Treu’s neighbor Robert Arconado said the fire reignites around 2 p.m. While many of Maui County’s fire crews work to extinguish the Upcountry fire on the eastern half of the island, the wind is toppling power poles and scattering embers like seeds in Lahaina.

That means many of Lahaina’s 3,000 public school students are home alone while their parents work.Ĭontained is not controlled, however, and the town is being battered by high winds. The assurance puts many residents at ease the high winds have prompted the closure of some public schools for the day, and others have not yet started. Small brush fires aren’t unusual for Lahaina, and the fire department declares this one 100% contained by 9:55 a.m. The timeline reveals the chaos that overtook the town.

The Associated Press has filed public records requests for location reports and other documentation including video and internal communications to clarify the details of the police and fire response, but Maui County has not yet released that information.Ī team of Associated Press journalists documented the first hours of the deadly wildfire by interviewing dozens of survivors and public officials, examining public documents and analyzing citizen videos, satellite images and publicly available data. And later, as the fire began to swallow homes in its ravenous path, Maui County emergency officials declined to use an extensive network of emergency sirens to alert Lahaina’s residents to flee.ĭuring a news conference Tuesday, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said police officers drove up and down streets, knocking on doors and using loudspeakers to tell people to leave, but he didn’t say exactly where and what time those efforts occurred.

Citizen press blocked