Maui wildfire News

Safer Buildings Vs More Housing: How New Building Codes May Impact Hawaii

A month after wildfires ravaged Maui in August 2023, Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation to postpone the adoption of any new building codes that might exacerbate a housing shortage that had just gotten worse. The governor’s office is …

Hawaii Attorney General Probe into Deadly Wildfire Won’t Lead to Criminal Charges

An investigation by the Hawaii attorney general’s office into the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, which destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina, won’t lead to any criminal charges. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez launched an …

Maui Wildfire Survivors Will Get An Additional Year of Housing Help From FEMA

Survivors of last year’s deadly wildfire that decimated a historic Maui town will receive an additional year of housing assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Housing has been a major challenge in recovering from the Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina …

Critical Locked Gate Overlooked in Investigation of Maui Fire Evacuation

The state attorney general’s latest report on the deadly 2023 Lahaina wildfire flagged various locked gates that blocked people trying to flee as flaws in Maui’s evacuation planning. Yet a padlocked gate where the largest cluster of Lahaina wildfire fatalities …

Maui Fire Caused by Broken Power Lines, County and US Find

The fire that razed the historic Maui town of Lahaina last year was caused when Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. re-energized broken utility lines that caused sparks to ignite unmaintained dry vegetation, the Maui Fire Department said. The blaze was a …

Hawaii Probe Finds No Single Factor Led to Maui Wildfire Losses

No single factor led a fire in the seaside Hawaiian town of Lahaina last year to rage out of control and kill 102 people, according to a state report that assesses the government’s response to the disaster but not its …

Toxic Debris from Hawaii Wildfire Could Fill 5 Football Fields 5 Stories Deep

Hinano Rodrigues remembers being 4 or 5 years old, carrying a bucket across a highway to the ocean in the Maui community where he still lives. At dawn, he would accompany his grandmother to a reef at low tide, where …

Hawaiian Electric Raises Going Concern Doubts on Uncertainties Over Wildfire Settlement Financing

Utility firm Hawaiian Electric raised going concern doubts on Friday after disclosing that it did not have a financing plan in place for the $1.99 billion Maui wildfire settlement it reached earlier this month. The company and its parent Hawaiian …

Judge Bars Insurers From Going After Defendants Who Agreed to $4B Maui Wildfire Settlement

A Maui judge’s ruling resolves a critical roadblock to finalizing a $4 billion wildfire settlement: Insurance companies who have paid out more than $2 billion in claims can seek reimbursement only from the settlement amount defendants, who victims blame for …

Hawaiian Electric Pegs Loss at $1.7 Billion From Maui Fire

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. pegged losses from estimated accrual of liabilities stemming from one of the worst wildfires in US history at $1.7 billion and issued a going-concern warning. Hawaiian Electric said last week that it had agreed to pay …