A look from Maui six months after devastating wildfires

As we approach the six-month anniversary of the Maui fires, we look at the biggest issues that people on the island are still facing.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

It has been nearly six months since wildfires swept the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing a hundred people and wiping out the historic town of Lahaina. NPR national correspondent Debbie Elliott has been in West Maui this week checking on how the recovery is going. She’s with us now. Hey, Deb.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Hi there.

KELLY: So I’m remembering how devastating the images of the fire damage were in Lahaina. What does it look like there now?

ELLIOTT: Well, pretty much the same. The heart of Lahaina remains off-limits, and debris removal in the burnt zone is only just now beginning. It started about two weeks ago. As of this morning, 21 sites have been cleared, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is coordinating this phase of the recovery. So, Mary Louise, to put that in perspective, there were, like, 2,000 structures destroyed by the fires last August. Twenty-one of those sites now cleared, so this is slow going. The EPA came in first and sort of combed through the ash to remove hazardous materials. This, now, is the next phase of that recovery.

KELLY: OK, so that’s what you’re seeing. What about – what are you hearing? Survivors of the fire, how are they doing?

ELLIOTT: It’s been a real struggle for people. You know, an estimated 7,000 were displaced, and there’s a serious housing crunch underway here. Tourism has resumed in West Maui, so there’s pressure for people who maybe had been temporary living in hotels or condos to find more permanent solutions until they can clean up or rebuild their homes, and that could take years. And you have to remember that many of these families are still responsible for paying the mortgages on their burned-out properties.

NPR producer Marisa Penaloza and I stopped in at a meeting where residents were trying…