Biohazard Cleanup Near Waine‘e Lahaina, HI

Lahaina (Lāhainā) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County on the northwest coast of the island of Maui, encompassing Lahaina town and the Kāʻanapali and Kapalua beach resorts.

At the 2020 census, before the 2023 wildfire, Lahaina had a resident population of 12,702.

There were 3,589 households in Lahaina in 2020, and 4,191 housing units, of which 14.4% were vacant.

The CDP covers 9.29 square miles, of which 7.78 square miles are land and 1.51 square miles are water, and it spans the coast along Hawaii Route 30 from a tunnel at the south end, through Olowalu, to Kaanapali and Napili-Honokowai to the north.

Over August 8–9, 2023, a wildfire destroyed approximately 80% of Lahaina, resulting in the deaths of 102 people.

Lahaina was originally called Lele in Hawaiian and was known for its breadfruit trees, and its name combines "lā" (sun) and "hainā" (cruel).

Kamehameha III resided in Lahaina from 1837 to 1845, and he signed and proclaimed the first Hawaiian constitution on October 8, 1840, at Luaʻehu in Lahaina, before moving the capital to Honolulu in 1845.

Lahaina was an important 19th-century whaling port, and the Old Lahaina Fort was built in 1831 to protect the town from disorderly sailors.

Missionaries founded Lahainaluna Seminary in 1831, now Lahainaluna High School, which published the first Hawaiian-language newspaper in 1834.

A banyan tree planted in Courthouse Square on April 24, 1873, is the largest banyan tree in the United States, reaching 60 feet in height with 46 ancillary trunks covering 1.94 acres.