Joe Biden likened the deadly Hawaiian wildfire, which has so far caused at least 115 casualties, to a 2004 house fire that almost cost him a cat and his ’67 Corvette.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, of what it was like to lose a home,” Biden said. “Years ago, now, 15 years, I was in Washington doing Meet the Press. It was a sunny Sunday. Lightning struck at home on a little lake outside the home — not a lake, a big pond. It hit the wire and came up underneath our home, into the air condition ducts. To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat.”
The Cranston Heights Fire Company, the department that extinguished the 2004 fire at Biden’s Delaware house, confirmed that the blaze was “an insignificant fire as it did not lead to multiple alarms and did not need a widespread incident response throughout the county,” adding that, “in the case for any homeowner, it was obviously significant at the time and was quickly responded to by the local firefighters.” The flames were confined to the kitchen, the fire chief said in 2004, and the fire was under control in 20 minutes.
The president and first lady touched down in Maui on Monday, to visit with survivors of Hawaii’s most deadly wildfire. The fire began two weeks ago, and has so far killed more than 100 people, with at least 850 still missing. Biden waited almost a week to publicly address the deadly blaze.
After seeing the “overwhelming” wreckage caused by the fire, the president promised support from the government to help the community “rebuild the way the people of Maui want to rebuild.” FEMA estimates that reconstruction in the Lahaina area will cost $5.52 billion.
Hawaii’s attorney general began an investigation of “critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during, and after the wildfires on Maui and Hawaiʻi islands this week,” after governor Josh Green (D.) said that the response effort was delayed by power outages and damage to the phone network. It is still unclear what caused the wildfire, but Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, who leads the Hawaii National Guard, said that drought, low humidity, and high winds were three contributing factors.