Maui has belatedly opened such an office. In April 2024, the county opened a privately run Recovery Permitting Center, which has helped speed things up. Even before the fires, wait times at the ...

WAILUKU, Hawaii--Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island, killing at least 36 people and burning parts of a centuries-old town.

Herman Andaya, Maui Emergency Management Agency administrator, defended not sounding the sirens during the fire. “We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” he said, using the Hawaiian ...

The death toll from the fire on the Hawaiian island of Maui now stands at 99, making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. Nearly the entire town of Lahaina was destroyed ...