The number of people on the official list of those missing from the Maui wildfire stood at 385 on Friday, nearly unchanged from a week earlier.
In a news release, the Maui Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said 245 people on the list of 388 made public the previous week were located and removed. However, a nearly equal number of new names were added.
The updated total was a startling departure from what had been expected — a day earlier Gov. Josh Green said he believed the number would fall below 100.
“We think the number has dropped down into the double digits, so thank God,” Green said in a video posted to social media.
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After Maui police released the updated list, the governor said the numbers of fatalities and missing are often in flux in mass casualty events until investigations are completed.
“Exact numbers are going to take time, perhaps a long time, to become finalized,” Green said in a statement provided through a spokesperson.
He said there are less than 50 “active missing person cases.” He didn’t elaborate but indicated those are the people for whom more information was provided than the minimum to be on the missing list compiled by the FBI. It only requires a first and last name provided by a person with a verified contact number.
Authorities have said at least 115 people died in the blaze that swept through Lahaina, the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. So far, the names of 50 people have been publicly released and five others have been identified but their identities withheld because next of kin haven’t been reached. The rest have yet to be identified.
The flames turned the picturesque seaside town into rubble in a few short hours on Aug. 8. Wind gusts topping 60 mph ripped through the town, causing the flames to spread exceptionally quickly.
Lahaina has deep significance in Hawaiian history as the one-time capital of former Hawaiian kingdom and as the home to high-ranking chiefs for centuries. In recent decades, the town became popular with tourists, who ate at its oceanfront restaurants and marveled at a majestic 150-year-old banyan tree.
Half the town’s 12,000 residents are now living in hotels and short-term vacation rentals. The Environmental Protection Agency is leading an effort to clean hazardous waste left in a burn zone stretching across some 5 square miles.
Reconstruction is expected to take years and cost billions.
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Initially more than 1,000 people were believed unaccounted for based on family, friends or acquaintances reporting them as missing. Officials narrowed that list down to 388 names who were credibly considered missing and released the names to the public last week.
New names on Friday’s updated list were added from the Red Cross, shelters and interested parties who contacted the FBI, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said. He urged family members of the missing to submit their genetic data to help identify their relatives.
“If you have a loved one that you know is missing and you are a family member, it’s imperative that you get a DNA sample,” Pelletier said in a video posted to Instagram.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but it’s possible powerlines from downed utility poles ignited the blaze. Maui County has sued Hawaiian Electric, the electrical utility for the island.
The utility acknowledged its power lines started a wildfire early on Aug. 8 but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby.
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Local government officials have faced significant criticism for their response both before, during and after the Lahaina fire, one of several which sparked on Maui on Aug. 8.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen has been vague as to his actions as the Lahaina fire was spreading. In an interview Bissen gave to local station KITV-TV, just after 6 p.m. on Aug. 8, he said, “I’m happy to report the road is open to and from Lahaina.”
However, Bissen was seemingly unaware that, at that point, much of downtown Lahaina was already ablaze. And while it was Bissen’s job to ask the state for emergency backup, the mayor told reporters this week he did not call the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
“I can’t speak to what — or whose responsibility it was to communicate directly,” Bissen told CBS News this week. “I can’t say who was responsible for communicating with General Hara.”
Major General Kenneth Hara, the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said in a recent interview with Hawaii News Now that he was initially unaware of crucial details about the fire.
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“I thought everyone had gotten out safely,” he said. “It wasn’t until probably the next day I started hearing about fatalities.”
Amid calls for his resignation, Bissen released a video statement Thursday in which he said:
“I want to be clear and repeat, that I have been present in our emergency operations center, since Aug. 7,” adding he did “become aware of fatalities” until Aug. 9.
“My first thoughts are, we should really get to all of the facts, whatever they may be, good or bad, that is a deeply personal discussion for any mayor and his or her constituents to have,” Green told CBS News in an interview Friday when asked whether Bissen should resign.
On Aug. 17, a little over a week after the fire broke out, Herman Andaya resigned from his post as chief of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, just one day after he publicly defended his controversial decision not to activate the island’s warning sirens when the Lahaina fire was spreading.
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Andaya argued that sounding the sirens could have created confusion by sending Lahaina residents into the path of the blaze because they may have thought the sirens were signaling a tsunami, not a wildfire.
“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the sirens are sounded,” Andaya told reporters on Aug. 16.
“Had we sounded the sirens that night, we were afraid that people would have gone mauka (mountainside), and if that was the case, they would have gone into the fire,” he added.
Andaya has since been replaced by Darryl Oliveira, a former Hawaii Fire Department chief who also served as the head of the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – After five hours, a barricade at the Don Quijote store on Kaheka Street ended peacefully Wednesday night.
The incident started just after 5 p.m., prompting the evacuation of shoppers and employees at what is one of the busiest stores at any time of year, but especially during the holidays.
We’re told that the man started a disturbance and then attempted to start a fire, which activated the fire sprinkler system.
Sources said he barricaded himself in a storage room at the back of the store.
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He surrendered and was taken into custody without incident at 10:10 p.m.
Dozens of people waited in the parking lot — a mix of shoppers whose search for bargains and holiday gifts got interrupted, those arriving to shop, and employees.
