News/Commentary

Hawaii wildfires: Cadaver dogs search for thousands of people missing, including disabled veteran after ominous last photo to family

August 11, 2023 | | Print Article

A disabled veteran caught up in the Hawaii wildfires sent an ominous photo that looked like it was straight out of Hell itself to his family right before he disappeared.

(Video Credit: 10 News First)

Timm ‘TK’ Williams Sr., 66, has not been heard from since he sent the photo and his family has turned to social media to beg for help to find the beloved father and grandfather. The photo showed a dark image backed by roaring flames as Williams was driving his white SUV on Maui.

He had told his relatives that he was trying to escape the wildfire as he fled his home in Kaanapali, three miles north of downtown Lahaina. Lahaina looks like a bomb went off there and most of the city is just gone, burned to the ground along with anyone unfortunate enough to have been trapped there.

Williams sent the photo at 4 pm on Wednesday. That was the last anyone heard from him.

Devastating drone footage that was taken on Thursday shows a hellish landscape where the fire swept through, gutting Lahaina.

“If you know my grandfather or have Hawaii connections, please like and share,” Brittany Talley emotionally wrote on Facebook. “Please help us find my Grandpa. His name is Timm (TK) Williams. He was last known to be driving away from the Kaanapali area seeking shelter in a white SUV.”

She told CNN in an interview that Williams uses a wheelchair and forearm crutches. He was trying to get to a shelter but he never made it there.

“He was attempting to make it to a shelter, but all of the roads were blocked,” the distraught granddaughter recounted. “He would not be able to run or move quickly if needed to.”

“It has been difficult,” Talley said. “Every minute that goes by, is another minute that he could be hurt (or) in danger.”

Here is the photo that Williams sent before he went missing:

The family is fearing the worst.

The grandfather’s disappearance comes as the official death toll has reached at least 55 according to The Washington Post. One thousand are missing and cadaver dogs have been brought in from California and Washington to find bodies. Witnesses claim that you could see bodies floating in the water.

(Video Credit: Daily Mail)

“As firefighting efforts continue, 2 additional fatalities have been confirmed today amid the active Lahaina fire. This brings the death toll to 55 people,” a news release announced according to the Washington Post.

Governor Josh Green reported on Thursday evening that all communications with the western part of Maui were still down and that the emergency services were only able to communicate using satellite phones. He says they honestly don’t know how many are dead at this point.

“And here’s the challenge: there’s no power, no Internet, no phone, no radio. You compound some of that. So when we’re speaking to our officers, we need them to get a sat phone. There’s around 1,000 missing. It doesn’t mean that many have passed – I’m not saying that at all – but because we can’t contact them we can’t know,” the Hawaiian governor commented.

Green urged those living on Maui and other islands to take in those who had lost their homes. He also asked hotels to provide 2,000 rooms.

“If you have additional space, if you have capacity to take someone in, please do,” the governor pleaded. “Please take these people into your lives.”

He noted that the damage would be in the billions and remarked that Hawaii had not seen anything like this since it became the 50th state in 1959. Green said it was likely to be worse than the tsunami of May 1960, sparked by an earthquake in Chile. That tragedy killed 61 people. The governor also blamed the disaster on global warming.

(Video Credit: WBNS 10TV)

Hurricane-strength winds from Dora caught Maui off-guard and they caused the fire to grow into a killer. The exact cause of the fire is still unknown.

Jeff Hickman, the public affairs director for the Hawaii Department of Defense, told reporters there were 30 burn victims, three of them seriously injured.

“We’re going to have to go building by building, block by block, trying to find bodies,” he grimly said.

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