Corkman in Hawaii appeals for Elon Musk to help with emergency wildfire response

Poor communications infrastructure hampering efforts

Destroyed homes and cars in Lahaina, Hawaii, where a wildfire demolished a historic town and killed dozens. Picture:Rick Bowmer/AP Photo

Irishman Peter O’Riordan has issued a direct appeal to billionaire Elon Musk for help with the emergency response to the Hawaii wildfires disaster, describing the aftermath as if someone dropped a bomb that obliterated everything to dust.

Mr O’Riordan, the former Xposé TV presenter from Cork, who has been running the Sea Maui boat tour company on the Hawaiian island of Maui for several years, lost his home and all his possessions in last week’s devastating wildfires. 

The fires tore through and consumed the historic town of Lahaina, west Maui, killing at least 100, with up to 1,300 still missing.

Peter O'Riordan. Picture: Twitter

His two children, and their mother, escaped uninjured. 

But he fears the death toll could reach 1,000, with many of the victims expected to be children.

Mr O’Riordan and his team have been helping with the emergency response since he returned to the island from Chicago last Thursday, using his company’s catamarans to ferry people to safety, and to transport emergency supplies up and down the coast.

But with poor communications hampering aid efforts, he took to Musk's social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), to plead directly with him for help.

“Communication is key,” he said, urging Musk to make his Starlink satellite hotspots available to aid workers.

Fire damage in Lahaina. Picture: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“Give us access to the satellites. We need communication with the people that are still stuck on the west side, and with the volunteers.

“It is vitally important. Get it together. You are a billionaire. Send the help we need. You have the means, we need the resources.” 

He described the “catastrophic” scenes of “absolute devastation and destruction” he encountered after he landed on Hawaii in the wake of last week’s fires, telling Morning Ireland that his team had been working on the emergency response since day one.

“We have a catamaran company. So the boats were being utilised for rescuing people, for bringing supplies in. And I was bringing people in and out that evening," he said.

“The next day we loaded up supplies and we headed into Lahaina.

“What we saw was just absolute devastation and destruction, that is absolutely unimaginable.

“It was as if somebody literally dropped a bomb in the west side of Maui and everything had been absolutely obliterated. I'm talking dust, cars, buildings.

“You know, there's things I don't really want to talk about. But, you know, death, destruction everywhere.

“Everything is dust, as property and metals are melting at that rate, you can only imagine, you know, what flesh and bone is reacting.” 

He said he is very fortunate not to have lost any loved ones in the fires and that he and others are now doing what they can to help their community.

“The death toll is around 100. There are still over a thousand people that are missing and not accounted for,” he said.

“And I don't want to say this, but I fear that those are fatalities and more.

The Ganer family look through the ashes of their family's home on Malolo Place in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii. Picture: Patrick T Fallon/AFP

“And the most devastating thing to think about is I'm assuming a huge majority of these fatalities are going to be children.

“The schools were closed because of the hurricane on the day that this happened so children were at home with their grandparents or at home alone.

“Their parents were working. They were indoors, air-con on, watching TV. You know, our siren system failed us. So these people had no warning whatsoever that this was coming. It happened so quickly that they were absolutely destroyed in their houses.

“These kids didn't even know it was coming. And before it was too late, people were just vaporised.” 

 And he said while Lahaina has been decimated, large parts of Maui, remain untouched and the island nation remains dependent on tourist money.

“We need income. So it’s such a fine line to straddle because, you know, in one sense, we need tourists to come here to matriculate money through this economy,” he said.

“Or my biggest fear is, in addition to this disaster, we are going to be spun into economic turmoil and an economic downturn coupled with this disaster that will seriously affect this island for many, many years to come.”