Maui wildfires updates: President Biden, first lady get firsthand look at damage
The fires burned thousands of homes and commercial buildings to the ground.
The deadly wildfires that erupted on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 8 have become the deadliest natural disaster in state history, officials said.
The blazes spread rapidly due to very dry conditions stemming from a drought combined with powerful winds. Much of the historic town of Lahaina has been "destroyed," officials said, and the inferno has burned thousands of residential and commercial buildings to the ground.
Latest headlines:
Maui Strong: Charities to directly support wildfire relief efforts
On Thursday, "Good Morning America" and ABC News organized efforts to help viewers get involved in relief efforts for survivors of the Maui fires.
How to help:
-- Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
-- University of Hawai'i Foundation
-- Kokua Restaurant & Hospitality Fund for Maui
-ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy
What we know about the victims
Over 100 people have died from the devastating wildfires on Maui. Officials have warned that the death toll is expected to rise as they work to contain the active blazes and assess the damage.
Click here to read what we know about some of the victims.
Death toll rises to 114, as 78% of the area has been searched
Three more people have been confirmed dead in the Maui wildfires, increasing the total number of confirmed fatalities to 114.
As of Friday night, the Maui Police Department reports that 78% of the area has been searched, according to officials.
The Olinda and Kula are now 85% contained, the Lahaina fire is 90% contained and the Pulehu / Kihei fire is 100% contained, according to Maui officials.
Lahaina will be a multi-year operation for military, general says
Brigadier General Steve Logan, the commander of Joint Task Force Five-O, told reporters Friday that the military’s involvement in Lahaina will likely be a "multi-year operation" covering several phases.
A small team of U.S. Dept. of Defense anthropologists arrived to help with the recovery and identification of remains, he said.
Logan emphasized that military are there to augment the large interagency team of local and federal agencies recovering remains.
“Those remains once recovered, are then taken to the local county morgue for further and subsequent testing," he said.
Logan said the first phase will be to remove all of the decedents from the area, then declare the area safe from hazards such as electrical lines.
"And then the phase after that will be to open it up to the families to be able to come back to where their land is and look for any kind of valuables or something of sentimental value or something that they need to get out of there," he said.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
Number of missing remains unclear
Officials have been referring families with missing loved ones to Maui Emergency Management Agency, which has not released an official number of missing or list of the names.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said they are considering those who are missing "unaccounted for."
"We're going to get everybody that's unaccounted for to the best of our ability accounted for," he told reporters earlier this week. "But I can't promise that we're gonna get them all. And I don't think that's fair to ask that."
One team of volunteers is behind the Maui Fires People Locator, a spreadsheet that is so widely used that a QR code for it is posted all over the island. The Google document has received so much traffic that the volunteers urge people to refrain from viewing it unless they are looking for a specific loved one.
The document lists more than 950 people as currently "not located." The group told ABC News that as more people gain access to communications, many have realized they were on the list as "not located" and self-reported that they are found.
Another group of volunteers is tracking people who were unhoused prior to the fires in a spreadsheet titled Lahaina Unsheltered Missing Persons Search. That effort is led by Maui Rescue Mission Outreach workers, who are also updating their numbers to the Maui Fires People Locator.
Click here to read more.
-ABC News' Meredith Deliso
Shelters slowly emptying, more than 1,000 federal responders deployed
The number of fire survivors in congregate shelters has been cut in half as officials move more people into stable housing, and the Red Cross anticipates all residents still in shelters will be relocated to hotels by next week, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Over 1,000 federal responders, including 350 search and rescue team members and K-9 teams, have been deployed to Hawaii, according to FEMA.
Nearly 6,000 people have registered for federal assistance so far, FEMA said. Those who have not yet registered can do so at or by calling .
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty
'Our beautiful island has been ravaged by fires'
Maui Chamber of Commerce President Pamela Tumpap detailed the level of devastation in a phone interview with ABC News Live.
"Our beautiful island has been ravaged by fires from the mountain to the ocean," Tumpap said.
Tumpap said some areas look like they have been "completely leveled."
"We've lost a lot of homes and we've lost a lot of business places and we've lost cultural and historic resources that were in the Chinatown that have burned to the ground," Tumpap said. "We are seeing fires unlike what we've ever seen before."
Tumpap cautioned travelers against coming to the island, saying it is "not going to be the Maui vacation that you planned" and visitors will have a hard time finding resources.