Maui Wildfires – Initial Disaster Assistance and Recovery Response

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this inspection report to present the results of our assessment of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) initial response to the Maui wildfire disaster, including staffing, loan application volume, and timeliness of disaster loan approvals. We found SBA’s initial response to the Maui wildfire disaster was timely and effective. On the day of the Presidential disaster declaration, SBA placed personnel in locations throughout Hawaii to support businesses and residents impacted by the wildfires. Within 6 days of the Presidential disaster declaration, SBA representatives were stationed at the first Disaster Recovery Center and Business Recovery Center on Maui and provided timely disaster loan assistance to survivors.

While SBA successfully navigated disaster assistance challenges such as increased customer service calls and loan applications, we identified an opportunity for improvement that may be beneficial in future disasters – specifically, a standard way to quickly adjust staffing levels as the volume of activity shifts at each center. We suggested SBA management routinely conduct a staffing needs assessment throughout a disaster to ensure recovery centers are adequately staffed based on customer demand and workload.

SBA management disagreed with our suggestion and stated that SBA regularly examines staffing levels and will continue to do so as it navigates future disaster assistance challenges. Management further stated that a new system is not needed because of the existing system that is in place.