The independent report makes 111 recommendations that could guide Maui and other isolated communities to prevent another Lahaina tragedy.
Cammy Clark
Cammy Clark joined Civil Beat in January 2024 to report about Maui. Her journalism career began in Washington, D.C., and has included stops in Maryland, Florida and California, with her stories appearing in more than 200 publications.
After growing up in a small town of 3,000 in New Hampshire, she bolted for the big city of Washington, D.C. to attend American with a goal of becoming an investigative journalist like Woodward or Bernstein. But life serendipitously took her in a different direction. A stint as the sports editor of her college newspaper led to 20 plus years as a pioneering female professional sports journalist.
Her first job after college was for NBC Sports, working for The George Michael Sports Machine.
She also covered all the Washington professional sports teams as a stringer for United Press International; was a sports copy editor for The Washington Post; and a sports editor of two weekly newspapers in Maryland. Many of the jobs were held simultaneously for experience and to have enough money to pay her rent, college loans and beer tabs.
In 1990, she decided she needed more sunshine and became a sportswriter for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida (now the Tampa Bay Times), which is owned by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. She became the newspaper's first beat writer for the then new franchise, the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 1996, she moved west to cover the NHL and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for The Orange County Register in California. Over nine years, she traveled across the United States and Canada to report on nearly 800 hockey games and nine Stanley Cup playoffs.
For the new millennium, she took a break from ice rinks to travel the world by bicycle with Odyssey 2000. The one-year adventure of a lifetime took her to 41 countries on six continents. She biked about 15,000 miles, with only four crashes. She survived the Mountain of Death in Costa Rica, running over a chicken in Malaysia and eating mystery meat in China.
Upon returning to reality, she went to work for the Miami Herald as its auto sportswriter. She got a crash course in NASCAR and the business of car racing. But when the Florida Keys bureau chief position became available, she moved to Key West and spent nearly a decade writing about all aspects of the touristy island chain: environment, business, crime, courts, government, hurricanes, tourism, art, culture, and all things quirk. Stories included county jail inmates scamming the IRS, Cuban exiles setting off fireworks by boat to make Fidel Castro mad, and an intriguing court case of government fraud involving the county’s deceased mayor and The Prince of Darkness.
While in the Florida Keys, she spent 3 ½ years as the public information officer for Monroe County. During that time, the county was hit by Category 4 Hurricane Irma. She led the county’s communications during the disaster, which was quite the challenge after the storm with no cell phone or Internet service.
In 2019, she moved to Maui after her husband retired from a 30-year career in law enforcement. She worked three years for Pacific Media Group as a writer and editor. Her husband works as a dive boat captain.
Cammy’s passions include diving, paddleboarding, tennis, hiking, cycling, golf, trivia night, star gazing, whale watching, local music, photography/videography, exploring new places, rooting for the Patriots — and hanging out with her husband, two cats, family and friends.
Posted inMaui
Maui Mayor Appoints Maria Zielinski As County Finance Director
She would replace former Director Scott Teruya, who has been on paid leave since February.
Posted inHawaiʻi Fires
Maui’s Recent Wildfires Convinced The County Council That The Emergency Budget Needs Beefing Up
Members emphasized the importance of protecting the county from another tragedy like Lahaina that took at least 101 lives and destroyed much of the town.
Posted inMaui
Maui Nonprofits See Greater Need For Services But May Get Less County Funding
The County Council is looking for ways to up the budget, which is limited by the cost of the fire recovery.
Posted inHawaiʻi Fires
A Low-Income Housing Complex Is Ready To Rebuild After Lahaina Fire. It Just Needs $36M
The developer of the 89-unit project is the first to obtain building permits in the burn zone. Now the county and state are being asked to pick up the cost of what insurance didn’t cover.
Posted inMaui
FEMA Extends Deadline To Reimburse State For Maui Fire Survivors Housed In Pricey Hotels
The extra month of the feds picking up the tab will save the state a significant amount of money as lawmakers figure out next year’s budget.
Posted inHawaiʻi Fires
Landowner Offers To Donate 5 Acres For Lahaina Fire Debris Dump Site To Avoid Eminent Domain
Komar Maui Properties says it will give the county enough land to handle all 400,000 cubic yards of fire ash and debris, but the county said it needs it all.
Posted inMaui
Maui Council Wants To Fund Recruitment And Retention For Understaffed Police Department
Police Chief John Pelletier said he can start a signing bonus program for recruits with an extra $300,000 to his $83 million budget for fiscal year 2025.
Posted inMaui
Maui Council Wrestles With ‘Tough Questions’ As It Begins Reviewing $1.7B County Budget
The county needs to ensure it is spending its own money wisely while asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in outside funding to rebuild Lahaina.