The government's ability is being questioned, and it is difficult to identify remains. The Maui Island fire in Hawaii has caused at least 93 deaths! The small town was almost completely destroyed by a row | Reporter | Identification

The fire that ignited on Maui Island, Hawaii, USA on the 8th caused heavy damage to the famous seaside resort town of La Haina on the island.

On the 12th local time, CCTV reporters went through several twists and turns and entered the La Haina area.

In the morning of that day, the reporter first chose the only conventional road leading to La Haina to advance, and when there were still a few kilometers away from the checkpoint, the vehicles had already formed a long queue.

On the way, Nina, a resident of La Haina who was traveling with reporters, was anxiously calling to inquire about her friends who were still in the area. Due to a large queue of vehicles, the reporter and his team chose to take a shortcut and drove to a port next to the checkpoint, attempting to detour directly to the checkpoint, but were still informed by the police that they were not allowed to pass.

The journalist's group can only return by following the original route, choosing a mountain road that detours further and takes two to three times the time to enter the La Haina area.

The reporter learned from the broadcast that from 11 o'clock, local residents in La Haina can detour into the area from the north road, which is also the route they have chosen. Ten minutes later, the reporter and his team arrived at the checkpoint on the northern end of the road. After checking the address proof and identity information, the police allowed them to pass.

The roads in the western northern section of Maui Island are all winding mountain roads, and many sections can only accommodate one vehicle to pass through. After driving in contact with other residents' vehicles for about an hour and a half, the reporter and his team arrived at the western end of Maui Island, near the La Haina area.

The reporter found that on both sides of the road, scraped off power poles and tangled wires could gradually be seen. Construction vehicles were repairing power supply, and contiguous areas were burned to ashes.

After arriving at the intersection of Nina's house, the reporter found that the police had raised a cordon and set up roadblocks. And just a few tens of meters away, the reporter's group could already see Nina's house almost burned to ashes.

But when the reporters asked the police if they could cross the cordon and take a look at the house, the regional police chief of the Maui Island Police Department refused them.

La Haina resident Nina: I just want to go in and see my house.

CCTV reporter Liu Xu: Our house is right next to that tree.

Chief of a certain area of the Maui Island Police Department: No, it is not possible. Let's put it this way, the entire region needs to be treated like a crime scene. Every inch of land in the entire La Haina area needs to be surveyed and cleared.

Nina, a resident of La Haina: When can we go in and see the house?

Chief of a certain area of the Maui Island Police Department: I cannot answer you about this, it depends on how long the investigation and cleaning work will take.

A large number of houses and vehicles in the La Haina area have been damaged, and trees are burnt black

After learning that Nina's house could not be inspected, the reporter went to several local streets in La Haina and saw that a large number of houses and vehicles had been burned down, trees were charred, and there were signs of reignition in some places.

In addition, the reporter found that police cars, rescue vehicles, construction vehicles, and vehicles providing emergency supplies mainly come and go on the local roads.

According to the local notice requirements, the journalist's group can only leave the La Haina area on conventional roads. As they drove out of the area, there were still scenes of continuous fire damage along the way. At a higher elevation, they saw the complete picture of La Haina, which had been almost completely destroyed.

From the highway at the southern end of the western part of Maui Island, the journalist and his team left La Haina. When they returned to the morning checkpoint again, they found that there were no more vehicles queuing up.

The difficulty of identifying remains is high, and residents question the government's disaster preparedness and response capabilities

On the evening of August 12th, authorities in Maui County, Hawaii stated that the wildfire that swept through Maui Island has caused at least 93 deaths, making it the deadliest wildfire in over a hundred years in the United States. At present, the identities of only two victims have been confirmed, and residents on the island have started posting on social media platforms to search for the whereabouts of their loved ones.

According to The Washington Post, Maui police chief John Peltier called on residents with missing relatives and friends to submit DNA samples to help identify the remains. He also stated that identifying the bodies takes time as some of them are severely damaged and have already disintegrated when discovered.

The authorities emphasize that the search and identification of the deceased's identity is still in its early stages. Peltier stated that only 3% of the search area was covered by personnel carrying search dogs. "What we need to control is an area of at least 5 square miles, filled with our loved ones." He pointed out that the death toll may increase, "and none of us know how much it is."

On social media platform Facebook, a post encouraging Hawaiian residents to post missing person information received over 1900 comments. Many people shared photos of missing elderly people and children, requesting help in finding them.

As of 10pm Hawaii time on the 12th, Google Docs has a shared spreadsheet that lists people who have disappeared or been found on the island in the past few days. Among over 2000 names, many are marked as "found".

It is currently unclear how many people have died, been injured, or gone missing due to wildfires. Hawaii Democratic Senator March Hirano told The Washington Post that at least 1000 people are expected to be missing.

After the disaster, many survivors of Maui helped each other. The New York Times published an article stating that in order to allow more people to escape, the residents of Hornocoy filled up dozens of cans of gasoline. "We paid for it ourselves," Ashley Ye asked. "Where is the government?"

Regarding this, Maui County Magistrate Richard T. Bison admitted, "The government's actions may indeed be slower than ordinary citizens who go to stores to buy things and give people away."

At the same time, the seaside town of La Haina was almost burnt out during the wildfire, but when strong winds blew the fire to La Haina, the 80 alarms set up around Maui Island were not activated. The failed warning mechanism further led to the expansion of the affected areas. Hawaii Governor Josh Green has promised to take action to review the state's emergency management procedures.

Based on preliminary investigation results, Green told CNN that rapidly moving flames could quickly destroy the telecommunications lines on which these alarms rely, and everything happened "very quickly".

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that no state or county level warning was sounded during the fire. The agency's spokesperson, Adam Winterlaub, stated that its alarm is one of Hawaii's four emergency warning systems, aimed at notifying people to seek more information about the emergency situation, rather than evacuation warnings.

Although the alarm is not working, the other three emergency alarm systems - one that interrupts broadcast programs, provides specific details about emergency situations and evacuation plans, another that sends emergency banner reminders to mobile phones, and the third that includes optional emergency messages - have indeed been activated at some point, according to Winterlaub.

But many residents reported not receiving these alerts, and current speculation is that electricity and mobile services were interrupted at that time.

As of the evening of the 12th, about 2200 buildings on West Maui Island have been destroyed, of which about 86% are residential. Green stated that the government has ensured the provision of 1000 rooms, of which 500 will be provided to displaced families. He said that in the coming days, the government will provide long-term rental subsidies for people displaced by fires, which will be paid by the state, charitable organizations, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Richard Bison, the mayor of Maui County, stated that for safety reasons, residents are currently not allowed to enter areas affected by wildfires. "It's not safe here, it's still a dangerous area."