Hawaii fires: First victims named as death toll reaches 106

The first victims from the deadly wildfires that swept Maui island last week have been identified by officials.

Maui's police department named the first two victims as Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both from the town of Lahaina.

The death toll from the fires has now reached 106 with about 1300 missing.

It is likely to take several more days for authorities to reach an accurate figure for the number who died, Hawaii's Governor Josh Green has said.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the families who are beginning to receive notifications about their loved ones," said Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. "As a community, we offer our prayers of comfort in this most difficult time."

He said authorities identified three other individuals, whose next of kin would be informed.

US President Joe Biden has said he will travel to Hawaii "as soon as he can" amid criticism of his government's response.

The president said on Tuesday he had not yet visited because of concerns that doing so would divert resources and attention from the humanitarian response. Jill Biden would accompany him to Hawaii, he said.

"I don't want to get in the way. I've been to too many disaster areas," Biden said. "I want to be sure we don't disrupt ongoing recovery efforts."

He said "all available federal assets" in the region would be used for recovery efforts, including the US military and Coast Guard.

Officials in Hawaii have said they expected the death toll to rise in the coming days as more bodies were recovered from the worst hit parts of Maui. Only 25 percent of the affected area has so far been searched for human remains.

About 80 percent of Lahaina - a town of about 12,000 residents - was destroyed in the blaze.

On the ground in Maui, many residents told the BBC they have been frustrated at the scale and the speed of the recovery efforts.

Residents have also told the BBC they had no official warning before fleeing the fires, which rapidly consumed parts of the island.

One resident, Les Munn, said he had so far received US$500 (NZ$836) from The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) - less than the price of a night in most hotel rooms on the island.

For now, he is still sleeping in a shelter.

Another local, Felicia Johnson, said "everybody wants the glory but nobody wants to put their feet on the ground".

On a street above the fire line in Lahaina, one woman said she feared she would starve to death in the days after the fire.

But now people are dropping bags of ice, water, clothing, batteries and small solar chargers at her neighbour's home, one of several grassroots relief supply hubs co-ordinated by locals in the area.

Ahead of a second trip into the worst-hit area, Amory Mowrey spent $1700 to load his and his friend's SUVs with toilet paper, cases of water, packs of batteries and sacks of rice.

"We're just trying to get supplies as fast as possible into the affected areas so people get what they need," he said. "There's a lack of response, it felt like, from large organisations."

Others expressed frustration locally sourced supplies were being turned away by government officials, or that road closures had prevented people from entering Lahaina to help.

"The government's getting in the way of people helping," said Liz Germansky, who lost her home in the fire.

"I don't think the government could have done less," she told the BBC while sitting in a traffic jam on the island.

"The way things are unfolding right now is typical of what we all experienced on Tuesday ... it's no wonder that this got so out of hand."

The US government said it had dispatched more than 500 federal emergency personnel so far to help with the relief effort.

Low-interest disaster loans and one-time payments of US$700 per household have also been approved.

-This story was first published by the BBC.