Wildfire roars through Hawaii’s historic Lahaina
Hawaiian locals have claimed that looters are now targeting Lahaina at night, robbing residents and stealing their last worldly possessions after the historic town was burned to the ground by devastating wildfires.
Matt Robb, co-owner of a Lāhainā bar called The Dirty Monkey, told Business Insider that residents are desperate for local leaders to take control of the emergency response amid a spate of people being robbed at gunpoint.
“There’s some police presence. There’s some small military presence, but at night people are being robbed at gunpoint,” Matt Robb, co-owner of local bar The Dirty Monkey, told Business Insider.
The death toll climbed to 96 on 14 August, making the wildfires the deadliest in US modern history.
Authorities have warned that the effort to find and identify victims is still in its early stages, with crews with cadaver dogs having covered just three per cent of the search area as of Saturday.
Meanwhile, celebrities and tourists are coming under fire as some are still flocking to the island. Paris Hilton has been slammed for holidaying in Maui over the weekend while Oprah Winfrey’s camera crew was refused entry at an emergency shelter as she came to hand out supplies.
