Hawai Wildfires: US President Joe Biden to visit Maui disaster site with aid in hand

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit Hawaii on Monday to assess the extensive destruction caused by fatal wildfires.

As reported by Reuters, the fires, which ravaged a significant portion of the Maui resort town of Lahaina last week, resulted in a tragic loss of 110 lives.

During the visit, Biden will personally witness the extent of the damage and hold discussions with first responders, survivors, and various governmental representatives at the federal, state, and local levels, The White House said in a statement.

"I remain committed to delivering everything the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this disaster," Biden said in a post on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green has warned the death toll could double.

The inferno spread rapidly from grasslands outside town into Lahaina last Tuesday, catching people by surprise and charring a 5-square-mile (13-square-km) area of town in hours. The fire destroyed 2,200 buildings and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damage, officials said.

On Wednesday, President Biden granted approval to Hawaii's appeal for complete federal reimbursement of expenses related to 30 days of emergency operations planned over the upcoming four months. Deanne Criswell, the director of the US Federal Emergency Management Administration, announced this development during a press briefing held at the White House, Reuters reported.

Also Read: Hawaii wildfires: Death toll rises to 89, search for the missing continues. 10 updates

As of the briefing on Wednesday, the federal government has provided $2.3 million in aid to families and has given the green light to over 1,300 assistance registrations, according to Criswell.

In response to local frustration, town officials took the step on Wednesday of reopening a major road that passes through the town. This decision was made after several days of closure. The highway, which avoids the burnt waterfront and town center, had been restricted to residents of the surrounding area, emergency personnel, and individuals employed by local businesses. Earlier in the week, a brief easing of the road closures had to be reversed due to crowds congesting streets that search teams were using. This created concerns that the traffic might impede the recovery of human remains.

Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for. Twenty cadaver dogs have led teams on a block-by-block search that have covered 38% of the disaster area as of Tuesday. The number of dogs would increase to 40, Green said on Wednesday at a press conference in which he announced the death toll had risen to 110, up from 106 previously.

Identification of the remains has been slow, in part because of the intensity of the fire. Maui County released the first two names on Tuesday: Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both of Lahaina. Three other individuals have been identified but their names have been withheld pending family notification. The other remains await identification, Maui County said.

Also Read: Hawaii Wildfires: At least 6 people killed due to Maui wildfires, Joe Biden promises federal assistance

To assist with identification and processing of remains, the U.S. government has deployed additional experts from a disaster mortuary operational response team, increasing the number of personnel to 75, Jonathan Greene a Health and Human Services official, told reporters on Tuesday. The team includes corners, pathologists, X-ray technicians and lab technicians. A disaster portable morgue unit landed in Hawaii on Tuesday with more than 22 tons of supplies and equipment including mortuary examination tables and laboratory equipment to support the collection of DNA in the identification of victims.

As officials work to identify the deceased, stories about those injured or killed in the flames have emerged from loved ones. Laurie Allen was burned over 70% of her body when the car she was escaping in was blocked by a downed tree, forcing her to flee across a burning field, according to a GoFundMe post by her family. She is burned to the bone in some places, but doctors hope she will regain partial use of her arms, the post said.

"The Burn Team has expressed more than once that she shouldn't be alive!" a relative wrote on the page. Allen is now at a burn center in Oahu, according to the fundraiser post.

The incongruous sight of tourists enjoying Maui's tropical beaches while search-and-rescue teams trawl building ruins and waters for victims of the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century has outraged some residents.

(With inputs from Reuters)