West News Wire: The number of verified fatalities from the Maui wildfires has risen by three, bringing the total to 114.
According to authorities, 78% of the region had been searched as of Friday night, according to the Maui Police Department.
According to Maui officials, the Olinda and Kula fires are now 85% contained, the Lahaina fire is 90% contained, and the Pulehu/Kihei fire is 100% contained.
Authorities have been directing relatives of missing loved ones to the Maui Emergency Management Agency, which has not yet made public a list of the names or a formal count of the missing.
According to Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, individuals who are missing are being treated as “unaccounted for.”
“We’re going to get everybody that’s unaccounted for to the best of our ability accounted for,” he told reporters earlier this week. “But I can’t promise that we’re gonna get them all. And I don’t think that’s fair to ask that.”
The Maui Fires People Locator, a spreadsheet that is so commonly used that a QR code for it is plastered all over the island, was created by a group of volunteers. The volunteers request that people avoid visiting the Google document unless they are specifically looking for a loved one because it has received so much traffic.
More than 950 people are listed in the record as currently “not located.” According to the organisation, as more individuals have access to communications, many have been aware that they were listed as “not located” and have self-reported that they are.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters that the trip’s specifics are still “being developed” before President Joe Biden and the first lady’s Monday travel to Maui.
She was unable to predict exactly how Biden would assess the damage.
She added that they are actively collaborating with county officials. “There are a lot of different options that are available, whether it’s aerial or if there’s a part that’s safe to go into on the ground,” she said.
The Bidens, according to Criswell, will “personally stand with the community” to reassure them that the federal government will support them “every step of the way.”
