Critical locked gate overlooked in Maui fire evacuation investigation

The state attorney general’s latest report on the deadly 2023 Lahaina fire cited various locked gates blocking people trying to escape as flaws in Maui’s evacuation planning.

However, a padlocked gate, where the largest cluster of wildfire casualties occurred in Lahaina, was not included in the analysis, which therefore did not attempt to determine whether lives could have been saved if it would have been opened either by emergency responders – or by anyone with a key.

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That’s because the Kuhua Street gate “was not mentioned” to investigators from the Fire Safety Research Institute, according to Attorney General spokeswoman Toni Schwartz. The nonprofit group is conducting a three-part investigation for the AG into what did and did not happen during the fire.

Some of the most harrowing 911 calls during the fire, which killed at least 102 people, came from callers trapped in vehicles near that gate on Kuhua and nearby streets with no way out.

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After Civil Beat reached out last month to ask about the gate — and shared photos taken by a staff photographer in March — the AG’s office requested the data embedded in those digital images, which includes their GPS coordinates and when they were taken.

Now, as the institute’s investigators move into the third phase of their assessment for the state, Schwartz said they are using the photos to determine if there is anything more to learn about what happened there.

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Locked gates prevented escape in several parts of Lahaina on the day of the fire. In Kelawea Mauka, a neighborhood just north of Kuhua Street, local residents worked with a Maui police officer to break down a locked Water Department gate and create their own path to safety via the Lahaina Bypass .

Other residents who tried to flee the city north along Old Cane Haul Road, also known as Oil Road, were stuck at a locked gate where the road passes above the Lahaina Civic Center. Many cars turned toward town before a Lahaina resident, who had a key to the gate as part of his job managing a zip line course, arrived to open it.

The gate along Kuhua, meanwhile, was part of a metal fence that separated a dense residential neighborhood from the industrial estate that used to house the Pioneer Sugar Factory. Before the fire, the gate had a sign that read “fire access, do not block,” according to locals there.

On the day of the disaster, as the fire consumed neighborhoods, some residents tried in vain to get through the gate and fence to escape the makai — seaward — toward the Honoapiilani Highway, according to Kirk Boes, a former Kuhua Street resident. Boes escaped the fire with his wife before their home was destroyed.

Nearly three dozen people died in the surrounding area, including six who fled to a large industrial corrugated steel Quonset hut immediately next to the gate.

The Attorney General’s latest report covers at length the obstacles facing evacuees trying to get out on the Old Cane Haul Road and through Kelawea Mauka. It features a map showing nine blocked gates that affected evacuations during the fire. The map does not include the gate that separates Kuhua from the industrial area.

“It’s strange, if their investigation is really thorough, that they missed it,” Boes said Monday. “I know these investigators are doing their best, but they can miss things.”

Schwartz said in an email Friday that the research institute aims to work with community members and other interested partners to develop plans to address what happened in Lahaina last year and try to prevent another devastating fire there .

Victims Near A Locked Gate

The Kuhua Gate is on the north side of several businesses housed in Quonset huts halfway down the street. Even though a sign warned people not to block the gate, Boes said cars were often parked there. It is unclear if any cars blocked the gate during the fire.

As the fire consumed the Kuhua Camp neighborhood, dozens of residents tried to flee to the only exit available by car or truck: Lahainaluna Road. Many were blocked by fallen trees and a downed utility pole, according to the attorney general’s latest report.

The report also provided new details on how many of the fire’s victims died.

Eugene and Maria Recolizado and their 11-year-old son, Justin, abandoned their car in the Kuhua Camp neighborhood, fled on foot and took shelter in one of the Quonset huts, the report said.

The light structure did not withstand the fire; their bodies were later recovered there along with three other victims.

While the recent report did not refer to the fire gate near those huts, it did discuss several blocked, closed roads that hampered the overall evacuation effort in Lahaina. Fire and police crews had to either use heavy tools to cut those locks and chains, they say, or track down people who had the keys to open those gates.

The report recommends that Maui emergency management officials create a system that gives all emergency responders on the island access to open those gates at any time.

During a recent meeting at Lahainaluna Intermediate School, Boes said county planners informed the public about plans to rebuild the street network in the Kuhua Camp neighborhood. Those plans include making Kuhua a thoroughfare at its northern end, Boes said, where it currently dead-ends.

Plans also call for widening Aki Street, which intersects with Kuhua, so that it crosses the industrial estate and joins Papalaua Street on the other side, he added. Boes said planners told the audience that based on their designs, “they would have provided safe access for everyone.”

Maui County officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Civil Beat Projects Editor Jessica Terrell contributed to this story.

This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.