more than 190 search and rescue team members and over 380 fema employees are deployed to hawaii to assist in the recovery efforts, according to a release from the agency. earlier, i spoke to former fema associate administrator and director of disaster operations elizabeth zimmerman about these sorts of operatiosn. she dealt with over 930 disasters, emergencies and fires while at fema. thank you forjoining us. it s just a week on from when these fires started and authorities on maui say they have about 25% of the affected area so far searched and cleared. still a way to go. what do you make of how that rescue and recovery effort is going? yes, it s very important, with the fires going on in maui, there is more than one fire going on. and as they go in and fires are different than other disasters, because they linger. and the area is dangerous. you don t know how deep
saw beds filling out onto the grass in front of emergency shelters stop we met people in recent days who were having to sleep out in the open. in terms of those operations there has been an effort to get people into housing. airbnb have contributed about 1400 units and we are hearing about hotel rooms as well rubble we have also been hearing from other people who need shelter saying the money coming from those assistance programmes hasn t been enough in order to find an affordable hotel room on the islands right now. the governor addressing some of that in that addressing some of that in that address that he just gave saying we are working on issues as they come up. as they come up. helena humphrey as they come up. helena humphrey in as they come up. helena humphrey in maui, - as they come up. helena | humphrey in maui, thank as they come up. helena - humphrey in maui, thank you for the update. as you ve been hearing that search and recovery mission is painstaking as the responder