HONOLULU — Winds drove flames from house to accommodate as a gaggle of neighbors tried to flee their burning neighborhood. They abandoned their cars on a blocked road and ran to an outbuilding in an industrial area for safety. All six died just blocks from their homes.

The group, which included an 11-year-old and his parents, were among the many victims whose desperate attempts to flee the Lahaina wildfire were first detailed in a report released Friday. The investigation by the Fire Safety Research Institute for the Hawaii Attorney General's Office checked out the conditions that fueled the deadliest U.S. wildfire in greater than a century, in addition to attempts to stop its spread and evacuate the town's residents.

“No evidence” was found that Hawaii authorities had made preparations for the wildfires, though there had been warnings of an impending fire danger for days. The lack of planning hampered the evacuation of Lahaina before the fireplace.

At least 102 people died within the August 8, 2023, wildfire, which was fueled by bone-dry conditions and robust winds from a hurricane that passed south of Maui.

Joseph Lara, 86, was found outside his purple 2003 Ford Ranger pickup truck within the parking garage of an outlet mall and “may have attempted to drive north on Front Street before becoming stuck in traffic,” the report said.

His daughter told The Associated Press on Friday that she tried to not think that he might still be alive if he had taken a distinct route during his escape.

“He was alone. He had no one to tell him to go here, here, here,” Misty Lara said. “I can't fathom what his last thoughts were.”

The report recalls the trauma of the roughly 17,000 individuals who survived by driving through fire and blinding smoke, escaping the flames on foot or by bicycle, or huddled for hours within the sea behind a seawall while propane tanks and automobile batteries exploded around them.

“I grew up in Lahaina and, like many others in this community, lost loved ones on August 8,” said Assistant Attorney General Ciara Kahahane. “Through my participation in this investigation, I have humbly sought to give you, the people of Lahaina, a voice.”

More than 60 percent of the victims attempted to flee. Many were found huddled in or outside their cars or on the seawall. Nearly 80 percent of the fatalities occurred in downtown Lahaina, where the fireplace began within the afternoon and spread quickly, leaving little time for evacuation.

Many were stuck in traffic jams brought on by fallen electricity poles, accidents, broken traffic lights and poor visibility. Some side roads that might have offered an alternate escape route were blocked by locked gates.

For those evacuated, the typical distance between their homes and the place where they were rescued was 244 meters, based on the report.

A pair was present in their automobile after turning right into a dead-end street within the chaos, with flames behind them. A person found huddled within the doorway of a house had abandoned his automobile, presumably to flee the warmth and smoke. Others sought refuge alone in fast-food restaurants or furniture stores.

Lahaina's already dilapidated infrastructure complicated evacuation efforts, the report said. The living situation of prolonged families meant that many households had multiple vehicles parked on crowded, narrow streets, creating bottlenecks during evacuations and clogging fire hydrants.

One street, Kuhua Street, had essentially the most fatalities: greater than two dozen victims were found on or near the narrow stretch of road that was the one path to safety for a lot of residents of the densely populated neighborhood.

It was the identical street where, based on the report, a fireplace truck was engulfed in flames and a fireplace company nearly lost its life. And it was the identical street where a automobile crash trapped 10 people, whose bodies were present in or next to cars.

Joseph Schilling, 67, was found next to a fence on Kuhua Street, lower than a half-mile from the senior living complex where he lived. Emergency dispatchers had already tried to assist several individuals who had called 911 to report that the road had change into impassable.

Six other residents of the apartment complex who weren’t evacuated died of their apartments. Their average age was 86 years.

Some elderly people tried to evacuate, even without reliable transportation.

Claudette Heermance, 68, called 911 to ask what to do and dispatchers told her to evacuate. She left her senior living facility on a motor scooter, but it surely lost power because the flames approached, based on an autopsy report released after her death.

She suffered severe burns and remained in hospice for seven months until she died in March.

She was the 102nd and final victim to be identified.

Lauer reported from Philadelphia.

Today is Thursday, August 8, the 221st day of the 12 months 2024. There are 145 days left within the 12 months.

Today in history:

On August 8, 2023, a series of wind-driven wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui, destroying the town of Lahaina and killing over 100 people.

Also on this date:

In 1814, in the course of the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Great Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1876, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric pen, the forerunner of the duplicating machine.

In 1908, Wilbur Wright conducted the Wright brothers' first public flight demonstration on the Le Mans race track in France.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a law increasing the variety of members of the House of Representatives from 391 to 433. This law took effect from the subsequent Congress, with the supply that two more members can be added if New Mexico and Arizona were declared states.

In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” occurred, wherein thieves stole banknotes price £2.6 million.

In 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan took the enduring photo of the Beatles that might appear on the duvet of their album “Abbey Road.”

In light of latest, incriminating revelations within the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation the next day in 1974.

In 1988, the first-ever night baseball game took place at Wrigley Field in Chicago; the sport between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies was called off within the fourth inning because of rain.

In 2000, the wreck of the Confederate submarine HL Hunley, which sank in 1864 after an attack on the Union ship Housatonic, was salvaged off the coast of South Carolina and returned to port.

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the primary Hispanic and third female justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2022, FBI agents executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump's Mar al Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida; over 13,000 government documents, including 103 classified documents, were seized.

