the disaster area as of Tuesday, Governor Josh Green said in a televised address. Some 80% to 90% of the zone is expected to have been swept by the weekend.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined and it remains under investigation. The New York Times, citing interviews and video evidence, reported the brush fire that spread into Lahaina started from a broken power line.

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.

Relatives of Kevin and Saane Tanaka said on the fundraising website GoFundMe, that the bodies of Saane's sister, 7-year-old nephew and parents were found in a burned-out car near their home.

"Words cannot express how devastating this is for the family," the post said, noting that the family have had no time to grieve after taking in more than a dozen other displaced relatives. — Reuters