HONOLULU — Gov. Josh Green on Friday — the 276th day since the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires — proclaimed May as Wildfire Mitigation and Risk Reduction Preparedness Month.
“We are now past the nine-month mark since the tragedy,” Green said.
Of the initial 3,071 households that were displaced, 80.3% have been able to get into long-term housing, according to Green.
“We wanted to remind people that we intend to build well over 1,000 transitional houses,” Green said.
There were also 1,502 residential lots in Maui that had to be cleared: 391 have been cleared and returned to their owners, while 971 have had basic clearance but still have to go through the final touches before being returned to families.
More than 98% of wildfires in Hawaii are due to campfires, open flames, improper cigarette disposal or equipment malfunction.
Green recommended that the state create defensible spaces around homes, develop mapped-out evacuation plans and engage in communitywide preparedness initiatives to mitigate the impact of fires.
In terms of preparedness, Green said the state has approved 40 Remote Automatic Weather Stations to provide updated data to the National Weather Service, enhancing awareness…
