Utahns volunteer with Red Cross in Maui as names of 388 people still missing are released

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Maui County released the names of 388 people still missing Thursday more than two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, and officials asked anyone who knows a person on the list to be safe to contact authorities.

The FBI compiled the list of names. The number of confirmed dead after fires on Maui that destroyed the historic seaside community of Lahaina stands at 115, a number the county said is expected to rise.

“We also know that once those names come out, it can and will cause pain for folks whose loved ones are listed,” Police Chief John Pelletier said in a statement. “This is not an easy thing to do, but we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make this investigation as complete and thorough as possible.”

Names on the list were deemed validated if officials had a person’s first and last name and a verified contact for the person who reported them missing, officials said.

An additional 1,732 people who had been reported missing have been found safe as of Thursday afternoon, officials said.

A group of five Red Cross volunteers from Utah have been on Maui for more than a week and have seen the destruction firsthand.

“We see the remains of the homes; they’re really burnt to the ground, almost all of them,” said David Kenison from Orem. “It is hard to comprehend how much was lost, how many people were affected by this.”

Kenison and his wife, Bonnie, are spending their time visiting shelter hotels, documenting who is there and helping them plan for the future.

“We have encountered a number of people who either have a neighbor or family member that they don’t know about,” he said.

Even with the high level of uncertainty about what’s next, Kenison said he’s seeing people rise above the heartache.

“A lot of unity,” he said. “They are working together. They’re helping each other in a lot of good ways. So we’re seeing a lot of the strength of the Hawaiian people come through, which is very impressive.”

He and other Red Cross volunteers are staying in a church shelter and sleeping on cots so that they can leave room in the hotels for those displaced by the fire.

“We have almost 3,000 people—If you can believe it—that are now under the Red Cross supervision at these hotel shelters,” Kenison said. “So, just a tremendous amount of people displaced by the fire that we’re trying to help and serve at this point.”

On Wednesday, officials said 1,000 to 1,100 names remained on the FBI’s tentative, unconfirmed list of people unaccounted for, but DNA had been collected from only 104 families, a figure far lower than in previous major disasters around the country.

Hawaii officials had expressed concern that by releasing a list of the missing, they would also be identifying some people who have died. Pelletier said Tuesday that his team faced difficulties in compiling a solid list. In some cases, people provided only partial names, and in other cases names might be duplicated.

Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Co. on Thursday, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane.

Hawaii Electric said in a statement it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”