The County of Maui continues to stand in steadfast support of the firefighters, police officers, emergency response personnel, and its residents who heroically sacrificed their personal safety to assist our community. We continue to regard their efforts in August 2023—to suppress four (4) simultaneous fires amidst extreme weather conditions across both wildland and urban conditions—as the highest form of service to our people.

“The County remains committed to a transparent and thorough investigation that will help us identify and implement best practices—many that have already been established to protect the health and safety of our community,” said Mayor Bissen. “This investigation, paired with the finding of our County Police, Fire and MEMA After Action Reports, will be leveraged to enhance our ability to respond to future disasters and save lives.”

The County acknowledges the Department of the Attorney General’s efforts with respect to this report and aligns with its vision of transparency and disclosure. The large majority of information used in this report came from the County and its hard-working and resilient public servants. To date, the County has delivered to the State over fifty (50) separate productions of documents (containing over 23,000 distinct files, including approximately 8,000 video and audio files; more than 85,000 pages; and approximately 125 GB of data) and has made its personnel, directors, deputies, and employees available for over 150 technical interviews and numerous site visits into and around the affected areas. Technical interviews continue to this day, with another scheduled for next week.

These technical interviews were compelled by the Attorney General’s investigatory powers, and the interviewees were not offered immunity from subsequent civil or criminal prosecution in exchange for their testimony. The interviewees were not notified that their recorded interviews would be released by FSRI as part of a public media presentation.

The County has provided this information and made its current and former personnel available for interviews while simultaneously defending over 700 civil lawsuits and engaging in global settlement mediation. Given the efforts by all parties in the lawsuits, the County is focused to accelerate the delivery of important relief for the victims of these tragic fires with achieving a global settlement.

The County remains committed to the ongoing efforts to resolve all claims and disputes to facilitate the path for further healing and recovery by our Maui community.

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