The Hawaii Attorney General’s Office released a final report on September 13 looking into the deaths of local residents in the historic Lahaina wildfire which raged in the state in August of 2023.
The report, researched and written by the Fire Safety Research Institute, found that six people trying to escape the flames in their housing subdivision died just a few city blocks away from their home. All told, the official death count from the fire is 102 people known to have died.
The Lahaina fire was the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century.
The report is scathing about the actions of state officials. It found “no evidence” that those in charge had made any preparations even though warnings about the risk of wildfire in coming days were well-known. Leaders also had no advance plans for evacuating residents, the report found.
The Lahaina fire got so out of control due to a combination of exceptionally dry conditions on the island plus unusual winds from a hurricane that passed to the south of Maui.
The report brings tragic details to light about the dead. 86-year-old Joseph Lara, for example, was found dead in his 20-year-old Ford pickup in a parking garage at a local mall. Investigators speculate he may have been trying to escape the blaze traveling along Front Street. But like so many others, Lara appears to have been stuck in the traffic jam that eventually trapped many people who perished in the smoke and flames.
The fire was a nightmare no one on the island had seen or could possibly have prepared themselves to experience. About 17,000 people escaped by doing whatever they could to get out. Some ran on foot ahead of the flames. Others got in the cars and muscled through the dense smoke blind. Still other people ran to the ocean and cowered, hoping to survive and be able to breathe until the fire burned itself out. Images of the aftermath show rows of burnt out cars along highways like something out of a post-apocalyptic disaster movie.
