Maui County

The One ʻOhana fund is a $175 million settlement program for families of the 101 people who were killed in last year’s Maui wildfires, or for people who were hospitalized and severely injured from the disaster.

Maui County's new Recovery Permitting Center opening next week will assist residents with building permits for structures burned in the wildfires.

The statement released by Maui County provided clarifications on various details including when Mayor Richard Bissen issued a county emergency proclamation. The county says it produced hundreds of pages of documents to investigators. State Attorney General Anne Lopez says she welcomes the county supplementing the facts.

A new report released by Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez includes a minute-by-minute analysis of the actions taken by emergency organizations and first responders, as well as an assessment of the environmental conditions that exacerbated the Lahaina fire in August 2023. It does not, however, determine the cause of the fire. HPR's Ashley Mizuo and Savannah Harriman-Pote have more.

Hawaiian Electric could face close to $5 billion in potential liabilities from the lawsuits filed over the Maui wildfires, according to the consulting firm Capstone. The Conversation talked to Capstone analysts Alyssa Lu and Josh Price as state lawmakers prepare to decide on legislation that could impact HECO's bottom line.

The Maui Fire Department released a separate report this week about its response to the deadly August wildfires. Chief Brad Ventura said staffing was not an issue as firefighters from across the state flew in to help — but the limited amount of vehicles and equipment available on Maui posed challenges. HPR's Catherine Cluett Pactol reports.

The report indicates that environmental and geographic factors combined with preparedness and response conditions enabled the Lahaina fire to rapidly intensify in August 2023. In the coming days, the HPR news team will bring you stories about how the report impacts local government, Hawaiʻi's main electric utility, and the community.

A Lahaina homeowners meeting tonight and a Kula community meeting on Wednesday are opportunities for residents to learn more about the next steps in fire recovery for those communities.

The Maui Fire Department is expected to release a report Tuesday detailing how the agency responded to a series of wildfires that burned on the island during a windstorm last August.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources’ ongoing practice of issuing temporary permits to divert water from East Maui streams was upheld in a decision by the Hawaiʻi appeals court. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.