FEMA finishes 167-home project for Lahaina fire survivors
COURTESY FEMA COURTESY FEMA A project offering 167 temporary, modular homes for wildfire survivors on a Lahaina hillside has officially been completed, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The final home at the Kilohana group housing site off of Fleming Road was installed this week and is now ready for occupancy.
'It couldn't have been done without everyone working together, being creative and solving problems, ' said Forrest Lanning, FEMA's joint housing task force leader, in a news release. 'This was a completely new type of housing project for FEMA, and we all had to be flexible to learn new things and get it done.'
It took just over a year to complete the ambitious project on 34 acres owned by the state, which was developed from the ground up.
Last fall, FEMA brought in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a temporary group housing site at the vacant, rocky site. FEMA said blasting with explosives was required to enable the installation of streets and essential infrastructue at the site.
FEMA hired three companies – Dynamic, Timberline and Acuity – to manufacture one-, two-and three-bedroom modular units in the continental United States to be shipped to Maui.
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Timberline completed the first 10 modular units, which were shipped by barge to Maui in October. The units were then trucked to West Maui, and lifted by cranes onto the hillside at Kilohana for final assembly.
FEMA said the first families at Kilohana in November, while the remaining units were readied over the following two months. The last family is expected to move in by the end of today. Each unit comes with basic furnishings.
'The modular homes have been built to last 30 years or more, ' said FEMA in the news release. 'They are the first prefabricated, modular temporary homes that FEMA has built that meet the International Building Code and local amendments.'
Kilohana is next to, another temporary housing project by the state offering 450 units for wildfire survivors.
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