Residents return home after one of deadliest US wildfires

Summer Gerling picks her piggy bank from the rubble of her home. Pic/AP

Authorities will begin allowing the first residents and property owners to return to their properties in the burn zone, many for the first time since it was demolished nearly seven weeks ago, on August 8, by the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. On Monday, officials are expected to begin lifting restrictions on entry to the burn zone in Lahaina.

Officials said those returning will be provided water, shade, washing stations, portable toilets, medical and mental health care, and transportation assistance if needed. Nonprofit groups are also offering personal protective equipment, including masks and coveralls. Officials have warned ash could contain asbestos, lead, arsenic or other toxins.

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The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as the wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape.

Some survivors jumped over a sea wall and sheltered in the waves as hot black smoke blotted out the sun. The wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes.

97
No of people killed in the fire

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