Maui residents are becoming increasingly desperate for local leadership to take control of the emergency response to the catastrophic fires that leveled parts of the Hawaiian island and left at least 113 dead.
While rescue crews made their way across the island with water, food, and first aid, locals told Insider supply drops were being rerouted and anguished residents were taking matters into their own hands.
“There’s some police presence. There’s some small military presence, but at night, people are being robbed at gunpoint,” Matt Robb, a co-owner of a Lāhainā bar called The Dirty Monkey, told Insider.
“People are raped and pillaged. I mean, they’re going through houses – and then by day, it’s hunky-dory. So where is the support? I don’t think our government and our leaders, at this point, know how to handle this or what to do.”
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported a riot nearly broke out between police and about 100 residents after officers closed off access to a highway leading to Lāhainā, one of the hardest-hit areas on the island, preventing people from returning home to gather items that could be salvaged.
Members of the staff of The Dirty Monkey said they had been coordinating with local authorities and community members, organizing and trying to direct supply drops and shipments of essential medications such as insulin to families in need.
Kami Irwin, a Maui resident helping to coordinate relief efforts at the Maui Brewing Co. location in Kihei, told Insider that locals were working around the clock, forgoing sleep and creating neighborhood patrols to help keep each other safe and find essentials such as clean drinking water and medications.
Residents told Insider they believed the mayor, who has offered limited public comments regarding the tragedy, had floundered in response to the emergency.
“I think it’s the mayor’s fault,” Aivazian said.
“If he would’ve asked, they had Marines, Coast Guards sitting there waiting, ready to go, and he didn’t send them over. Why wouldn’t the feds send them over? The mayor didn’t ask and the governor didn’t push. I mean, what the hell are they doing over there? They’re just hanging out at the beach.”
Here we see the testimony of a man who is now homeless, with injuries on his foot, has no money and nowhere to go. He describes the apocalyptic living conditions of Lahaina:
Here we have the testimony of a local handyman that lost everything in the fires except for all the animals he was able to put in his van before fleeing the fire. One thing he emphasizes the most is there is absolutely no communications available for them, barely any cell reception, no internet and water/food/gas shortages. He also says American Red Cross is not there helping and they are limiting movement for locals:
Here we have a very emotional and visibly frustrated testimony of a state representative that is doing anything she can, boots on the ground to help everyone as she also says there is no help to be seen and authorities are not allowing qualified groups to come in and help:
Mainstream media is also reporting on the same issues many Lahaina locals are facing and even go so far as to claim that it feels very much like ‘martial law’:
Those that have lost so much in these fires need our support and our prayers.
Hawaii will never be quite the same after this, and the people of the state deserve to get some answers to the very pressing questions that they are asking right now
