Washington state task force sending 45 first responders to Hawaii to assist with search and rescue

Private jet takes humanitarian supplies to Maui

As people take to the skies to escape the wildfires in Hawaii, one private jet is on its way back to the islands - stocked with supplies for animals impacted by the fires.

WASHINGTON - Washington State is sending 45 members of its Task Force-1 to assist with search and rescue efforts as wildfires continue to ravage the Hawaiian Islands.

As of 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, at least 53 people have been killed on the island of Maui because of the wildfires. The death toll is expected to rise. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and then feasting on homes and anything else that lay in its path.

The flames left some people with mere minutes to act and led some to flee into the ocean. Dozens have been injured, including some critically. It's now the deadliest wildfire in the US since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and decimated the town of California.

In response to the devastation, Washington State Task Force-1 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team has been activated. The team will consist of 45 people from Pierce and King County fire departments.

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An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Crews are leaving today, Aug. 10, hours after they received their orders. They could be deployed for up to 14 days.

They provide physical search and rescue operations in collapsed structures, emergency medical care, K-9 searches for human remains, among other duties.

"They know that they're going to be seeing a lot of destruction, a lot of suffering, but that's the reason why they're there is to help those people recover and you know, survive this," Pierce County Emergency Management Public Information Officer Mike Halliday said.

The Task Force-1 team consists of 210 team members from the following organizations: