While I’ve been to Maui a few times, I don’t pretend to know the island all that well. I’m curious to know where will all the fire-related debris be taken and will the volume be so great that it will have to be taken off the island. The number of just the destroyed vehicles is daunting.
I assume that large metal objects would be taken to scrap yards for recycling. In addition to the car frames, there’s things like washing machines, fridges, water heaters, etc. that all could be recycled.
…or they may be made into some form of memorial sculpture.
Most of the materials were exposed to such high temperatures that they are no longer the same and cannot be reused. The topic is complicated by the fact that so many of these structures and vehicles contain human remains.
The stories are unimaginable to me. The can’t just tow the burned-out hulks of cars off the streets because the aluminum in the engines has melted and puddled into the asphalt. And of course none of them have tires anymore. They have to be individually scraped off and lifted onto flatbeds, taking large chunks of the asphalt with them. And those on the road must be processed for identification of drivers/passengers before they can be touched.
The wind was such that the fire moved fast and so hot that buildings went up in moments. It’s not easy to tell whether there were people in there or not. In La Haina the number of deaths is somewhere between 80 and 3,000. How to ever be sure?
It is daunting to even think about. I am awe struck by the tragedy of it.
Fairly certain they’ll be able to narrow it down to a more precise number than a range that you’ve suggested. You don’t just misplace 2,000 people and don’t know where they went.
You are partially correct. The current number of “missing” is 1,000. The problem is that the fire was so hot there are not necessarily even bones left. I hate how pragmatic that sounds. I’m not poet enough to convey the pain with which I say it.
The scary thought is what happens if there are whole families missing? How long before second cousin Bob in Idaho thinks “I talked to Jim and Betty maybe once a year, but I haven’t heard from them yet?” After all, the phone lines are down (so to speak) and they may consider them too busy to call distant relatives, too busy to spend time finding contact info for distant relatives, and whose job is it to report these missing people anyway? I assume trying to make a list of local taxpayers from city hall has a problem. I suppose they could use state or federal tax rolls, which may be up to date as of April 15th? Hotels and rental units may or may not still have functional lists of guests and occupants. Then there’s seasonal and casual workers. Does Hawaii have many “undocumented” workers?
From the experience Australia had in fires at the end of 2019, little metal was salvageable. Ruined and burnt houses often also contain brittle remnant fibre-asbestos sheeting, and the ash itself is just evil toxicity in easy-to-breathe form.
Specialist teams were formed to investigate and clear each burnt property before any clean-up. This was to confirm safety and to sweep for any human remains - if there is an identifiable dead person they needed to ensure that any evidence for a coronial inquest was preserved, let alone for a positive identification.
And when its all over, its not all over. I have spoken to a few people who went through it and they are still a long way from a full mental recovery after nearly four years.
The primary means of departure from the state is by air. Airlines have manifests of people departing the state, when, where they were flying to. Credit card companies and banks keep track of charges made etc. A simple investigation including interviews of neighbors, co workers, etc of missing people would take a few weeks to determine the whereabouts of most of the people unaccounted for. It’s not that complex.
The majority people killed in 9/11 were identified within a month of the tragedy. And that was more complex than this IMHO.