Maui wildfires updates: President Biden, first lady get firsthand look at damage (2024)

President Joe Biden spoke with reporters after he and the first lady toured the damage of the wildfires with Gov. Josh Green and other Hawaii elected officials.

Biden, who spoke near a historic banyan tree that was not burned, acknowledged the damage was devastating but said the strength of residents and state and local leaders would help the community persevere.

"The tree survived for a reason. I believe it's a powerful, a very powerful symbol of what we can and will do to get through this crisis," he said.

The president reflected on his own loss when his first wife Neilia and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash in 1972 and said he knows the pain of what many residents, especially ones who are still searching for their loved ones, are going through.

Biden said there are over 450 search-and-rescue experts working around the clock to help find people.

"The difference between knowing somebody's gone and worrying whether they're available to come back are two different things," he said.

Biden acknowledged the long road ahead but reiterated that the federal government will be on the island "for as long as it takes" to help them recover and rebuild.

He emphasized that the federal government "will be respectful of the sacred grounds [and] the traditions."

"We're going to rebuild the way that people of Maui want to build, but you know, it's gonna be hard," he said.

President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden arrived in Maui around 11:20 a.m. local time for their visit to the devastated island.

Biden was greeted by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green at the bottom of Air Force One. Green shook the president’s hand before the two hugged.

The first lady also hugged Green and his wife Jaime.

Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono and Rep. Jill Tokuda also greeted the Bidens.

The president and first lady took an aerial tour aboard Marine One an aerial tour of the impacted areas with the governor, senators, Tokuda and Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell.

The Bidens and the entourage then took a tour on foot.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

President Joe Biden and the first lady's visit to Maui later on Monday will be "an emotional day for everyone," White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters.

The president will "meet with parents who've lost children, and children who lost parents, and first responders who saved other's homes while their own burned to the ground," Dalton said.

Over $8.5 million has been distributed to Maui residents, including $3.6 million for direct rental assistance, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.

Eight-thousand families have registered for assistance, she said.

Biden on Monday is expected to announce Bob Fenton, the Region 9 administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as the chief federal response coordinator to oversee Maui's long-term coordinated federal recovery effort.

Criswell said Fenton will "provide that level of oversight and coordination to make sure all the federal departments and agencies are bringing all the resources that they can to help this community rebuild and recover."

-ABC News' Justin Gomez