hawaii_wf_7.txt

SCENE RESPONSE
A. Incident Command - Lahaina
The Lahaina District commander is a sworn officer with the rank of captain. The Lahaina District captain was in
district and served as the incident commander, exercising command and control over all law enforcement resources,
from approximately 6:00 a.m. on August 8, 2023, until the mid-morning hours on August 9, 2023, when he was
relieved by other command personnel. Throughout that time, the captain oversaw field operations that included
tracking officer locations, monitoring calls for service, facilitating officer assignments, and other duties. The captain
was assisted by sworn personnel, as well as unsworn (civilian) personnel who assisted by monitoring radio traffic
and scribing events and locations. The captain also conducted and ordered roll calls of officers to further track officer
locations and assignments. Roll calls assist if communications fail as incident and officer locations and information
are readily available.
With severe weather impacting the Lahaina District from the early morning hours of August 8, 2023, A watch officers
(6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) who worked from the night of August 7, 2023, remained on duty until the mid-morning
hours of August 8, 2023 to assist the B watch officers (6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) of August 8, 2023 with the large amount
of calls for service fueled by the severe weather conditions. Additionally, officers who were on days-off were called
in to assist. By approximately 8:00 a.m., the Lahaina Civic Center was opened as an emergency shelter with Red
Cross personnel for evacuees.
Maui Police Department General Order 301.2 establishes procedures and guidelines for “keeping administrative staff
members notified of major incidents at all times”. At approximately 8:18 a.m. on August 8, 2023, a Situational Report
notification was emailed to the executive staff advising the start of a fire at approximately 6:30 a.m. in the area of
Lahainaluna Road and Kuialua Street. The notification also detailed road closures at that time, as well as the current
manpower in the Lahaina District. For various reasons, there were no other situational reports or notifications
emailed. Reasons included the volume of calls for service, the start of and the rapid growth of the afternoon Lahaina
fire, the lack of power and internet service and other exigent circumstances. While no situational reports or
notifications were emailed as outlined in the general order and as is common practice in other incidents, notifications
were being relayed via phone, and later when cellular communication went down, by police radio. Lahaina
command maintained communication with executive staff members throughout the incident, to maintain the flow
of information from the field to the EOC and DOC.
At approximately 1:25 p.m., in response to the escalating weather related calls for service, the Lahaina District
captain officially took incident command and initiated a field command post at the Lahaina Police Station. The
command post was manned by the captain, lieutenant, a senior officer, and multiple civilian personnel; however,
RECOMMENDATION 6 – Review and make necessary amendments to
General Order 301.2, and other related general orders, as to create policy
and procedure on administrative notifications during unusual occurrences,
natural disasters, and man-made disasters. Considering that some
situations, such as the one experienced on August 8, 2023, where means of
communications was limited, and email notifications of officials may not be
feasible or available, may necessitate other means of notifications.
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sworn personnel in the command post also responded to calls for service. Either sworn or civilian personnel were
present in the field command post at all times throughout the incident.
At the onset of the fire at approximately 2:55 p.m., all A watch officers who worked into the mid-morning, were
called back into work to assist. Severe weather conditions dictated increased staffing. There were 16 officers in the
Lahaina District, including the captain, the acting lieutenant, and a sergeant at the start of the afternoon fire. As the
fire progressed, officers self-reported from home, and others were requested from other districts and divisions. By
the early morning hours of August 9, 2023, 49 officers were in Lahaina District.
Preparations were made mid-afternoon for a potential evacuation of the Lahaina District police station. Lahaina
District efficiently relocated to the Napili Sub Station by late evening. Because of the reparations, the arsenal was
not left behind and radio communications and other important documents and operations equipment were
relocated.
At 6:30 a.m. on August 9, 2023, additional commanders were assigned to relieve Lahaina command staff that had
held over through the night. They would initially command all of Lahaina by day, and then command the burn areas
and be responsible for recoveries of victims, scene security, all operations, equipment and personnel resources. Day
one, as August 9, 2023 would be called, involved command having to establish a search methodology, establish a
perimeter, hold traffic posts, respond to emergency calls, all while the fire continued to burn. Incident response was
accomplished without the benefit of cellular connectivity, power and water.
Victim recovery would take weeks. As radio traffic overflowed, personnel were plentiful, however, there were not
enough MPD vehicles for all personnel on duty.
On day four, August 12, 2023, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) arrived to assist in recoveries. On day five,
fencing was erected and by day seven, the road in and out of Lahaina was reopened. This created further challenges
as people were now gaining access to the restricted zones. The President of the United States arrived on day 13.
Despite the many challenges, the collective efforts of all helped to run an effective Lahaina command post that
provided leadership and guidance to all personnel during this unprecedented time.
