Identifying the Maui victims
Here’s some relatively good news at last:
Within a day of Maui County releasing 388 names of people unaccounted for following the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, more than 100 of them or their relatives came forward to say they’re safe, the FBI said Friday.
The agency is reviewing the information they provided and working to remove the names from the list.
“We’re very thankful for the people who have reached out by phone or email,” Steven Merrill, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Honolulu, said in a news conference. “As we get someone off of a list, this has enabled us to devote more resources to those who are still on the list.”
For a while there it seemed as though well over a thousand would be among the dead. That seems less likely now. I remember something similar in the Paradise fire, and sure enough I read this:
Something similar happened after a wildfire in 2018 that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, California. Authorities published a list of the missing in the local newspaper, a decision that helped identify scores of people who had made it out alive but were listed as missing. Within a month, it dropped from 1,300 names to only a dozen.
Already, more people are known to have died in the Maui fire than the total of the Paradise fire. I think it’s pretty clear why the death toll was higher in Maui, and it’s not because of the relative virulence of the fire. I believe it’s because escape routes were blocked by police, supposedly because of downed electrical wires and also (perhaps; I can’t get good reporting on this so far) because some routes may have been blocked by the fire itself. In Paradise, as I wrote the other day, the main route out of town remained open although dangerous. In both cases, the fire was wind-whipped, extremely fast, and extremely hot.
There also is the terrible challenge of identifying the dead when a fire is so very hot, much as with the 9/11 victims (the link is from 2021):
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner announced on Tuesday two new identifications of victims of the September 11th attacks just days before the city marks 20 years since the tragedy.
Dorothy Morgan, of Hempstead, is the 1,646th person and a man whose name is being withheld at the request of his family is the 1,647th person to be identified through ongoing DNA analysis of unidentified remains recovered from the disaster that claimed the lives of 2,753 people.
“Twenty years ago, we made a promise to the families of World Trade Center victims to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to identify their loved ones, and with these two new identifications, we continue to fulfill that sacred obligation,” said Dr. Barbara A. Sampson, Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. “No matter how much time passes since September 11, 2001, we will never forget, and we pledge to use all the tools at our disposal to make sure all those who were lost can be reunited with their families.”
The identification of Dorothy Morgan was confirmed through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001.
Maui evidently also had a substantial homeless population and some are among the missing, but it’s hard to get good information on them (see this).
And the issue of how many children died in Maui is a heartrending and disturbing one. The imagination comes up with ghastly scenarios, many of which may be true.
RIP to all the dead, and comfort to all the survivors.
I have a friend who works for a company that makes machines for rapid DNA comparisons. He flies around the world, often assisting police. But there has to be some DNA to compare, which there may not be from this horrifying fire.
The state, county, and FEMA are doing a terrible job of informing people of what is taking place now.
Finding remains in the ruins of Lahaina is difficult, if not impossible. There is so little left after the fire, and so much debris.
What is coming to the top now is pure anger. At the county and other officials, whose incompetence and old boy network helped to make this terrible fire a catastrophe.
People here are trying to survive, and get help. Tourists have stopped coming, and intact places like Kihei and Wailea are almost empty- this affects everyone on the island.
Reading about Paradise and other fires, it seems incompetence and greed are a major part of the story.
A few people are doing great work on telling the stories that haven’t made it in the national news.
So far, it seems most deaths were the elderly, and children.
Firm numbers are impossible so far. over a thousand kids haven’t reported to the opening of schools, but like the death toll, that will change.
we may never know the exact toll, that is just reality. and so many people are going to leave-it is expensive here, and hanging on isn’t an option for many.
Anyway, its still early days, and a long long way to go.
early today many paddled out in Kihei, at the cove, to put leis and offering into the ocean in honor of those who didn’t make it. and everyone, whether spoken or not, prayed for the children we haven’t found yet.
This guy is doing great work, in getting people to tell their stories, and getting them money, tools, etc, right away.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXcAoHYdfI&list=PLOBMFSCgl0S98WE_4ZpDGh_SFD-FJXXN0
It’s a no bs type of charity. He connects donors with people. its direct and works. Unlike the red cross et al.
Jim:
Thanks for your report, and I wish you and the people of Maui well.
In Paradise the dead were mostly the elderly and handicapped. In Maui the possibility of a great many children dying is a special horror, but it is all horrible.
