17 August 2023 , 09:48
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There are growing fears that many children are among the dead after the Maui wildfires after they were left home alone when schools delayed opening due to power outages before the storm.
Wildfires devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii last week, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation, decimating a historic town. While many still wait in agony for news on whether their friends and family are safe, more than 100 people have been pronounced dead — making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years.
A widespread power outage in the days prior to the fires due to a storm, meant many children were likely at home when the fires took hold, while their parents were at work.
Jessica Sill, a kindergarten teacher at Lahaina's King Kamehameha III Elementary School, said: "Our parents work one, two, three jobs just to get by and they can't afford to take a day off. Without school, there was nowhere for [kids] to go that day."
Hawaii Governor Josh Green delivers a speech during a press conference at Maui County Building in Kahului (ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)When asked by Hawaii News Now if children are among the missing, State Governor Josh Green said: “Tragically, yes… when the bodies are smaller, we know it’s a child.” He described some of the sites being searched as “too much to share or see from just a human perspective”.
Holiday family return to find everything they own - even cat - destroyed in fire
Crews using cadaver dogs have scoured about 32 per cent of the burn area, according to Maui County, and Mr Green has warned that scores more bodies could be found. The blaze that swept into Lahaina last week destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000.
Meanwhile, signs of recovery emerged as public schools across Maui reopened, welcoming displaced students from Lahaina, and traffic resumed on a major road.
At Wednesday’s news conference, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency defended not sounding sirens during the fire. Hawaii has what it touts as the largest system of outdoor alert sirens in the world, created after a 1946 tsunami that killed more than 150 on the Big Island.
More than 100 people have died in the devastating wildfires (AP)“We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” said agency administrator Herman Andaya, using a navigational term that can mean toward the mountains or inland in Hawaiian. “If that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.”
There are no sirens in the mountains, where the fire was spreading downhill, he said. Avery Dagupion, whose family’s home was destroyed, said he's angry that residents weren’t given earlier warning to get out and that officials prematurely suggested danger had passed.
The cause of the devastating wildfires, the deadliest in modern US history, remains under investigation