Maui Wildfire Death Toll Rises to 106 People: ‘Nothing Can Prepare You for What I Saw’

The official death toll from the Maui wildfires has risen to 106 people. 

The latest number of fatalities was confirmed in an update from Maui County on Tuesday, which also stated that only five victims have so far been identified. 

On Monday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced the official total of fatalities then stood at 99 people in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

First reported on Aug. 8, the devastating wildfires have affected the areas of Lahaina and Kula on the island.

On Tuesday, according to a post on the Maui County Facebook page, the fire in Kula was 75 percent contained, while the fire in Lahaina was 85 percent contained and had affected an estimated area of 2,170 acres. 

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Lahaina has been devastated by the fires.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Also on Tuesday, Maui County and the Maui Police Department released the identities of two victims: Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both of Lahaina.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families who are beginning to receive notifications about their loved ones,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement. “As a community, we offer our prayers of comfort in this most difficult time.”

Three other people have also been identified and authorities said their names will be released when their families are notified.

Lahaina in Maui.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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One family also told local media outlet Hawaii News Now they had lost four members who were trying to escape the fires. 

“On behalf of our family, we bid aloha to our beloved parents, Faaso and Malui Fonua Tone, as well as our dear sister Salote Takafua and her son, Tony Takafua,” the family said in a statement.

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Green told CNN on Tuesday that the death toll could still rise significantly, with much of the search areas still needing to be covered. 

“Over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll be able to confirm who passed away. But it’s going to be very difficult going,” Green said. 

The governor also said many people died on a highway down by the ocean in western Maui.

“I think many of the fatalities that we’ll ultimately discover, a higher percentage will be from there,” he said. “But now that we’re going to the houses, we are not sure what we will see. We’re hopeful and praying that it’s not large, large numbers.”

An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty

“A lot of people had to run and left all they had behind. They don’t have their phones – the phones are incinerated,” Green added.

There are now 185 people on search-and-recovery teams, he said Tuesday. 

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell arrived in Hawaii on Saturday at the direction of President Joe Biden. “Nothing can prepare you for what I saw during my time here, and nothing can prepare them for the emotional toll of the impact that this severe event has taken on them,” she said in a press conference on Monday. 

“The coming days and the weeks, they’re going to be tough,” she continued. “They’re going to be difficult as people process what they have lost and what the road ahead looks like.  But we are going to be with the people of Hawaii, as I have committed to the governor, every step of the way. 

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According to data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the death toll makes the wildfires the deadliest in the U.S. in more than 100 years.

Lahaina resident Amanda Bratton, 28, who was in Georgia planning her wedding as the fires spread, told PEOPLE her community had been devastated. 

“Our whole town is gone. Our jobs are gone. Our house is gone,” she said. “Our cars are gone and our whole community is just, I mean, it’s the entire town. So it’s like I’ve never seen anything this tragic since 9-11. It’s like, what do you do when you weren’t expecting your entire town, all the buildings and businesses and houses, to just be wiped out?”

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