Today's birthdays:

• Actress Nita Talbot is 94.
• Actor Dustin Hoffman is 87.
• Actress Connie Stevens is 86.
• Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 86.
• Actor Larry Wilcox is 77.
• Actor Keith Carradine is 75.
• Film director Martin Brest is 73.
• Radio and tv star Robin Quivers is 72.
• US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is 71.
• Drummer Anton Fig is 71.
• Actor Donny Most is 71.
• Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 67.
• Television personality Deborah Norville is 66.
• The rock musician The Edge (U2) is 63.
• Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 63.
• Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 62.
• Middle-distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is 56.
• Rock singer Scott Stapp is 51.
• Country singer Mark Wills is 51.
• Actor Kohl Sudduth is 50.
• Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 49.
• Singer JC Chasez ('N Sync) is 48.
• Actress Tawny Cypress is 48.
• R&B singer Drew Lachey (lah-SHAY') (98 Degrees) is 48.
• R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 47.
• Actor Lindsay Sloane is 47.
• Actress Countess Vaughn is 46.
• Actor Michael Urie is 44.
• Tennis player Roger Federer is 43.
• Actress Meagan Good is 43.
• Actor Jackie Cruz (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 40.
• The British Princess Beatrice of York is 36.
• Actor Ken Baumann is 35.
• New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is 35.
• Pop singer Shawn Mendes is 26.

Originally published: August 8, 2024 at 1:00 am

During a family vacation in Hawaii last August, Theresa Wong experienced a few of the worst things nature has to supply and a few of the most effective things humans can do to answer adversity.

The cellist, singer and composer from Berkeley had just arrived in Maui when Hurricane Dora hit the island and knocked out the hotel's power. It didn't take long for smoke to look on the horizon, but with access to news limited, it took days for Wong to learn details of Lahaina's destruction.

“Night into Dawn,” her newly commissioned work as composer-in-residence for the Peninsula Women's Chorus of Palo Alto, reflects on the disaster and the best way the people round her got here together to support each other. Dedicated to the Lahaina community, the improvisational work is the centerpiece of PWC's spring season, May 4 at Mission Santa Clara and May 5 at Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

The demanding rating explores latest territory for each Wong and the PWC and requires the singers to make decisions at various points within the piece. It's a technique inspired by “how communities work together in times of crisis, when people come together in shelters and makeshift tents or share food,” Wong said.

“There are all these different dynamics. Some must lead, others must follow. You have to improvise and find solutions on the spot. All of this is really interesting for me as a composer. That's what we do as musicians. Some people lead and some people follow. You improvise.”

“Night into Dawn” is an element of an in depth program that also includes the Golden Gate Men's Chorus. Both ensembles perform separate movements after which come together for Giacomo Puccini's “Messa di Gloria,” a masterful mass he wrote at age 22, shortly before he turned to opera full-time.

PWC's solo set places Wong's premiere amid a program focused on works by women, including an arrangement of the Baptist hymn “How Can I Keep from Singing” by Alice Parker, the prolific Massachusetts arranger and composer, who performed in December on the PWC died aged 98.

“She was an incredible woman that I had the pleasure of getting to know personally,” said Anne K. Hege, PWC artistic director. “This song looks like a press release of hope, and with 'Negra Sum,' a setting from the 'Song of Solomon,' each speak to Theresa's piece, speak to this concept of ​​hope that should be upheld, nurtured and engaged .” To.”

A restlessly creative musician who has collaborated with a few of the era's most intrepid artists, from guitarist Fred Frith and postmodern dance pioneer Anna Halprin to pianist Sarah Cahill and violinist/singer Carla Kihlstedt, Wong has develop into a sought-after vocal ensemble composer . She has also created works for the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Vajra Voices and Long Beach Opera, and Hege sought her out because she knew Wong would take the choir on a novel journey.

“One thing she does in this piece is create this feeling of sizzle by repeating the word 'stay,'” Hege said. “Holding staccato chords creates a sound pattern reminiscent of the snapping of twigs. It captures the heat with ambient noise in an amazing way. I’ve never heard anything like that.”

Under Hege's leadership, the PWC has collaborated with adventurous composers akin to Julie Herndon. Working with Wong, the choir played an lively role within the creation of “Night into Dawn” through three lengthy workshops by which the composer led the singers through various improvisational structures “and sort of created a form for this material,” Hege said.

“She made a model so we could see the score, which is pretty graphic. There are some fully composed sections that flow into one another, while the chorus makes a lot of decisions based mostly on timing. This is something we’ve never done before and it’s incredibly exciting.”

Wong is in her second and final season working with the PWC (last yr the choir performed her work “To Burst to Bloom”), but the connection is anticipated to proceed. Last month, Wong was awarded a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship and is working on a multimedia opera for PWC's Radiance chamber ensemble.

Wong's plan is to expand on her concept of “installed songs,” which places her music in a selected physical space, “with a sculpture that the performer is somehow embedded in,” she said. “The theme is the multiple identities that we all carry within us and that are marginalized, hidden or changed in order to belong.”

Wherever it manifests itself, Wong's music is guaranteed to face out.

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WOMEN'S CHOIR OF THE PENINSULA

Presents Theresa Wong's “Night into Dawn”

When where: 8 p.m. May 4, Mission Santa Clara, Santa Clara 4 p.m. May 5; Mission Dolores Basilica, San Francisco.

Tickets: $30-$50; pwchorus.org