[Lahaina] Maui Fire Recovery

Almost a year ago, wildfires devastated the city of Lahaina, Maui in one of the deadliest fires in modern U.S. history, killing over 100 people. The fires burned over 2170 acres and damaged or destroyed an estimated 2,200 buildings, creating a toxic environment likely to affect water quality and Maui's fragile coral reef ecosystem. Armed with NSF RAPID Response Research grants for quick-response disaster research, two NSF-supported teams from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa were on the ground immediately following the fires. One team tested the drinking water while the other deployed auto sampler sensors off the West coast of Maui to monitor the health of the coral reefs.