WA Task Force 1 returns from Maui after helping local firefighters find missing loved ones

SEATTLE — Hundreds of people don’t tend to go missing during wildfires, but the devastation that destroyed the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui was like no other.

Seattle Fire Lieutenant Ryan Nash and 74 other first responders with Washington Task Force 1 just got back from Maui over the weekend.

“It’s generally rare for us to go on a search-and-rescue mission for wildfires, but it seems like the way things are working right now that I think, unfortunately, we’re going to have more and more,” Nash said on Tuesday. “I actually spent my honeymoon there with my wife, so it’s one that is very close to my heart.”

Washington Task Force 1 (WA-TF1) was formed in 1991. It’s on a short list of task forces that are deemed to be deployable by FEMA, consisting of a variety of organizations, including fire departments, hospitals, law enforcement, and public works.

WA-TF1′s primary jurisdictions include Seattle Fire, along with emergency management departments in King and Pierce Counties.

Previous deployments include the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina.

WA-TF1 and a task force from Nevada were the first teams to arrive in Maui after the wildfire, according to Nash.

He said the task force’s job is to assist locals, but WA-TF1 was also helping local firefighters find missing loved ones.

“(The local firefighters) lost their houses. Some of them lost their family members. And while (we’re) working side-by-side with them, they were actually able to identify one of their family members,” Nash said.

He added that “being able to actually add some closure for a lot of the people we were working with” is something he’ll never forget.

WA-TF1 spent about two weeks in Maui, flying back to Sea-Tac Airport on Aug. 26.

Initially, 388 people were unaccounted for after the Aug. 8 wildfires. More than 100 of them were deemed safe.

At least 115 people were killed.

Around 2,000 structures were destroyed.

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