Maui Mayor Richard Bissen described the destruction from fires that have ravaged Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui as a “war zone.”
During an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Bissen compared the destruction from the fires as looking like a “bomb went off.” Bissen and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Hawaii’s Adjutant Gen. Kenneth Hara have gone out to see the damage in the city of Lahaina.
“The closest thing I can compare it to is perhaps a war zone where maybe a bomb went off,” Bissen said on Friday.
"The closest thing I can compare it to is perhaps a war zone where maybe a bomb went off."
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 11, 2023
Maui mayor Richard Bissen Jr. details the destruction and gives an update on rescue efforts after the wildfires. https://t.co/EAQw9BOu7d pic.twitter.com/ooVJjGykJK
Bissen said he saw “cars in the street, doors open, uhm, you know, melted to the ground.”
“Most structures no longer exist, and for blocks and blocks of this,” Bissen said. “It doesn’t resemble anything that it looked like when I was growing up.”
The death toll from the fires reached 53 people as of Thursday, Bissen confirmed in the interview.
President Joe Biden made a disaster declaration for Maui County on Thursday, according to a statement on the White House website.
Under the disaster declaration, federal funding is “available to affected individuals in Maui County,” according to the statement.
Assistance for grants relating to temporary housing and home repairs, along with “low-cost loans” and other programs, are also available to help individuals and businesses that have been affected by the fires, according to the statement.
“We are going to rebuild,” Bissen said. “Number one, there’s so much support. And again, I really want to thank the president. President Biden, in a very short time, I think in six hours from when the request was first made he signed the emergency declaration declaring us obviously as an emergency. Our governor also issued an emergency proclamation declaring an emergency, and so did I.”
Bissen added the focus was on “fighting the fires, saving lives where we can, or preventing further harm.”