By: Niran Zuo

Terrible wildfires have recently broken out in Maui, Hawaii. Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green has pronounced the Maui wildfires, which have killed at least 90 people, the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history. Damage across the island is estimated at nearly $6 billion. This includes over 2,200 buildings that were damaged, 86% of them being residential.

The seriousness of the damage from the fires became clearer on Saturday, a few days after the fires had destroyed buildings and melted cars in the historic resort town of Lahaina. Green expressed that he was shocked at the destruction. He emphasized the need to support those affected by the wildfire, reunite families, provide housing and healthcare, and focus on rebuilding. Green also revealed to CNN that he had approved of a review of the emergency response, while the attorney general of Hawaii, Anne Lopez, announced that she would review the decision-making before and during the Maui wildfire.

Search teams are having a hard time searching through the ruins of Maui. Though search dogs were used to locate corpses, rarely did they bark to signal a carcass being found. The cadaver-sniffing dogs have searched only 3% of the area, reported Maui Police Chief John Pelletier. Pelletier further explained that identifying the deceased is extremely difficult due to the remains being destroyed by the fire, which was hot enough to melt metal. Only two of the 90 people have been identified so far. His search team said that they have marked the ruins with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and HR when they found human remains while searching through the wreckage of the fires. Pelletier expects the death toll to increase, he said, while emergency workers searched through the ruins of homes in Lahaina.

During the Maui fires, many public utilities were malfunctioning, causing even more deaths. For instance, the sirens meant to warn of natural disasters were not activated. Widespread power and cellular outages also hindered alerts. Officials have promised to investigate the emergency notification system after residents, who were forced by the Maui fires to wade into the Pacific Ocean, questioned its effectiveness.

So far, the Maui wildfires are still developing. But as of now, the fire is still raging, and search teams are still sifting through the wreckage and having a hard time finding human remains. Authorities predict a further rise in fatalities from the Maui fires, the deadliest US wildfire in over a century. Recovery will take a long time, they say.