Many only heard about what happened, or were caught by surprise by the huge police presence surrounding the building.
Michael Brewster said he was on his way in when “one worker down the road at the restaurant said, ‘You can’t go in. Somebody went cuckoo, throwing bottles in the aisles and stuff.‘”
The police department had a large presence at the scene, including someone who appeared to be a crisis negotiator and Specialized Services Division officers.
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There were also Emergency Medical Services personnel in full protective gear.
Kaheka and Poni streets were closed during the incident.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
It’s Official: Redeem AAdvantage Miles on Hawaiian Airlines Mainland-to-Hawaii Flights After a 9-Year Hiatus!
by Gary Leff
American Airlines has long partnered with Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian has now been acquired by American’s ‘West Coast Alliance’ and oneworld partner Alaska Airlines. And so a change has been made to using American AAdvantage miles on Hawaiian Airlines: you can now redeem AAdvantage miles to fly to Hawaii!.
In September 2015, American stopped allowing AAdvantage members to redeem miles between Hawaii and the mainland U.S..
Airlines frequently partnered with Hawaiian for their intra-Hawaii flights, and to some extent their route network beyond Hawaii. However awards to Hawaii are popular and partner redemptions there are expensive.
Hawaiian is on its way towards being integrated into Alaska Airlines. They will achieve a single operating certificate, at which point the carrier will be part of oneworld. Alaska will retain a separate brand identity for Hawaii flights, but it will be one airline. We’re going to get these redemptions eventually, anyway – likely 2026. It’s good to see it now!
Hawaiian award availability, especially from the West Coast (and Austin, while it lasts), is better than award availability to Hawaii on American or Alaska. I do expect Alaska’s revenue management to change this over time, as well as to better sell these flights.
You can use Honolulu as a one-stop gateway across the Pacific as well. Hawaiian currently flies to,
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Auckland and Sydney
Fukuoka, Tokyo Haneda and Narita, and Osaka in Japan
Seoul
Papeete, Pago Pago, and Raratonga
One thing American needs to do is fix mileage-earning on Hawaiian Airlines. I’ve heard from several readers who are affected by Alaska and Hawaii shifting their flying between the two airlines.
American AAdvantage members were encouraged to travel on Alaska Airlines, because that earned both miles and status credit in the AAdvantage program. However, schedules shifting such that Hawaiian will now operate a planned flight means this changes.
There are people purchasing tickets for a flight on Alaska, who will learn that the flight is going to be a Hawaiian flight. This is going to happen more and more prior to a single operating certificate on the two carriers. But they only bought the ticket because it was going to earn them credit with American.
Unfortunately, Hawaiian Airlines flights with a Hawaiian flight number do not earn Loyalty Points (credit towards AAdvantage elite status). That’s a gap which should be addressed.
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Nonetheless, it’s great news today that there’s more mileage-earning and much more flexibility with mileage redemption on Hawaiian Airlines now than there’s been in the last nine years.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Kamaka Air Inc. was founded in 1993 as a local airline.
It is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as an inter-island airline and logistics company for per-pound air cargo services and non-scheduled charters.
Its recent history is an example of consolidation happening in the general aviation industry across the country.
In February 2022, RLG Capital and Trinity Private Equity Group acquired an 80-percent majority stake in the airline.
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Most of its aircraft are single-engine Cessna Caravan’s like the one that crashed on Tuesday. These are extremely reliable aircraft with the capability of short landings and takeoffs needed to serve airports especially on Molokai and Lanai, so they are essential in serving those small communities.
The one that crashed on Tuesday was not particularly old. It was built in 2011.
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When Mokulele airlines — which provides essential air service to Molokai and Lanai — had trouble meeting its schedules last year, Kamaka Air began offering charter flights for passengers as well.
In January 2023, a Kamaka Air flight crashed near the Molokai airport. The plane was totaled but the pilot and copilot walked away with minor injuries.
In May 2024, Kamaka Air put out a press release saying it was under new ownership and new leadership with complete support of the existing leadership of Kamaka.
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It promised a smooth transition but ran into trouble filling key jobs, including a chief pilot and director of flight operations.
That made the FAA uncomfortable, so the company shut down temporarily and returned to service within a couple of weeks.
Kamaka Air is proud of its history in serving during hard times. Their planes were used to deliver emergency supplies of COVID tests to Lanai and food to Kauai during the pandemic, and food and other emergency supplies to Maui after the wildfires.
As federal aviation authorities investigate, the airline will be scrutinized for its operations and safety protocols, and whether it was fully in compliance with FAA certification requirements.
David Hinderland, Kamaka Air CEO, issued the following statement:
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“It is with heavy hearts that Kamaka Air confirms the loss of two members of the Kamaka Air family in an accident at 3:13 this afternoon near the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. We are not releasing the names of the pilots until family members have had a chance to process this tragedy, and we hope the media will give them the same consideration.
In the meantime, we are making ourselves available to the Hawaiian Department of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration for investigation into this accident, and we will also share appropriate information with the media as it is confirmed over the coming hours and days.
At this time, we ask for your patience, as you know the urgency of getting correct information that not only offers a clear understanding of what happened, but to assure that the information is handled appropriately.”
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.