Ο αριθμός των νεκρών από την πυρκαγιά στο Μάουι έφτασε τους 89, καθιστώντας την τον πιο θανατηφόρο στις ΗΠΑ εδώ και περισσότερα από 100 χρόνια
Ο Ερυθρός Σταυρός με έδρα το Wailuku παρείχε βοήθεια και προμήθειες ανακούφισης σε όσους επλήγησαν από τις πυρκαγιές στο Maui. (12 Αυγούστου) (Βίντεο AP: Haven Daley)
ΛΑΧΑΪΝΑ, Χαβάη (AP) — Μια μαινόμενη πυρκαγιά που σάρωσε μια γραφική πόλη στο νησί Μάουι της Χαβάης αυτή την εβδομάδα σκότωσε τουλάχιστον 89 ανθρώπους, δήλωσαν οι αρχές το Σάββατο, καθιστώντας την την πιο θανατηφόρα πυρκαγιά των ΗΠΑ του περασμένου αιώνα.
Ο νέος απολογισμός των νεκρών το Σάββατο ήρθε καθώς οι ομοσπονδιακοί υπάλληλοι έκτακτης ανάγκης με τσεκούρια και πτωματικά σκυλιά μάζεψαν τον απόηχο της πυρκαγιάς, σημαδεύοντας τα ερείπια των σπιτιών με ένα έντονο πορτοκαλί X για μια αρχική έρευνα και HR όταν βρήκαν ανθρώπινα λείψανα.
Τα σκυλιά δούλεψαν τα ερείπια και το περιστασιακό γαύγισμά τους - που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για να ειδοποιήσει τους χειριστές τους για ένα πιθανό πτώμα - αντηχούσε πάνω από το καυτό και άχρωμο τοπίο.
Η κόλαση που σάρωσε την αιωνόβια πόλη Λαχάινα στη δυτική ακτή του Μάουι τέσσερις ημέρες νωρίτερα έκαψε εκατοντάδες σπίτια και μετέτρεψε μια καταπράσινη, τροπική περιοχή σε ένα σεληνιακό τοπίο στάχτης. Ο κυβερνήτης της πολιτείας προέβλεψε ότι θα βρεθούν περισσότερα πτώματα.
«Θα ανέβει», παρατήρησε ο κυβερνήτης Τζος Γκριν το Σάββατο καθώς περιόδευε την καταστροφή στην ιστορική Front Street. «Θα είναι σίγουρα η χειρότερη φυσική καταστροφή που αντιμετώπισε ποτέ η Χαβάη. ... Μπορούμε μόνο να περιμένουμε και να στηρίξουμε αυτούς που ζουν. Η εστίασή μας τώρα είναι να επανενώσουμε τους ανθρώπους όταν μπορούμε και να τους δώσουμε στέγη και υγειονομική περίθαλψη και μετά να στραφούμε στην ανοικοδόμηση».
Ο αρχηγός της αστυνομίας του Μάουι Τζον Πελετιέ είπε ότι δύο από τα 89 θύματα έχουν ταυτοποιηθεί μέχρι στιγμής, προσθέτοντας ότι η ταυτοποίηση των νεκρών είναι εξαιρετικά δύσκολη γιατί «μαζεύουμε τα λείψανα και καταρρέουν».
«Όταν βρίσκουμε την οικογένειά μας και τους φίλους μας, τα υπολείμματα που βρίσκουμε είναι μέσα από μια φωτιά που έλιωσε μέταλλο. Πρέπει να κάνουμε γρήγορο DNA για να τα αναγνωρίσουμε. Καθένας από αυτούς τους 89 είναι ο Τζον και η Τζέιν Ντους», είπε. «Ξέρουμε ότι πρέπει να πάμε γρήγορα, αλλά πρέπει να το κάνουμε σωστά»
At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Green said, of which 86% were residential. Across the island, he added, damage was estimated at close to $6 billion. He said it would take “an incredible amount of time” to recover.”
At least two other fires have been burning in Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry. A fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community in West Maui north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.
Green said the Upcountry fire had affected 544 structures, of which 96% were residential.
