Latest Fire Recovery News

Hauling for the state’s Ka Laʻi Ola housing site in Lahaina will take place nightly on Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30 beginning at 9 p.m. The transport for the FEMA Kilohana project is scheduled nightly, beginning at 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 30 and Sunday, Dec. 1.

Once complete, the Kilohana modular housing project will become a temporary haven for up to 167 individuals and families – a Lahaina location where wildfire survivors can plan for the future. 

The first home to be rebuilt in Kula after the August 2023 wildfires was commemorated on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, with a blessing, representing another step forward in recovery after the fires.  After all final inspections were completed last week, homeowner Thomas Liu, 83, said he will be moving out of a rental and into the completed two-bedroom, 860-square-foot cottage this month while work continues to rebuild the main house on his Kulalani Drive property. 

The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance the Lahaina National Heritage Area Study Act, legislation jointly introduced by US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and US Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI). The bicameral legislation will direct the National Park Service, in coordination with Maui County and other state and local partners, to study the suitability and feasibility of a National Heritage Area designation for Lahaina. The bill now goes to the Senate Floor for consideration.

With the rebuilding of homes underway and the commercial cleanup nearly finished, businesses say the timing is crucial to rebuild and provide jobs for returning residents.

In the first round of the Lahaina HERO Awards program, 300 Lahaina teachers, staff members and administrators will receive a monetary award ranging from $2,500 for eligible full time salaried employees to around $1,000 for part time staff and casual employees. The governor also announced a $20M Lahaina workforce housing project to build a 47 unit rental complex at Lahainaluna High School.

The State Historic Preservation Division is considering developing sensitivity maps and one archaeological monitoring plan that all residential and commercial property owners can use so they don’t have to develop and pay for individual ones.

Hundreds gathered at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for the 2024 Piʻo Summit: Hulihia: Fire and Rain, a free series of forums focused on leveraging ancestral ʻike (knowledge) to support long-term recovery efforts for communities affected by the Lahaina wildfires and the 2018 Kauaʻi floods.

The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are updating Maui wildfire survivors on the rental assistance program, which has been extended beyond Feb. 10, 2025. As part of this extension, FEMA will begin collecting rent from Direct Housing Assistance participants beginning March 1, 2025, based on their ability to pay. FEMA has begun the process of notifying affected families of this change.

The Ho‘ōla iā Mauiakama Long Term Recovery Group and All Hands And Hearts are inviting the community to participate in the “Lahaina Clean-Up Kōkua” this holiday season to help Lahaina residents impacted by the August 2023 wildfire. This community-driven effort will organize teams of volunteers to clear ineligible debris from fire-damaged properties, supporting residents as they prepare to rebuild.

The first two completed homes under the Housing for Healthcare initiative were blessed in a private ceremony held with the two new tenants and their families, both Maui healthcare professionals who lost their homes and belongings in the devastating Lahaina fires last year. The families moved into their homes this month.

Motorists are advised of potential traffic delays as modular homes for wildfire survivors are transported from Kahului to the state’s Ka Laʻi Ola housing site in Lahaina on Friday and Saturday night. The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation reports that hauling will take place nightly on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23 beginning at 9 p.m. and is expected to end at 11:59 p.m.

Dedicated members of Rotary Maui Fires Relief Advisory Committee, alongside Rotary D5000 District Governor Ted Faigle, visited the University of Hawai’i Maui College to see how Rotary support for student vocational training was conducted at the college’s Food Innovation Center.

The Ah Hees are days away from their final inspection and plan to spend Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones more than a year after they were displaced by the August 2023 fire.

The County Department of Environmental Management will provide updates on three key areas of recovery: an update on areas that have had sewer service restored; a brief update on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Wahikuli sewer project; and information regarding the County’s recently announced agreement to acquire land from Nan, Inc., adjacent to the Central Maui Landfill, that would be used for the Permanent Disposal Site of Lahaina fire debris.

The County of Maui has entered into conditional agreements with a subsidiary of Nan, Inc., Hawai‘i’s largest, locally owned construction company, to purchase approximately 49 acres of previously quarried land and 30 acres of land currently being quarried adjacent to the Central Maui Landfill. The 30 acres of land would be available upon completion of quarrying activities. The $4 million agreements, pending approval by the Maui County Council, aim to secure a suitable, long-term disposal site for debris from the August 2023 Lahaina wildfires and address the island’s future landfill needs.

Schatz is set to press Administration officials on recovery efforts on Maui in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday. “We cannot leave town for the holidays next month without passing the long-term relief that survivors need and deserve. This is not optional. We need to get this done,” said Sen. Schatz.

This year, 23 businesses raised more than $8,800 and 1,761 pounds of food through the end of October, which combined will provide 50,710 meals to individuals and families across the Maui Food Bank’s network.  

Online feedback on the draft of the County of Maui’s Long-Term Recovery Plan for Lahaina is currently open on www.MauiRecovers.org/lahaina. The deadline to submit feedback is Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health is issuing Guidance for Existing Cesspool Use in Residential Kula, Maui. It was developed in an effort to support Kula residents affected by the wildfires, working to rebuild and reoccupy their homes.