The command center in Lahaina was staffed with a multitude of agencies. They were able to work together and
effectively move through each hurdle to ensure the timely recovery of victims.
Despite their tremendous loss, the support and assistance in the form of food and water from the Lahaina
community was overwhelming.
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B. Search and Recoveries - Lahaina
On August 9, 2023 the first fatality from the Lahaina wildfire was confirmed. Elements of the Maui Police
Department including the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Community Policing Officers, the Crime Reduction
Unit, the Special Response Team, the Vice Division, the Juvenile Crime Prevention Division, Hana Patrol, and the
Plans and Training Section responded to Lahaina to assist with initial search efforts for survivors and human
remains. Beginning the morning of August 9 and extending until darkness, concerted efforts to recover victims was
made resulting in the location and recovery of over 40 sets of human remains. During the recovery operation,
remains were located, secured and transported to a centralized location for pick up and transport to the
morgue. Details of each recovery were noted, and in most instances, photographs were taken.
The recovery efforts continued through August 10 and 11, 2023 with CID taking the lead coordinating the various
MPD personnel. MPD personnel were joined by volunteers from Maui Search and Rescue and other government
agencies including the Hawaii Air National Guard, the Hawaii Army National Guard, the Honolulu Fire Department,
the National Park Service, and Customs and Border Protection. These groups conducted coordinated foot searches
of the entirety of the burn zone looking for human remains with basic tracking and marking of searched areas with
the understanding that more detailed searches would follow.
The initial search efforts were targeted at locating any survivors needing rescue (none were found) and recovery of
any obvious human remains to try to prevent the remains from being disturbed or damaged inadvertently or
intentionally by civilians in the zone. The burn zone was not secured by physical barricades at this point and time
and many residents, animal advocates, other civilians, and some news media were entering into the burn zone for
various reasons despite orders to stay out. The zone was reasonably secured by the end of day on August 11, 2023.
On August 11, 2023 in the late afternoon hours the first Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) personnel arrived on scene
and a dog team from Nevada Task Force 1 began working in the Lahainaluna Road area, resulting in some recoveries
before darkness.
On August 12, 2023 full scale USAR search and recovery operations began with multiple Task Forces and search dogs
working in the burn zone to locate human remains. Coordination with USAR and recovery of remains and
documentation was facilitated by CID, which maintained a presence in the burn zone throughout the duration of
USAR operations. USAR operations continued through August 25, 2023 when the final teams and personnel left
from Maui. During the deployment USAR teams searched the entire burn zone using human remains detection dogs
and manual searches. USAR teams also worked with local Maui heavy equipment operators for structural delayering
and debris removal on collapsed and other unsafe structures. During this phase of operations multiple canine alerts
led to successful recovery of human remains that had not been located during the initial search efforts immediately
following the fire.
USAR operations ultimately encompassed hundreds of search and rescue personnel and up to 40 dog teams from
across the country. Command personnel from USAR came from New York City, New York; Miami, Florida; Saint
Louis, Missouri; and Chesapeake, Virginia. Search and Rescue Task Forces and Dog Teams came from Washington
State (Washington Task Force 1), Nevada (Nevada Task Force 1), California (California Task Force 6 and other
personnel), Indiana (Indiana Task Force 1), Maryland (Maryland Task Force 1), Ohio, and other states and regions in
the country as dictated by operational needs.
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During USAR operations, specialized personnel from the Hawaii Air National Guard trained in battlefield human
remains recoveries worked with USAR and MPD personnel to facilitate recoveries of human remains located by USAR
teams, including remains that were significantly degraded and damaged.
In the middle of August during the height of USAR operations and continuing into September, anthropologists from
the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the Department of Defense (DPAA) out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor
Hickam from Oahu and a second anthropology team from California arrived on Maui to assist with human remains
recoveries. California personnel remained and assisted with conducting secondary and tertiary recoveries of human
remains for about a week. DPAA personnel remained until mid-September 2023 and conducted site surveys,
secondary, tertiary, and sometimes quaternary searches of sites of human remains recoveries to ensure that the
complete remains of each individual person were recovered. This often involved long hours of digging and sifting
through materials to locate the smallest of bone fragments. Efforts resulted in the primary recovery of remains of
individuals through the specialized training and skills of DPAA. These individuals were listed as missing and had not
initially been located during USAR operations. These remains were often significantly burned and unrecognizable to
untrained eyes.
On September 20, 2023 human remains recovery efforts were officially deemed completed and CID presence in the
burn zone concluded.
Following the conclusion of in-zone burn activities, CID investigators worked to confirm details of each recovery
including location coordinates, date and time of recovery, and details of recovery as accurately as possible through
review of GPS/search data, photographs, site visits, recovery notes, and radio transmissions. These efforts to
confirm recovery details of each deceased individual are ongoing as of this writing.