Emergency managers in Maui were searching for places to house people displaced from their homes. As many as 4,500 people are in need of shelter, county officials said on Facebook early Saturday, citing figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pacific Disaster Center.
Those who escaped counted their blessings, thankful to be alive as they mourned those who didn’t make it.
Retired fire captain Geoff Bogar and his friend of 35 years, Franklin Trejos, initially stayed behind to help others in Lahaina and save Bogar’s house. But as the flames moved closer and closer Tuesday afternoon, they knew they had to get out. Each escaped to his own car. When Bogar’s wouldn’t start, he broke through a window to get out, then crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and brought him to a hospital.
Trejos wasn’t as lucky. When Bogar returned the next day, he found the bones of his 68-year-old friend in the back seat of his car, lying on top of the remains of the Bogars’ beloved 3-year-old golden retriever Sam, whom he had tried to protect.
Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Bogar and his wife, Shannon Weber-Bogar, helping her with her seizures when her husband couldn’t. He filled their lives with love and laughter.
“God took a really good man,” Weber-Bogar said.
Bill Wyland, who lives on the island of Oahu but owns an art gallery on Lahaina’s historic Front Street, fled on his Harley Davidson, whipping the motorcycle onto empty sidewalks Tuesday to avoid traffic-jammed roads as embers burned the hair off the back of his neck.
Riding in winds he estimated to be at least 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour), he passed a man on a bicycle who was pedaling for his life.
“It’s something you’d see in a Twilight Zone, horror movie or something,” Wyland said.
The newly released death toll surpassed the toll of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise. A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.
The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.
Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate the warning sirens sounded before fire hit the town. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.
Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the wildfires on Maui raced through parched brush covering the island.
The most serious blaze swept into Lahaina on Tuesday and destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes.
Front Street, the heart of the historic downtown and Maui’s economic hub, was nearly empty of life Saturday morning. An Associated Press journalist encountered one barefoot resident carrying a laptop and a passport, who asked where the nearest shelter was. Another, riding a bicycle, took stock of the damage at the harbor, where he said his boat caught fire and sank.
Maui water officials warned Lahaina and Kula residents not to drink running water, which may be contaminated even after boiling, and to only take short, lukewarm showers in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible chemical vapor exposure.
The danger on Maui was well known. Maui County’s hazard mitigation plan updated in 2020 identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfires and several buildings at risk. The report also noted West Maui had the island’s second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers.
“This may limit the population’s ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events,” the plan stated.
Maui’s firefighting efforts may have been hampered by limited staff and equipment.
Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association, said there are a maximum of 65 county firefighters working at any given time, who are responsible for three islands: Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
Green said officials will review policies and procedures to improve safety.
“People have asked why we are reviewing what’s going on and it’s because the world has changed. A storm now can be a hurricane-fire or a fire-hurricane,” he said. “That’s what we experienced, that’s why we’re looking into these policies, to find out how we can best protect our people.”
Riley Curran said he fled his Front Street home after climbing up a neighboring building to get a better look. He doubts county officials could have done more, given the speed of the onrushing flames.
“It’s not that people didn’t try to do anything,” Curran said. “The fire went from zero to 100.”
Curran said he had seen horrendous wildfires growing up in California.
But, he added, “I’ve never seen one eat an entire town in four hours.”
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Ο Kelleher ανέφερε από τη Χονολουλού και ο Dupuy από τη Νέα Υόρκη. Οι συγγραφείς του Associated Press Rebecca Boone στο Boise, Idaho. Ο Andrew Selsky στο Bend του Όρεγκον. Bobby Caina Calvan στη Νέα Υόρκη. Η Audrey McAvoy στο Wailuku της Χαβάης. Ty O'Neil σε Lahaina, Χαβάη; και η Lisa J. Adams Wagner στο Evans, Georgia, συνέβαλαν σε αυτήν την έκθεση.
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Η κλιματική και περιβαλλοντική κάλυψη του Associated Press λαμβάνει υποστήριξη από πολλά ιδιωτικά ιδρύματα. Δείτε περισσότερα για την πρωτοβουλία του AP για το κλίμα εδώ . Το AP είναι αποκλειστικά υπεύθυνο για όλο το περιεχόμενο.
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