
Richie Olsten has been in Maui's helicopter tour business for a half century, so long he's developed a barometer for the tourism-dependent economy: rental cars parked at the island's airport.
There are so many since wildfires killed 115 people in the historic town of Lahaina that Olsten is worried about a full-blown economic catastrophe. Restaurants and tour companies are laying off workers and unemployment is surging.