LAHAINA, Hawai‘i — After wildfires on Maui killed at least 111 people last week with only approximately 58 percent of historic Lahaina town searched, state officials worry longer-term health impacts could linger for those who survived the flames.
“It’s going to be pretty significant environmentally, particularly in burned areas,” said Diane Felton, toxicologist and division chief of the Hawai‘i Department of Health’s (HDOH) Communicable Disease and Public Health Nursing Division.
As search and rescue teams continue to scour West Maui for additional casualties, HDOH officials have teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess contamination at the burn sites.
“We kind of view the contamination in the burned areas in two forms,” Felton said. “There’s the obvious or large-scale hazardous materials — things like propane tanks or stored chemicals or other materials like that that are present. And then there’s the contamination in general that occurs from the burned buildings and other materials that may be burned.”
The EPA is currently removing the larger hazardous materials in its first phase of cleanup — a slow process requiring considerable care.
However, it’s the smaller pollutants, which end up in ash and soil in the burned areas, that likely pose greater long-term health concerns, Felton explained.
In particular, Felton noted worries over lead left behind from paint burned in the fires.
“Paint for any building before 1978 almost certainly has lead paint,” she said. “And so as a building burns, the paint burns, but the lead stays and ends up in the ash.”
“It’s very bad for the developing brain,” she continued. “So children and pregnant people should not be in these areas and helping with cleanup. Lead exposure in adults, particularly in a long-term setting, can also cause problems like high blood pressure, abdominal pain and neurological problems.”
Additionally, as asbestos is both nonflammable and heat resistant, much of the carcinogenic material caught in the blaze is expected to remain on-site, where it can cause lung cancer and other respiratory illness if inhaled. Asbestos was banned by the U.S. government in 1978, but many older homes — including those in West Maui — still contain the mineral.
On top of this, the department anticipates additional harmful chemicals were likely created as a result of the fire, although additional assessments are required to know exactly what other toxic materials exist on-site.
Currently, concerns over exposure to pollutants are mostly limited to first responders working in the affected areas, Felton emphasized that community members will eventually face the same risks when they return.
“There will be a point where the public is back into the burned areas, and we want people to take the same precautions,” she said.
Felton recommended avoiding all physical contact with ash and char by wearing long sleeves, pants, socks, closed-toe shoes and goggles when in close proximity. Additionally, to prevent inhalation of the ash, Felton urged community members to wear a well-fitted N95 mask or respirator when they eventually return to the burn sites.
As for when the impacted Maui communities could reopen, Felton said it’s too soon to say, adding that the decision would be driven by the department’s environmental assessment, which is ongoing.
“It is going to be a slow process,” she said. “Especially to do it correctly and to make sure that we can remediate the location to make it a safe and healthy place.”
“We know people are anxious to get back into the area, and that’s completely understandable,” she added. “But we really want it to be safe for them when they go back, and we want to do everything we can to return Lahaina to its beauty.”
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Jackson Healy, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-4966 or jhealy@thegardenisland.com.
