Maui's wildfire death toll officially 114, but locals running out of body bags reckon it's closer to 500, with thousands still missing



The County of Maui and the Maui Police Department confirmed Sunday that at least 114 people were dead as a result of the Hawaii wildfires that torched thousands of acres and reduced much of the historic town of Lahaina to ash.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier indicated early last week that rescuers accompanied by scores of cadaver dogs were working their way through the aftermath, over 85% of which had been covered by Sunday, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

Locals, whose morgues have reportedly run out of body bags, indicated that the actual number of deaths is the neighborhood of 500.

Allisen Medina told the Daily Mail, "I know there are at least 480 dead here in Maui, and I don't understand why they're [the authorities] not saying that. Maybe it's to do with DNA or something."

Authorities are encouraging people to provide DNA samples to help identify victims, reported Axios.

The FBI announced Friday it would be opening a DNA matching site to speed up the process.

"I do know they ran out of body bags by the first or second night and had to ship some in from the mainland," added Medina.

Medina criticized the Biden administration's relief effort, saying, "100 percent not enough is being done, so people are doing it themselves. The government, relief organizations — they're not doing anything."

"We're only 100 miles from Oahu, which has several military bases. Why is the response so lacking? Why are they doing so little? Why is nothing else being done?" asked Medina, who has been traveling to and from Lahaina over the past two weeks, helping burned-out residents.

The 24-year-old also took aim at the apparent failure of some officials, particularly Herman Andaya, the administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency who resigned Thursday despite refusing to admit fault.

While she did not mention Andaya by name, Medina blasted his decision not to sound warning sirens.

A part-time morgue worker similarly suggested that around 480 people had already been confirmed dead, telling Southwest flight attendant Sarah Trost that authorities had only searched 13% of Lahaina as of last week, where he personally "found so many children, children and moms holding each other. Infants, toddlers, the unimaginable. Husbands and wives, whole entire [families] in a room just huddling together, burning to death."

The morgue worker further claimed, "It's all bones. ... They have no more room on the island in the morgue, so they're shipping in containers to hold those body bags."

Gov. Green told CBS News Sunday there were still an estimated 1,050 people unaccounted for, noting both that search and recovery efforts in the ruins of larger buildings could "take weeks" and that "the remains of those who died, in some cases, may be impossible to recover" on account of the high temperatures at which the fires burned.

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NBC News reported that an accurate count could take months or even years according to researchers and forensic anthropologists.

"The death toll number is always provisional, in a way," said Lynn Goldman, an epidemiologist and the dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. "I assume people won't stop trying to find remains and the work will take a very, very long time."

Goldman added, "It's going to be challenging to account for all the direct deaths, whether it was people who were burned or people who jumped into the ocean and drowned or people who died of smoke inhalation."

Although the official number is less than one-quarter of that counted by the morgue worker, Medina, and others, Pelletier underscored that it is already "unprecedented."

"No one has ever seen this that is alive today. Not this size, not this number, not this volume — and we're not done," said the Maui police chief.

While officials continue to tabulate how many souls perished in the blazes, some survivors are trying to establish precisely who or what set Maui up to burn.

Numerous lawsuits allege that Hawaiian Electric, which serves 95% of the state's 1.4 million residents, helped set the stage for the wildfires.

TheBlaze previously detailed a report claiming Hawaiian Electric had prioritized its shift to 100% renewable energy — as mandated by Democratic lawmakers — over the clearing of flammable vegetation and the maintenance of its power lines.

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Dr. Fauci says politicizing mask-wearing in US contributed to 'stunning' death toll of 500,000



Dr. Anthony Fauci told Reuters on Monday that the politicization of mask-wearing in the U.S. helped contribute to the nation reaching the grim milestone of over 500,000 deaths, calling the number "stunning."

What are the details?

Reuters reported that Fauci "said the pandemic arrived in the United States as the country was riven by political divisions in which wearing a mask became a political statement rather than a public health measure."

"Even under the best of circumstances, this would have a been very serious problem," Fauci told the outlet, while acknowledging that other nations like Germany and the UK were also pummeled by the virus despite greater public compliance with measures aimed at stopping its spread. "However, that does not explain how a rich and sophisticated county can have the most percentage of deaths and be the hardest-hit country in the world."

The infectious disease expert also said it was "incomprehensible" to him that some governors and mayors disregarded the coronavirus task force's recommendations for reopening last year following lockdowns in the spring.

"When the American spirit is so divided, that really, really made me sad," Fauci said.

Fauci also said that while America's struggles combating the COVID-19 cannot all be blamed on former President Donald Trump, "the lack of involvement at the very top of the leadership in trying to do everything that was science-based was clearly detrimental to the effort."

Fauci has received criticism himself for inconsistent messaging on mask-wearing, after the task force initially urged Americans not to wear masks when the coronavirus first hit American shores before reversing course entirely and calling for everyone to wear facial coverings.

President Joe Biden floated the idea of a federal mask mandate while campaigning last year before easing off the nationwide order amid questions over its constitutionality and enforcement. However, the president did issue a mask mandate for federal properties and on modes of interstate transportation such as planes on his first day in office.

Fauci and Biden have said the U.S. should approach pre-pandemic normal life around Christmas.

Anything else?

Biden held a ceremony Monday at the White House to recognize and mourn the half-million Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.

The president addressed the nation at the candlelight vigil, saying, "We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur or, on the news. We must do so to honor the dead. But, equally important, to care for the living."

Death toll from West Coast wildfires reaches 7



At least seven people have lost their lives in the devastating wildfires that continue to rage in several Western U.S. states, with reports of victims coming from California, Oregon and Washington.

What are the details?

The first reported death was out of Washington on Wednesday, where a 1-year-old boy died and his parents were severely burned as the family fled wildfires in the northern part of the state. The mother and father were hospitalized for their injuries.

Three people have been killed by the fires in Oregon. The Oregonian reported that a 13-year-old boy, Wyatt Tofte, and his grandmother, Peggy Mosso, were the first fatalities in the state. CBS News reported that Wyatt fled as a fire approached his home on Tuesday night, and his body was later found inside a vehicle along with the remains of his dog. The boy's mother was hospitalized and remains in critical condition.

The third victim in Oregon was found on Thursday in the southern part of the state from a fire that is now being investigated as arson. That person's identity has not been made public.

Another three people were found dead in Butte County, California, according to Mercury News. One of them was discovered late Wednesday morning, and authorities believe the individual was overcome by flames after fleeing their vehicle. Another two victims were found together in a separate area, but they have not been identified positively according to Sheriff Kory Honea.

"Time and again we have seen how dangerous wildfires can be," Honea said during a press conference. "So I ask that you please, please, please be prepared, maintain situational awareness and heed the warnings."

The The New York Times noted that "California's wildfire season is already the most severe in modern history, measured by acres burned." The outlet reported, "More than 2.5 million acres of land have burned in the state this year, nearly 20 times what had burned at this time last year."

The Associate Press reported that since mid-August in California, "fires have killed 12 people, destroyed more than 3,600 buildings, burned old growth redwoods, charred chaparral and forced evacuations in communities near the coast, in wine country north of San Francisco and along the Sierra Nevada."

Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in recent days to escape the West Coast fires that have been called "unprecedented" as high winds fan the flames amid drought conditions.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) expressed some cautious optimism on Thursday, saying a "We're encouraged that the wind activity appears to be dying down. The rest of the week looks a little more favorable."