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The Independent
20 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
50 trucks will spend 5 months transporting Lahaina wildfire debris to a Maui landfill
Fifty trucks will spend five months hauling Lahaina wildfire debris to a landfill in the center of Maui starting next Monday, Maui County said. There's enough debris to fill five football fields five stories high. About two years ago the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and turned vast stretches of Lahaina into burned rubble. The trucks are expected to make multiple trips each day moving the debris from Olowalu, a town south of Lahaina, to the Central Maui Landfill about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away, the county said in a statement. Part of the route follows a winding, two-land coastal highway. The trucks will travel on former sugar cane plantation roads for portions to limit traffic disruption. For safety reasons, crews will only work during the day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished clearing Lahaina properties earlier this year but it's had to temporarily store the debris at a former quarry on state-owned land in Olowalu while authorities searched for longer-term solution. In December, the Maui County Council approved acquiring privately owned land next to Maui's existing landfill for a permanent disposal site. Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. It took Paradise, California, officials about a year to transport more than 300,000 truck loads of debris to three different landfills after the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned most of the town. Maui County said it evaluated the debris with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health and determined transporting and storing it at the landfill didn't post a public health risk. Workers will lightly wet it before loading it onto trucks to control dust. The debris will be wrapped in thick plastic sheets. In total, it weighs about 400,000 tons (363,00 metric tons). Some Olowalu residents were worried the debris would stay in their community permanently, potentially desecrating Native Hawaiian shrines, ancient burial sites and offshore coral reefs and marine life. Most of the steel and concrete left behind by the fire was to be recycled. Much of the debris heading for the landfill is ash and small particles, which state Department of Health tests found had arsenic, lead and other toxins.
Associated Press
20 hours ago
- General
- Associated Press
50 trucks will spend 5 months transporting Lahaina wildfire debris to a Maui landfill
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Fifty trucks will spend five months hauling Lahaina wildfire debris to a landfill in the center of Maui starting next Monday, Maui County said. There's enough debris to fill five football fields five stories high. About two years ago the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and turned vast stretches of Lahaina into burned rubble. The trucks are expected to make multiple trips each day moving the debris from Olowalu, a town south of Lahaina, to the Central Maui Landfill about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away, the county said in a statement. Part of the route follows a winding, two-land coastal highway. The trucks will travel on former sugar cane plantation roads for portions to limit traffic disruption. For safety reasons, crews will only work during the day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished clearing Lahaina properties earlier this year but it's had to temporarily store the debris at a former quarry on state-owned land in Olowalu while authorities searched for longer-term solution. In December, the Maui County Council approved acquiring privately owned land next to Maui's existing landfill for a permanent disposal site. Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. It took Paradise, California, officials about a year to transport more than 300,000 truck loads of debris to three different landfills after the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned most of the town. Maui County said it evaluated the debris with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health and determined transporting and storing it at the landfill didn't post a public health risk. Workers will lightly wet it before loading it onto trucks to control dust. The debris will be wrapped in thick plastic sheets. In total, it weighs about 400,000 tons (363,00 metric tons). Some Olowalu residents were worried the debris would stay in their community permanently, potentially desecrating Native Hawaiian shrines, ancient burial sites and offshore coral reefs and marine life. Most of the steel and concrete left behind by the fire was to be recycled. Much of the debris heading for the landfill is ash and small particles, which state Department of Health tests found had arsenic, lead and other toxins.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Traffic expected as crews truck Lahaina wildfire debris to central Maui
HONOLULU (KHON2) — It's said to be the next important step in rebuilding Lahaina, moving all the debris from the fire to its permanent site. The move will cause some traffic problems for commuters for the next few months and cost taxpayers millions more. Deal reached: How will the $4B Lahaina Global Settlement be split for fire victims? More than 1,500 structures, both residential and commercial, were destroyed in the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire. The first step in rebuilding is removing all the debris. 'The longer the debris sat there, the more vulnerable the near-shore waters were to exposure when it rained,' said John Smith, Maui County Office of Recovery Administrator. 'So, there were very few options, and Olowalu came to the top of the options in terms of logistics.' Olowalu is just a 10-minute drive from Lahaina town, which officials say sped up the cleanup process while they figured out where to permanently put the debris, which is located next to the current landfill in central Maui. Starting next month, crews will use up to 50 dump trucks a day to transport the debris 19 miles from Olowalu to Puunene. Work will be done seven days a week, only during daylight hours.'You'll see the trucks, but it's not going to be this major increase in traffic,' said Smith. 'I think people don't realize the impact that it's going to have until it actually happens,' said Sen. Troy Hashimoto, (D) Wailuku, Kahului, Waiehu. 'And so people are going to start seeing that, especially people that live in my district who live in central Maui and commute to work. They're going to feel that.' Maui County officials say they surveyed residents and found their top concern was environmental impact, which is why officials finally chose the central Maui site over Olowalu. But the county had to buy the land for $4 million. It also had to pay to prepare the landfill site for the 400,000 tons of debris. 'I think we would probably have rather used some of that money for other things, but I think that decision was made and we have to move on at this point,' said Hashimoto. That's exactly what county officials are doing. Even though only a few homes in Lahaina have been rebuilt, officials say there are more than 250 homes under construction. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news 'All of that work could not have started unless we would have made this decision right away to move the debris to the temporary site,' said Smith. 'Otherwise, we'd still be waiting on the permanent landfill today, which is just not ready.' The debris transportation is expected to run through November. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
