Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii this week, destroying a historic town and forcing evacuations. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the island chain, was partly to blame for strong winds that initially drove the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters.
Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii this week, destroying a historic town and forcing evacuations. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the island chain, was partly to blame for strong winds that initially drove the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters.
Kula residents who have running water were warned Friday by the Maui County water agency not to drink it and to take only short, lukewarm showers “in a well-ventilated room” to avoid exposure to possible chemical vapors.
Agency director John Stufflebean told The Associated Press that people in Kula and Lahaina should not even drink water after boiling it until further notice, as hundreds of pipes have been damaged by the wildfires.
“We talked to the health department, and they say it is OK to take a short shower,» Stufflebean said. “You don’t want to make the water really hot, but lukewarm water in a well-ventilated area should be OK.”
The state needs to reassess their guidance to the utility, said Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University whose team was called in after the 2017 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California, and the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder, Colorado.
“Showering in water that potentially contains hazardous waste levels of benzene is not advisable,” Whelton said. “A Do Not Use order is appropriate as precautionary measure until sampling and analysis is conducted.”
Whenever a water pipe is damaged or a city water tank is drawn down very quickly, it can lose pressure. That can cause the unpressurized pipes to suck in smoke and other contaminants. Some of the contaminants that are common with urban wildfires are cancer-causing.
Crews are now shutting off valves for damaged pipes to avoid further contamination, Stufflebean said. Next the Department of Water Supply will flush the system. That alone could take a few days. Then, officials plan to test for bacteria and an array of volatile organic compounds, following recommendations from the Hawaii State Department of Health, he said.
Maui gets drinking water from streams and aquifers. It has a large public water system, but some people are on private, unregulated wells.
A Coast Guard swimmer jumped into the ocean to rescue two children and three adults who had fled the flames in Maui earlier this week, a commander of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu told reporters Friday.
Capt. Aja Kirksey said Coast Guard members moved quickly on Tuesday to help rescue people who were forced to jump into the ocean to escape the wildfire.
Kirksey said the Coast Guard rescued 17 people from the water, all of whom are in stable condition. Kirksey said more people than that were ultimately saved from the water, but others were rescued by other agencies.
“Every day, Coast Guard women and men are trusted sentinels who volunteer to put their lives on the line to save others,” Kirksey said.
The death toll from wildfires burning in Maui jumped to 67, Maui County officials said Friday.
Officials have said the number is expected to increase as crews search the wreckage that wiped out the popular tourist town of Lahaina.
The Lahaina fire is not yet contained.
This week’s wildfires are expected to be the second costliest disaster in the history of Hawaii, second only to damages from 1992’s Hurricane Iniki, according to a Friday statement from a prominent disaster and risk modeling company.
Karen Clark & Company said in the statement that approximately 3,500 structures were within the perimeter of the fire that torched the popular tourist town of Lahaina in west Maui.
