At least 36 people dead in fires burning through Hawaii

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames. Photo / AP

At least 36 people have died in the Lahaina fire in Hawaii, Maui County wrote in a statement posted to the county website.

Wildfires, whipped by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historical buildings had stood. Flames roared throughout the night, forcing adults and children to dive into the ocean for safety.

Officials said earlier that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people injured.

On Wednesday (local time), crews were continuing to battle blazes in several places on the island. Authorities urged visitors to stay away.

Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described a harrowing escape from under smoke-filled skies on Tuesday afternoon. The couple and their 6-year-old son grabbed a change of clothes and ran as the bushes around them caught fire.

“We barely made it out in time,” Kawaakoa said at an evacuation shelter on Wednesday, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment.

People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front St in downtown Lahaina, Maui. Photo / AP

As Kawaakoa and Yasso fled, a senior centre erupted in flames. They called 911, but didn’t know if the people got out. Fire alarms blared. As they drove away, downed utility poles and fleeing cars slowed their progress.

Kawaakoa, 34, grew up in the apartment building, called Lahaina Surf, where his dad and grandmother also lived. Lahaina Town dates back to the 1700s and has long been a favourite destination for tourists.

“It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything,” Kawaakoa said. “I was helpless.”

The fires were the latest in a series of problems caused by extreme weather around the globe in recent months. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events.

As winds eased somewhat on Maui, some flights resumed on Wednesday, allowing pilots to view the full scope of the devastation. Aerial video from Lahaina showed dozens of homes and businesses razed, including on Front St, where tourists once gathered to shop and dine. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront, boats in the harbour were scorched, and grey smoke hovered over the leafless skeletons of charred trees.

“It’s horrifying. I’ve flown here 52 years and I’ve never seen anything come close to that,” said Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company. “We had tears in our eyes.”

State Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi said on Wednesday that a team is working on contingency plans and preparing for the possible loss of an elementary school that had been in Lahaina for more than a century.

The hall of historical Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames. Photo / AP

“Unofficial aerial photos show the King Kamehameha III Elementary campus — on Front St in Lahaina — sustained extensive fire and structural damage,” he said. “The department is striving to maintain regular school schedules to provide a sense of normalcy but will keep most Maui schools closed for the remainder of this week.”

The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape flames and smoke, including two children.

Among those injured were three people with critical burns who were flown to Straub Medical Centre’s burn unit on the island of Oahu, officials said. At least 20 patients were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Centre, officials said, and a firefighter was hospitalised in stable condition after inhaling smoke.

Richard Bissen jnr, the mayor of Maui County, said at a Wednesday morning news conference that he didn’t have details on how or where on the island the deaths occurred. He said officials hadn’t yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires, but officials did point to the combination of dry conditions, low humidity and high winds.

More than 2100 people spent Tuesday night in evacuation centres. A further 2000 travellers sheltered at Kahului Airport after many flights were cancelled. Officials were preparing the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu to take in thousands of displaced tourists and locals.

Mauro Farinelli, of Lahaina, said the winds had started blowing hard on Tuesday, and then somehow a fire had started up on a hillside.

“It just ripped through everything with amazing speed,” he said, adding it was “like a blowtorch”.

The winds were so strong they blew his garage door off its hinges and trapped his car in the garage, Farinelli said. So a friend drove him, with his wife Judit and dog Susi, to an evacuation shelter. He had no idea what had happened to their home.

The Hawaiian island of Maui.

“We’re hoping for the best,” he said, “but we’re pretty sure it’s gone.”

United States President Joe Biden said he’d ordered all available federal assets to help with the response. He said the Hawaii National Guard had mobilised Chinook helicopters to help with fire suppression as well as search and rescue efforts on Maui.

“Our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed,” Biden said.

Former President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, said on social media that it’s tough to see some of the images coming out of a place that is so special to many.

Alan Dickar, who owns a poster gallery and three houses in Lahaina, said tourists who come to Maui all tend to visit Front St.

“The central two blocks is the economic heart of this island, and I don’t know what’s left,” he said.

Dickar took video footage of flames engulfing the main strip before escaping with three friends and two cats.

“Every significant thing I owned burned down today,” he said. “I’ll be okay. I got out safely.”

Wildfires were also burning on Hawaii’s Big Island, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there. Roth said firefighters had needed to extinguish some roof fires and there were continuing flareups of one fire near the Mauna Kea Resorts.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain, was partly to blame for the strong winds.

About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early on Wednesday local time. With cell service and phone lines down in some areas, many people were struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires. Some were posting messages on social media.

Tiare Lawrence was frantically trying to reach her siblings who live near where a gas station exploded in Lahaina.

“There’s no service so we can’t get a hold of anyone,” she said from the Maui community of Pukalani.

Acting Governor Sylvia Luke said the flames had wiped out communities and urged travellers to stay away.

“This is not a safe place to be,” she said.

Luke issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of Governor Josh Green, who was travelling. Green’s office said he’d cut short his trip and was returning on Wednesday evening.

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the west of the US. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires. A major fire on the Big Island in 2021 burned homes and forced thousands to evacuate.

Yasso, who fled her home with boyfriend Kawaakoa, said residents are going to need time to regroup and people shouldn’t plan to visit right now.

“It’s everybody losing their memories of growing up,” she said. “It’s the memories for everybody. We all lost our homes with this.”