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State government agencies in Hawaii have spent more than $410 million in the aftermath of the wildfires on Maui, with the majority of those funds paying for hotel and lodging for wildfire survivors through a contract with the American Red Cross.

Law firms contracted to represent the state and advise it on an array of legal issues as well as companies hired to build kauhale-style tiny homes were also among the top recipients of state funds in the aftermath of the inferno that destroyed Lahaina.

It’s still not clear how much the state will need to spend in the future. It’s also not certain how much of the wildfire expenses could be reimbursed by the federal government.

The state Office of Federal Awards Management estimates .

As part of its ongoing wildfire coverage, Civil Beat asked the state for all of its expenses related to the wildfires on Maui from Aug. 8, 2023, to June 30, 2024, the end of the government’s fiscal year.

The following chart shows the names of vendors and amounts paid during that time period.

The single largest vendor for the state has been the American Red Cross, which was paid $350 million through June 30. It has provided congregate shelter in Maui hotels for wildfire survivors at an estimated cost of $1 million per day.

Breaking that down has been difficult.

Civil Beat first asked for records related to the costs of the Red Cross contract in April, but received no response from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the contract.

The Office of Information Practices later stepped in to force HIEMA to respond. A separate request from Civil Beat to HIEMA asked for a sample of invoices billed to the state with the underlying documents.

The documents HIEMA provided give a high-level breakdown of costs paid to a variety of hotels in West Maui. It appears the Red Cross also sheltered individuals in other areas of the island, including the Andaz in Wailea, one of Maui’s most luxurious and expensive resorts.

The documents provide just snapshots of the costs for sheltering survivors. For example, one invoice shows that the Aston Kaanapali Shores was paid $4.8 million for 6,837 room nights at the West Maui hotel.

The state appears to have contracted Spire, a Honolulu accounting firm, to review and approve the Red Cross’ invoices. The state has paid Spire nearly $500,000 through June.

The state also spent millions on tiny homes to house survivors.

Factory_OS Inc., one of the firms the state contracted to build prefabricated homes for Lahaina residents, was paid $7.9 million. It was expected to build about 200 tiny homes.

Kauhale Development LLC, which was contracted to build 50 studios, was paid $1.7 million. 

Housing Providers of Hawaii was paid $1 million. Its nonprofit, HomeAid Hawaii, is behind the interim housing project just mauka of the burnzone in Lahaina.

Hawaii also spent quite a bit on legal counsel.

The state’s legal fees totaled more than $6 million. The state Attorney General’s Office also paid $2.1 million to Underwriters Laboratories. Its Fire Research Safety Institute conducted an investigation on the county’s response to the Lahaina fires.

The Hawaiian Electric Co. has agreed to pay for up to $18 million of the state’s legal costs related to the wildfire lawsuits.

Hawaii also paid 16 other states more than $1.3 million for assistance in the aftermath of the wildfires, including to states as far away as Vermont and Florida.

The biggest recipient of those funds, according to the data, was the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which was paid more than $400,000. The department provided assistance in Maui’s emergency operations center and also aided in financial accounting, according to a from September.

This story was supported with funding from the Data-Driven Reporting Project. The Data-Driven Reporting Project is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with Northwestern University | Medill.