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The shells of burned houses and buildings are left after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, U.S., August 11, 2023. /Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he will travel to Hawaii "as soon as I can" to review recovery efforts from wildfires that swept across Maui and killed dozens of people.
Biden, at an economic event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did not specifically say he would visit Maui itself, a nod to White House concerns that he should not interfere with the ongoing effort to retrieve more bodies from destroyed buildings.
White House officials were discussing what a presidential visit would entail.
Biden, who quickly declared a "major disaster" in Hawaii, unblocking federal aid funds, said he had spoken multiple times with Hawaii Governor Josh Green. "My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can," Biden said, but added, "I don't want to get in the way."
"I want to go and make sure we've got everything we need. I want to be sure we don't disrupt the recovery efforts," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said there are active discussions underway about Biden making a visit to Hawaii to check on Maui wildfire recovery efforts.
Any presidential trip is a complicated operation in terms of logistics and security, requiring multiple local agencies to cooperate -- and potentially taking manpower away from the situation at hand.
The deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years has destroyed or damaged more than 2,200 buildings, 86 percent of them residential, causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage, authorities said.
As of Tuesday morning at 9, the confirmed fatalities stand at 99.
(With input from agencies)
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Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466