Incompetence on the part of authorities is usually the case in situations like that. I think that much of the time they really don’t believe something so catastrophic will be happening, and their preparation or lack thereof is such that they are disorganized and panicky when it does happen.
Neo, thanks for your comment, it is, in my opinion, spot on. So many wacky conspiracy theories, mostly due to the lack of trust in our officials. Like you said, its something common these days.
Some things happen because everything goes wrong, at once. Hurricane winds, power lines not maintained and then not turned off. Police directing people back into the inferno, blocking off the few escape routes.
It was a perfect storm of horrors, in which everyone directly involved tried and failed to help.
and like paradise and other disasters, the only winners will be the lawyers and their lawsuits.
and the rest of us pay in higher taxes, higher rates for utilities, and nothing will really change.
Thank you for your posts on Maui.
I keep hoping that after we grieve for our loved ones, that in future we will elect people who are competent.
Jim:
You’re welcome. It’s just an awful situation.
In Paradise, nearly five years after the fire, some payments have been made in the class action lawsuits. But of course it doesn’t make up for the horrible tragedy. I don’t really know what most people got or will get. I do know that lawyers get a huge percentage.
Teeth fTeeth as a source of DNA for forensic identification of human remains: A Review
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1355030613000579
A grim prospect.
but fema is laser focused on dei seminars, at their 1,000/night hotel rooms, that’s whats important,
Thanks, Jim, for the video report by the realtor.
Every idiot who wants to get rid of fossil fuels should be required to watch that video. Lack of electricity and gasoline are holding the recovery efforts up. With no internet and cell phones, there’s precious little information. Energy provided by fossil fuels is needed, and badly, to help people just keep going at this point.
If the anti-fossil fuel cult has its way, the scene in Maui will become commonplace all over the U.S.
When we went through the Rat Creek Fire here in Washington state (1994) our emergency radio was invaluable. No cell phones and internet then. The fire officials kept people informed by broadcasting continuously on the Wenatchee radio station. A battery powered am radio is good emergency equipment.
The number one priority now is to restore electricity so you can have fuel, water, and food available on a regular basis.
The second priority, IMO, would be make a plan to isolate the burn area from the rest of the island. Somehow, once power, water, and food are secure, Maui needs to get its tourists to come back to Kihei and any other guest areas that are intact.
Once the cleanup and rebuilding begin there will be plenty of work for those who have the skills, but until that begins, the officials need to think about keeping the economy operating as best they can.
The lack of input from the government officials is just awful to hear about. I hope that changes and soon.
JJ:
Some green advocates would like the human population to be significantly reduced.
“Some green advocates would like the human population to be significantly reduced.” – Neo
I can’t begin to tell you how much those people disgust me.
“Let the proles die, as long as I can live sustainably.” It’s a form of anti-humanism akin to Hitler’s genocide for the Jews – only worse.
The blame is squarely on Hawaii Electric. It should have depowered the power lines. Money should have been spend burying power lines and managing the ROW vegetation. HE will go Chapter 11. All the officers should be fired.
The evidence is that HE spent its time and money on wind and solar energy. A complete waste of money.
The blame is squarely on Hawaii Electric.
==
Don’t doubt that. However, the five hour delay in diverting water wasn’t their doing. Neither was blocking exit routes. The deficient warning system (someone suggested they might have rigged it so that intermittent blasts meant head for the water and long blasts meant head for the hills) wasn’t their doing either.
Art Deco:
A legal question of proximate cause. I have a case in the Nebraska S. Ct. right now on the issue of proximate cause.
Cornhead:
Reality bites Maui and California regarding essential maintenance of infrastructure, priorities for utilities are heavily influenced by elected and appointed government agencies and regulators. So HE and PGE are legally liable for green policies and preferences imposed by ignoramuses.
Green and DEI kills; it’s a feature not a bug.
All the officers of HE should be thrown into Mauna Loa pool of lava? (sarc) Cultural sensitivity, it aint Nebraska after all.
Very good news! Thank you, Hungary!
https://www.allsides.com/news/2023-08-27-0158/world-hungary-provide-shelter-250-maui-families
Good news that authorities are able to identify more remains.
I don’t want to show my bias, but what the heck is the FBI doing there? Leave it to the state of Hawaii and local authorities to identify remains and DNA. Tell the FBI to pound sand. And NOT in Hawaii.