(NewsNation) — Officials began lifting restrictions on entry to Lahaina on Monday.
Authorities will begin allowing the first residents and property owners to return to their properties in the burn zone, many for the first time since it was demolished nearly seven weeks ago, on Aug. 8, by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.
The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as the wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape.
“I think it will be extremely difficult,” said Chairwoman of Maui City Council Alice Lee. “On the one hand, people have been eager to return to their properties to see what’s left, and whatever they can retrieve. Now, reality is setting in where they’re seeing their properties, touching their properties for the first time, and realizing they’ve lost practically everything so that the feelings or the emotions are running high today.”
Some survivors jumped over a sea wall and sheltered in the waves as hot black smoke blotted out the sun. The wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes.
Authorities have divided the burned area into 17 zones and dozens of sub-zones. Residents or property owners of the first to be cleared for reentry — known as Zone 1C, along Kaniau Road in the north part of Lahaina — will be allowed to return on supervised visits Monday and Tuesday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those eligible could pick up passes from Friday to Sunday in advance.
Those returning will be provided water, shade, washing stations, portable toilets, medical and mental health care, and transportation assistance if needed. Nonprofit groups are also offering personal protective equipment, including masks and coveralls. Officials have warned ash could contain asbestos, lead, arsenic or other toxins.
While some residents, like Claydon, might be eager to find jewelry, photographs or other tokens of their life before the fire, officials are urging them not to sift through the ashes for fear of raising toxic dust that could endanger them or their neighbors downwind.
