Helicopter and ground rescue operations in response to the 2023 Maui fires. When the fires in Maui started without warning, DYNAMO went into emergency launch preparations and then rapidly deployed an operations team to get boots on the ground in Maui. The fires were still raging as the team arrived which devastated the Hawaiian island and left behind a historical loss of life. Project DYNAMO was on the ground on Maui in less than 24 hours after the fires began.
Rescue and Humanitarian Efforts during Maui Wildfires, Operation: OHANA SAFE
Project DYNAMO: Boots on the ground in Maui
Project DYNAMO: Ground Missions in The First Week
Once on the ground, DYNAMO conducted over four dozen air and ground missions in the first week throughout the destroyed areas of Maui. In addition to the air evacuation missions, Project DYNAMO also transported, via helicopter and trucks, perishable and vital life-saving supplies such as gallons of donated breast milk to those stranded on the island who had lost everything including their families, children, pets, and homes. Over 1,000 civilians remain unaccounted for, missing and presumed dead.
Project DYNAMO: Working Hand in Hand with Maui First Responders
DYNAMO was in the air and on the ground almost a week before DoD and federal resources arrived working hand in hand with local Maui first responders. DYNAMO also thought of OHANA SAFE as an opportunity to “pressure test” a potential response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan under the MARCO POLO program.
