By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press
The number of people still on the official list of missing from the August wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, remains at 385, almost unchanged from the previous week. The U.S. Department of Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Friday that 245 of the 388 people on the list the previous week had been located and removed from that count, but at the same time an almost equal number of new names were included. The updated figure is also surprising because a day earlier the governor, Democrat Josh Green, had said he expected the number to fall below 100.
"We believe the number has fallen below double digits, thank God," Green said in a video posted on the X social network, formerly known as Twitter.
After police released the new list, the governor said the number of victims and missing often fluctuates in catastrophes until the investigation comes to an end. "The exact numbers will take time to be known, it may take a long time to be final," he said in a statement through a spokesman.
A man takes photos of the wreckage in Lahaina on August 10. Getty Images
Green indicated that there are less than 50 "active cases of missing persons", without giving more details but adding that these are people for whom there is more data than the minimum necessary to appear on the list compiled by the FBI (name and surname provided by a person with a verified contact number).
[This video can show how a fire started in Maui]
At least 115 people have died in the wildfire that devastated Lahaina, according to the official tally, making it the deadliest in U.S. history in more than a century. So far, the names of 50 victims have been published, and five more have been identified but their identities have not been reported because their families have not yet been contacted. The rest have not yet been identified.
The flames turned a picturesque seaside town into a desolate landscape of rubble in just hours on Aug. 8, fueled by wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (nearly 100 kilometers per hour) that blew the fire exceptionally quickly across the city.
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Lahaina is deeply significant to Hawaii's history, having once been the capital of the ancient reign and home to its leaders for decades. In recent decades it had become a popular destination for tourists, who ate at its oceanside restaurants and marveled at its majestic 150-year-old Bengal fig tree.
Half of the city's 12,000 residents now live in hotels or vacation homes. The Environmental Protection Agency is leading efforts to clean up hazardous debris in the area ravaged by the flames, which occupies about five square miles (13 square kilometers).
[Investigating What Sparked Maui Fire]
Reconstruction work can take years and cost billions of dollars. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, although it is possible that it is due to power lines downed by the wind. Maui County has sued the island's power company, Hawaiian Electric, pointing to this possible cause.
The company, for its part, admitted that its power lines started the fire on Aug. 8, but blamed county firefighters for declaring it contained and leaving the scene only for a second fire to start nearby.
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Initially more than a thousand people were unlocated according to accounts from relatives, friends and acquaintances, but authorities were able to reduce the figure to 388 people who could be considered more safely as unlocated, and released their names last week.
The new names added Friday to the updated list were provided by Red Cross shelters and affected people who contacted the FBI, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said, urging families of the missing to submit their genetic information to help identify their relatives.
"If you have someone you love who you know is missing and is part of your family, it is imperative that you take a DNA sample," the police chief said in a video posted on Instagram.