On August 8, 2023, a combination of dry weather, low humidity, strong trade winds disrupted by Hurricane Dora's distant passage, and tinder-dry grass ignited fires across Maui that would become the deadliest disaster in Hawaii's recorded history. The fire that swept through Lahaina destroyed the historic town nearly in its entirety, killed at least 102 people, and displaced thousands more. Its impact on the Hawaii property insurance market was immediate and lasting.
Scope of the Disaster: What Was Lost
The Maui Economic Development Board and independent assessors estimated total economic losses at approximately $5.5 billion. Insured losses were significantly lower, reflecting a well-documented underinsurance problem in the area: many Lahaina homeowners had not updated their dwelling coverage limits to reflect the sharp increase in Hawaii construction costs over the preceding decade, leaving them with policies that covered a fraction of actual rebuilding costs. Others had no insurance at all, having let policies lapse when premiums increased.
The second Maui fire, in Kula in the upcountry district, burned more than 200 acres and destroyed a smaller number of structures on the slopes of Haleakala. Kula's fire was less catastrophic in terms of structure loss but was equally alarming from an underwriting perspective because it confirmed that Maui's wildfire risk extended far beyond the dry leeward coast.
Carrier Response: Non-Renewals on West Maui and Upcountry
Within months of the August 2023 fires, carriers began tightening underwriting standards for Maui properties. The effects were concentrated in two geographic areas: West Maui (including Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili, Kapalua, and the surrounding hillside communities) and upcountry Maui (Kula, Makawao, Haiku, Pukalani, and the Haleakala slope communities).
Carriers who had been writing West Maui properties at standard rates applied for rate increases with the Hawaii Insurance Division. Several carriers implemented new underwriting guidelines that made properties with high wildfire risk scores ineligible for renewal, effectively triggering non-renewals across entire neighborhoods. The pattern was similar to what played out in California after the 2018 Camp Fire and subsequent wildfires: carriers did not withdraw from Hawaii entirely but drew tighter geographic boxes around the risk they would accept.
Homeowners who received non-renewal notices in late 2023 and 2024 found themselves in a market where fewer admitted carriers were available and the remaining options were substantially more expensive. Brokers in West Maui reported that surplus lines placements for fire coverage — which had been rare before 2023 — became routine for properties in the hillside communities above Lahaina and for properties in Kula and Makawao.
Wildfire Risk Zones on Maui
Maui's wildfire risk is not uniform across the island. The risk is driven by a combination of fuel load (invasive grasses, particularly buffelgrass, have spread dramatically on leeward slopes), topography (fires move rapidly upslope), and wind patterns (strong trades channel through gaps in the West Maui Mountains and across the isthmus).
High-Risk Areas
West Maui from Launiupoko through Kapalua is the area most directly affected by the 2023 fires and carries the highest current risk scores from third-party wildfire models. Properties on hillside lots above the Honoapiilani Highway have elevated exposure due to upslope fire movement. Upcountry Maui — Kula, Pukalani, Keokea, and the lower slopes of Haleakala — has significant grass fire risk exacerbated by periodic drought. Wailea and Makena on the south shore have drier conditions than the north shore and some elevated risk, though lower than West Maui and upcountry.
Lower-Risk Areas
North Shore communities — Paia, Haiku, Huelo, and Hana — receive significantly more rainfall and have lower wildfire risk scores, though Haiku and the dry portions of the north slope corridor can carry moderate risk scores. Central Maui (Kahului, Wailuku) has some grass fire exposure from the surrounding cane fields and open areas but is less exposed than the hillside communities. Hana, on the wet east coast, has minimal wildfire risk.
What Changed in Underwriting After Lahaina
The 2023 fires triggered several concrete changes in how carriers underwrite Maui properties. The most significant is the expanded use and lowered threshold for wildfire risk score declinations. Before Lahaina, some carriers were declining properties above a score of 85 on a 100-point scale. Post-Lahaina, several carriers moved their declination threshold to 70 or below for Maui properties specifically.
Carriers also began requiring defensible space inspections for properties in high-risk areas — a practice more common in California but previously rare in Hawaii. Properties without adequate clearance between structures and vegetation now face underwriting conditions or surcharges. Some carriers require documented ember-resistant vents and Class A roofing materials for renewal in high-risk zones.
Reconstruction value modeling also became more important post-Lahaina, as the actual cost of rebuilding in Maui became dramatically apparent. Many carriers added extended replacement cost endorsements to new policies in the area, or required homeowners to increase their coverage limits to account for higher construction costs. Replacement cost per square foot for a standard Maui home was running $450 to $600 per square foot by 2025 — significantly above what many older policies were using as their insured value baseline.
What Buyers in Kula, Haiku, and Makawao Need to Know
The upcountry communities — Kula, Haiku, Makawao, Pukalani, and Keokea — have become significantly more difficult insurance markets since 2023. These communities were not directly affected by the Lahaina fire, but they were affected by the Kula fire, and the Lahaina event made carriers universally more conservative about Maui wildfire exposure.
If you are buying property in these areas, verify the following before closing: the property's wildfire risk score (available through your broker or through a Hawaii Insurability Brief), which admitted carriers are currently writing in the area and at what premium, whether the prior owner received a non-renewal notice in the past two years, and the composition of the roof (Class A roofing is increasingly required by carriers willing to write upcountry Maui properties).
Properties in these communities with older composition shingle roofs, properties in cul-de-sacs with limited egress, and properties abutting open grassland are the highest risk for denial or surplus lines placement. Wood shake or wood shingle roofs — even if treated — are routinely declined by standard admitted carriers anywhere on Maui post-2023.
Uninsured and Underinsured Losses: A Lasting Lesson
One of the most consequential findings from the Lahaina recovery has been the extent of underinsurance among victims. Investigators and recovery advocates estimated that a significant portion of homeowners who had insurance found that their coverage limits were 40 to 60 percent below the actual cost of rebuilding their homes. Some had purchased policies a decade or more ago without updating coverage limits. Others had chosen guaranteed replacement cost policies from carriers who subsequently declined the property at renewal, forcing them into bare-bones alternatives.
The lesson for all Maui property owners — not just those in the highest-risk zones — is that having a policy is not sufficient. The coverage limit, the replacement cost methodology, and the specific perils covered all determine whether your policy will actually make you whole after a loss. A Hawaii Insurability Brief for a Maui property includes wildfire risk tier, carrier market conditions, and guidance on replacement cost adequacy for your property's location and construction type.